Yang Gui
| Yang Gui | |
|---|---|
Hanyu Pinyin | Yáng Hǎiyù |
| Wade–Giles | Yang Hai-yü |
| IPA | [jáŋ xàɪ.ŷ] |
Yang Gui (28 May 1928 – 10 April 2018) was a Chinese politician who served as
Early life and career
Yang was born on 28 May 1928 in Ji County (now
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Yang worked as a party official in Ji county and Tangyin county.[4] In the summer of 1953, when the party secretary of Lin County was hospitalized, the prefectural government of Anyang sent Yang to assist the Lin County party committee. He was appointed as the county's party secretary in May 1954,[3][4] and promoted to First Secretary of the county in 1958.[4] Lin's achievement was endorsed by the senior committees, thus Yang was invited to have a speech at a national forum for discussion about production in mountainous areas, in November 1957, Beijing. He made reference to the local endemic esophageal cancer, which evoked Beijing's attention. Premier Zhou Enlai then requested a medical team to go to Lin County.[2]
Construction of the Red Flag Canal
Lin County was plagued by severe water shortage and frequent droughts. According to the local gazetteer, there were some twenty major droughts that destroyed most crops, in the five centuries before 1920.[5] When Lin County was hit by a severe drought in the summer of 1957, Yang organized the digging of 7,000 wells and water cellars. Two years later, however, the county encountered an unprecedented drought. All four main rivers in the territory, which were the sources of the canals that had been built, ran dry. Most residents had to make long treks to fetch water.[1][5]
In the face of severe difficulties, Yang and the county party committee decided to bring water from the Zhang River across the Taihang Mountains. The irrigation project, originally called Yin Zhang Ru Lin ("引漳入林," or "divert the Zhang to Lin"), was launched in February 1960, and was officially named the Red Flag Canal the next month. Yang was the leader and chief designer of the project.[1] The project proceeded under very difficult conditions, as China was in the throes of the famine of the Great Leap Forward, and resources and technical skills were severely lacking. The entire county had only 28 hydrological technicians and three million yuan of reserve fund.[1] The monumental project took 30,000 labourers (out of Lin County's total population of 700,000) ten years to complete.[6] It comprised a 70-kilometre (43 mi) trunk canal, 1,500 kilometres (930 mi) of water channels, 24 kilometres (15 mi) of tunnels, and 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi) of aqueducts.[6] Workers dammed three rivers,[6] flattened 1,250 hills, and moved 18,180,000 cubic metres (642,000,000 cu ft) of earth and stone.[1] Out of the total cost of some 69 million yuan, about 85% was donated by the local residents.[5][7]
When the
Later career
After the completion of the Red Flag Canal, Yang was promoted to deputy director of the Revolutionary Committee of
Retirement and death
Yang retired in June 1995, but was hired by the Shanxi Provincial Government as an advisor to the Yellow River diversion project in 1996. In 2006, the Chinese national government officially elevated him to the rank of vice-minister.[4]
Yang died in the early morning of 10 April 2018, at the age of 89.[1][4]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Li, Tuo (10 April 2018). "追记红旗渠总设计师杨贵：离休10年后中央批准其升副部长级". Thepaper.cn. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
- ^ ISBN 978-7-80109-656-2.
- ^ a b "红旗渠的决策指挥者". Henan Daily (in Chinese).
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "红旗渠总设计师杨贵同志逝世". Dahe News. 10 April 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
- ^ a b c Yang, Gui (1995). "红旗渠建设回忆" (PDF). 当代中国史研究 [Contemporary Chinese History Studies] (in Chinese) (3): 33–36.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-349-13992-7.
- ^ Yang, Gui. "难忘修建红旗渠的艰苦岁月". People's Daily. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
- ^ "杨贵与红旗渠的风风雨雨". 中国新闻周刊 [China Newsweek] (in Chinese) (42): 78–80. 2009.