Chongqing - On December 22, Chongqing Hongyan Heavy-duty Truck Museum was unveiled. Into the gate, one would immediately see a huge copper painting in relief with the characters "living up to the mission and the times." Thousands of exhibits in the museum tell about the past, pass down the spirit of patriotism and dedication, and give out the luster of culture that transcends the times.
The bronze statues at the gate of the museum represent people involved in the construction. (iChongqing/ Yang Shihan)
The museum revolves around the development of Hongyan heavy-duty trucks, illustrates the self-dependence and heroic efforts of the people from around China that contributed to the Third Front Movement about 50 years ago, and presents the tremendous historical changes of Dazu District.
Ten thousand exhibits to display the past glorious days
In 2018, the spirit of the "Third Front Movement," "Two Bombs, One Satellite," manned spaceflight, and flood relief was regarded by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee as the national spirit and striving spirit to be vigorously advocated in the new era. In the same year, the government of Dazu decided to build the first museum for the Third Front Movement in Chongqing.
"Chongqing Hongyan Heavy-duty Truck Museum is built to 'reveal the history and inspire the future,' and present the Third Front Movement spirit with characteristics of the times in a physical way." Qiu Bin, head of the construction promotion and coordination team of the museum, said that tens of thousands of builders and migrants from all over China dedicated their youth to the building of the Sichuan Automobile Factory and witnessed the extraordinary progress of modern industrialization in China.
Qiu Bin, head of the construction promotion and coordination team of the museum, introduces the exhibits to the visitors. (iChongqing/ Yang Shihan)
The museum, with descriptions, pictures, and cultural relics, and based on interaction, shows the glorious course of the Third Front Movement in China, particularly the evolution of the Sichuan Automobile Factory, in line with the principle of "tracing the origin, revealing the history, combining exhibition and application, and focusing on experience."
Its construction started in October 2020 and cost one year. As of September 2021, it had collected over 8,000 pieces (sets) of cultural relics, historical accounts, documents, and industrial heritage, 12,000 pictures, and video clips on history told by 35 people with a total duration of 228 minutes.
The order to start the construction of the factory was issued in 1965. The retirees engaged in the initial stage of the construction became the first visitors to the museum. Gray-haired already, they found their feelings stirred up by the sight.
The bronze statue recreates the assembly of heavy trucks at the time. (iChongqing/ Yang Shihan)
The design drawings of the thousands of parts and components for a Hongyan truck, piled up in a corner now, were all hand-painted by workers with simple tools before being delivered to the workshop. "There was no frame in the factory, so we decided to make a roller press on our own. All the drawings could add up to over one meter thick. These drawings had to be turned into different components which needed to be assembled properly. Without sufficient technical capacity and a sense of responsibility, we would not have made it," said Chen Hongming, a 75-year-old former technician at Sichuan Automobile Factory.
"In the initial stage of its construction, 26 hills were bulldozed. Every inch of the factory embodies the efforts and wisdom of the builders," said Qiu Bin. It was precisely with the spirit of dedication and hard work that the factory trial-manufactured China's first heavy-duty military off-road truck within a year, and a heavy-duty truck base was built from scratch in Dazu. It best reflects how Chinese people "live up to the mission and the times."
To add luster to the culture and tourism industry in Dazu
With the strategy of "reviving the district with culture, being based on creativity, taking root in industry, and manifesting the charm of tourism," the museum gives equal priority to social value and economic value. Free to the public, it aims to explore the culture of heavy-duty trucks, advocate the spirit of heavy-duty trucks, give full play to the strength of the city of cars, and build itself into a "heavy-duty truck museum" exclusive to Dazu, typical of those across Chongqing, and attracting attention from all over China.
China's first type of military heavy-duty off-road truck. (iChongqing/ Yang Shihan)
The museum boasts many precious materials with considerable historical and educational value and thus plays a positive role in passing down the "Third Front Movement" spirit. It shows how China started from scratch and has developed into a prosperous and wealthy country and encourages people to be more patriotic, responsible, and dedicated.
Chongqing Hongyan Heavy-duty Truck Museum that functions as a general museum, science and technology museum, cultural museum, and patriotism education base all at once can serve as a patriotism education base and industrial development training base for Chongqing and even China in the future. It will also add cultural profoundness to the industrial development across Chongqing to explore a new approach to transforming and reviving the country's old industrial cities based on culture.