Chayashan Grand Shrine of Chayashan Satellite People’s Commune

The product of extraordinary times

The late 1950s was a special era. At that time, the majority of farmers in our country had just escaped from the shackles of feudalism and the suffering of war. Each household was assigned land, and achieved political turnaround and stability in life. Production conditions and living conditions in rural areas have been significantly improved. The broad masses of farmers, especially those who were relatively poor before liberation, have unprecedented political enthusiasm for loving the Communist Party, Chairman Mao, and socialism. They especially hope to speed up the change of economic and cultural backwardness and live a better life as soon as possible. communist life. At this time, the upper-level leadership agencies are also full of passion and confidence in the rapid development of New China. In 1957, faced with the reality that capitalist countries were relatively wealthy, the vigorous New China and the Soviet Union, the "big brother" that had already sent artificial earth satellites into space at that time, were so proud that they successively proposed to catch up and surpass each other in about 15 years. Ambitious goals for Britain and the United States.

In the spring of this year, more than 10,000 independent peasants living at the foot of Chaya Mountain also actively responded to the call of their superiors and launched the first mass movement to comprehensively control mountains and rivers after the founding of the People's Republic of China. However, due to the dispersed labor force, weak material foundation of the 27 agricultural cooperatives at that time, and constant disputes over border issues, the vigorous mountain and water control movement was nicknamed by the masses as "the old buffalo fell into the well--it was too strong to be used" ”, progress is quite slow. Therefore, everyone has a call to merge small agricultural cooperatives into "big cooperatives".

On April 15, 1958, the efforts to control mountains and rivers finally bore fruit—the Xiasong Reservoir was “successfully completed.” Zhang Shufan, who was then the administrative commissioner of Xinyang Prefecture in Henan Province (Chaya Mountain was under the jurisdiction of Xinyang Prefecture at that time and is now under the jurisdiction of Zhumadian City), Lou Benyao, Secretary of the Secretariat of Suiping County Party Committee, Chen Bingyin, Minister of Agriculture and Industry of Suiping County Party Committee, and others came to the scene to express their congratulations. That night, the three local and county leaders who stayed at the construction site headquarters talked about the idea of ??merging the "small society" into a "big society". Their ideas were affirmed by Lu Xianwen, then secretary of the Xinyang District Committee. Lu Xianwen believes that this idea is in line with the spirit of Chairman Mao’s recent instructions that agricultural cooperatives can be established in one township or one community or in one district. As a result, the Suiping County Committee of the Communist Party of China immediately held a meeting and began to study the organizational structure and personnel arrangements of the "big society". It was decided that 27 villages in the four central townships at the foot of Chaya Mountain, including Tushan, Yangdian, Baozhuang, and Huaishu, The high-level cooperatives, with 43,263 people in 9,369 households, were merged into a "big cooperative" - ??Chayashan Grand Cooperative.

The meeting decided that Chen Bingyin would serve as the party secretary of the Chayashan Grand Society Management Committee, and Zhong Qingde, a national model worker and president of Hanlou Senior Society, would serve as the president. In order to reflect the "big" character of "big society", Chayashan people also set up "seven departments, one office and one committee" for their "big society" in accordance with the central organizational structure, namely the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Industry and Transportation , Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Military Defense, Ministry of Education, Culture, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Joint Office and Planning Commission.

Subsequently, a jingle describing the bright future of the "big society" also spread in the Chaya Mountain area: "People live upstairs and downstairs, use electric lights and telephones, and use foreign plows and rakes." , the washbasin (tweeter) can talk, we have what the Soviet Union has. "The accommodation is pretty good, but how about the food? Some cadres told the masses bluntly: "What will be left behind will be Japanese products. They lived a socialist life. They drank mutton soup, ate steamed buns every day, and made dumplings every meal. "Don't think that the above-mentioned living standards were not high. At that time, the couple lived in a shabby thatched house, ate steamed buns, and didn't even have a radio. It was definitely a wonderful day for ordinary people.

According to the memory of Zhou Liushuan, the former deputy head of Chayashan Township and now retired, on the evening of April 20, 1958, when he was 12 years old, he followed his smiling father and people who came from all directions. More than 10,000 fellow villagers gathered in a large dry pit on Yangdian Street and happily participated in the founding meeting of Chayashan Grand Shrine. The venue was surrounded by red flags and slogans. The rostrum at the west edge of Dakeng was stacked with bundles of letters of determination and application forms. Under the burning oil lamps, a strong gong, drum and yangko troupe was prepared. Team. As night fell, Zhang Shufan, Commissioner of the Xinyang District Administrative Office, stood on the rostrum and spoke first. When he loudly announced the establishment of Chayashan Grand Shrine, the sound of firecrackers mixed with the sudden applause and cheers, which shocked people's ears. There was a buzzing sound, and the chickens and ducks returning home screamed in fright.

Not long after the establishment of Chayashan Grand Society, the second meeting of the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held.

The meeting clearly put forward the general line of "working hard, striving to reach the top, and building socialism more quickly, better and more cost-effectively". At the same time, the time it takes for my country to “surpass Britain and catch up with the United States” has been shortened to two to three years. As a result, the country quickly set off an upsurge to develop steel, water conservancy, and industry. Affected by this situation, Chashan Grand Shrine borrowed the name of the Soviet collective farm and changed its name to "Satellite Collective Farm".