Old photo: Splitting the mountain to seize water - People in Linxian County, Henan Province, building the artificial heavenly river Red Flag Canal in the 1960s

Linzhou (formerly Linxian County) is located at the junction of Henan, Shanxi and Hebei provinces, and has historically suffered from severe drought and water shortage. According to historical records, from the first year of Zhengtong of the Ming Dynasty (i.e., 1436) to the establishment of new China in 1949, ****514 spring and fall, Linxian natural disasters occurred more than 100 times, more than 30 times a drought extinction. Sometimes drought year after year, the river dry wells dry, crop grain harvest. Historical records and folklore say that drought is so severe that "people eat each other", in this 514 years, people eat each other 5 times. At the beginning of the Republic of China, more than 300 families in Sang'erzhuang village, year-round to 4 kilometers away from Huangyaquan water to eat. Because of the steep mountain slopes, had fallen dead and injured many people. In February 1960, the people of Linxian County began to build the Red Flag Canal (formerly known as the "Zhangzhang into the forest" project), through the Yu-Jin provinces agreed to consult, and then by the State Planning Commission commissioned the Ministry of Water Resources and Electricity approved. March 6-7, 1960, Linxian Zhangzhang into the forest committee held a plenary meeting in Pan Yang village, where the Zhangzhang into the forest project was officially named "Red Flag Canal". The project was officially named "Red Flag Canal", which means holding up the red flag to move forward. The project was named "Red Flag Canal" at the plenary meeting of Linxian Zhangzhang into Linxian Committee of Panyang Village, which means holding up the red flag to move forward. After ten years of hard work, the main canal was opened to water on April 5, 1965, and the three main canals were completed at the same time in April 1966, and in 1969, the construction of dry, branch and bucket canals was completed. So far, the irrigation system with Red Flag Canal as the main body was basically formed. The effective irrigated area of the irrigation area reached 540,000 mu, and the project was fully completed in July. In the 1970s, the spirit of "self-reliance, hard work, unity and cooperation, selfless dedication" of Hongqiqiu, which was nurtured and formed during the construction of Hongqiqiu, became a valuable spiritual wealth. In 1974, when the new China joined the United Nations General Assembly, the first movie shown was the documentary "Red Flag Canal". Women also hold up half the sky The Iron Girl's big flowery cotton pants are now the darling of the fashion world The female stonemasons are working The hammer is swinging and the wind is thundering The Red Flag Canal project was started in February 1960, and the supporting works of the branch canals were fully completed in July 1969, which lasted for nearly ten years. The project **** flattened 1,250 hills, erected 151 ferry tunnels, cut 211 tunnels, the construction of a variety of buildings 12,408, digging and masonry up to 22.25 million cubic meters of soil and stone, the Red Flag Canal total length of 70.6 kilometers of the main canal (Shanxi Shichengzhen - Henan Rencun town), the distribution of dry canals and townships throughout the city. According to calculations, such as these earth and stone barricades into a 2-meter-high, 3-meter-wide wall, which can run through the north and south of the motherland, around Beijing, connecting Guangzhou with Harbin. Red Flag Canal of a trunk canal and the heroes of the canal convergence, so that Linxian southern 170,000 acres of land from drought Historically arid Linxian, and now also planted on the rice