Visit the ruins of the Third Line Factory

I don’t have much interest in today’s fashionable amusement parks and man-made attractions. I often like to see things that carry history and culture. No matter the scale of the building is large or small, prosperous or declining, they are the epitome of a period of history and the accumulation of culture.

Every time I go back to my hometown in Huoshan, Anhui Province and pass by the old third-line military factory in Luoerling, Huoshan County, Anhui Province, I see those towering factories and red brick buildings, and I always think of what Gogol once said: Architecture It is the almanac of the world, and when the songs and legends have fallen silent, they still speak. The mysterious stories there, the loneliness and vicissitudes of the present, and the distant historical marks all deeply attracted me to go there.

The third-line construction is a very large-scale migration process in China's economic history. It is a grand self-strengthening movement carried out by the whole country when New China is surrounded by various powerful foreign forces. Although it has now faded from the stage of history, the remaining factories and buildings still tell the story of the past.

The third-line military factory is a special period. Under special circumstances, it is a unique industrial construction of "camping close to mountains and rivers". Since the 1980s, third-line military factories have moved out of the mountainous areas and into cities, leaving behind a large number of third-line buildings. "When the songs and legends have become silent, only the buildings are still speaking." Although the buildings here have been mottled by the passage of time, they still tell the story of the glory of the third-tier builders back then.

In order to strengthen war preparations and gradually change the layout of my country's productive forces, the third-line military factories made a major strategic adjustment from east to west. Although Anhui is not a western province, it strategically provides strong support to the southeastern coast, and the Dabie Mountains stand at the junction of the three provinces of Hubei, Henan, and Anhui. Therefore, during the third-line construction in the 1960s, dozens of third-line military factories were built deep in the Dabie Mountains.

The "third-line construction" that was gradually lifted in the 1980s is a very unfamiliar historical term to today's young people. At that time, "third-line construction" was a mysterious term and a state secret. Due to the need for confidentiality, all institutes, factories, etc. involved in military industry do not have specific unit names. They only have a four-digit abbreviation and a mailbox number, which are vividly called mailbox units.

In the 1960s, under the background of the third-line construction, the East China Bureau at that time decided to establish a number of infantry light weapons factories in the hinterland of Anhui's Dabie Mountains. To this day, a large number of infantry light weapons factories have been left in the Dabie Mountains. "Third Line" ruins. In today's Luoerling Town, Huoshan County, Anhui Province, there is a military factory from the third-line period, the former state-owned Anhui Dongfeng Machinery Factory, which mainly produces military products and plastic packaging tubes.

The factory was founded in September 1964, with the military code name "9324 Factory". In 1992, it was moved to Yaogong Town, south of Jinzhai Road, Hefei City, Anhui Province. The remaining factory buildings and family areas were handed over to local people for management. But as time went by and eroded by wind and rain, some buildings began to slowly collapse, and the tiles of the spacious factory buildings also slowly fell off. To this day, there are still many factory buildings and family buildings left by Anhui Dongfeng Machinery Factory scattered along several kilometers on both sides of the highway. This is a military factory from the Third Front period, with distinctive characteristics of the times and architectural features.

Today's Anhui Dongfeng Machinery Factory still maintains the old structure, but the factory building with the roaring machines has become quiet. The good people and horses in the prime of life are gradually getting older, and the noisy family members are gradually getting older. The district has been deserted. Most of the old people walking around are in their twenties. They came here when they were young and never left again in their lives. It was once the lively lighted stadium and open-air cinema of Dongfeng Machinery Factory in Anhui Province. Although it is now in dilapidated condition, you can still imagine the lively scene back then. Occasionally, a few sparrows stopped on the wires above and flew away with a few chirps. , and then there is silence and emptiness.

Walking into the current living area of ??the factory, there is a path shaded by sycamore trees. On both sides of the road are the dormitory buildings of Anhui Dongfeng Machinery Factory. Most of these buildings are two-story buildings made of red bricks and cement. Every morning at six o'clock in the morning, the factory's radio sounds in the factory area on time, and people's day starts from this moment. The adults carry vegetable baskets to the nearby market to buy groceries, then go home to cook breakfast before waking up the children who are going to school.

The entire factory is very large. For several kilometers along both sides of the road, there are still many factory buildings and family buildings left behind by the factory, but they are all in disrepair and are in dilapidated condition. The buildings built with red bricks; the factory buildings with roofs made of red machine tiles... everything has a sense of the times.

The big chimney of the cafeteria that once had smoke curling up stood lonely in the air, letting the vegetation climb and spread, submerging the mouth of the chimney, ending the youthful years of that era.

The blackboard bulletin board in front of the lighted stadium has been washed away by wind and rain over the years and painted by passers-by. There is no trace of the words and patterns from the past, but many slogans on the walls of the house are still clearly visible, becoming a witness to history. physical evidence.

The factory has an open-air cinema, canteen, bathhouse, shop, lighted stadium, etc. All kinds of facilities are available, but now they are all empty and have long lost their functions. The uninhabited buildings are empty, the doors and windows have long been removed, and the open space between the buildings has been reclaimed by residents into farmland and vegetable plots. The saplings planted back then have now grown into towering trees. Looking down from the air, the entire community seems to be surrounded by green. But now most of the buildings are dilapidated and even the walls have been damaged. Only a few of them still have elderly people living here.

During my visit half a century later, I was walking on a long and narrow road with overgrown weeds on both sides, and some open spaces had been reclaimed by nearby villagers as vegetable plots. A two-story red building that was once bustling with people coming and going, now the entrance hall is deserted and desolate.

The factory buildings hidden on both sides of the highway and the exquisitely decorated family buildings are in disrepair for a long time, with broken glass and some have begun to collapse. Although the tall and solid buildings made of cement can be seen as glorious in the past, they are still in disrepair. The buildings are empty with people gone, leaving people with infinite desolation. Since the 1990s, many third-tier military factories have begun to move out of the mountainous areas and into cities, leaving behind a large number of third-tier buildings, silently telling the past.

The employees in the factory came from all over the country and finally took root here. Dialects from various places can be heard in the factory. Every morning at six o'clock in the morning, the factory's radio rang on time, and people started to have breakfast. Single workers went to the factory canteen and had a meal of meat and vegetables for only 35 cents. The scene was very lively at that time, but now there is only silence, with the occasional buzz of insects bringing you back to reality.

As time goes by, the tangled green vines grow wildly, with thousands of branches and leaves intertwined together, covering the old buildings. The surrounding flowers and plants grow wildly in the beautiful spring light. This family area still retains the former staff hospital, staff canteen, staff club, shops, and open-air cinema. These grey, mottled, upright gray old buildings are the historical traces of those prosperous years, and they continue to quietly tell the story of those years to the world.

Walking into the production area, the heavily guarded gates of the past are now useless, and tall factory buildings stand among the weeds on both sides of the road. The bricks on the walls of some red brick factory buildings have fallen off, the window glass on the walls has been broken, and the surroundings are overgrown with weeds, making it very desolate. Rings of rust cover the door locks, moss grows on the steps, grass grows on the stone-paved road, and a few spider webs are scattered in the tall grass, trembling slightly in the wind. What is conquered by weeds and dilapidation is the lost glory.

With the relocation of the country's third-tier enterprises, such an empty city has been left behind. Abandoned lighted stadiums, canteens, shops, hospital buildings, etc. all seem to tell their vicissitudes of life in silence. The clean and tidy walls in the past have long been mottled; the familiar steps are also covered with moss and weeds; the lively and noisy venue has thousands of wooden seats, just like the Juyi Hall that Liang Shanbo abandoned, those empty seats, The spider silk on the painting beam...

After the factory moved to Hefei in 1992, the remaining workshops and factories that could not be moved were in the mountains. There were no more busy people and noisy machines. Roaring, there is only silence, so quiet that the fallen leaves make the sound. The abandoned old factories and residential areas were handed over to the Luoerling Town Government as a whole, but they were neglected and most of the buildings and facilities were in a state of neglect. Except for a few houses used by nearby villagers for farming, more buildings are still unmanaged and overgrown with weeds. In a green mountain and green water, a dilapidated factory building is hidden under the vegetation. The mottled walls groan weakly under the erosion of wind and rain. The gray factory buildings and well-decorated family buildings in the ravine are in disrepair for a long time, the windows are broken, and some have begun to collapse.

To this day, many relics left by the Dongfeng Machinery Factory in Anhui Province are still scattered along several kilometers on both sides of the highway. These buildings, many of which are hidden on the mountainside with high mountains, dense forests, and crisscrossed ravines, reveal to the world It tells the vicissitudes of the former third-line military factory. Located deep in the mountains, it existed after all, and was once glorious and noisy, but now it has become a gradually disappearing memory.

Standing at the site of Dongfeng Machinery Factory in Anhui Province, the lively and busy factory building at that time has become quiet. The good people and horses in the prime of life have grown old, the noisy family area has been deserted, and the lights on the stadium are empty. I can no longer wait for those passionate young people. Only the tall, green sycamore trees are still lush in spring and have golden leaves in autumn. They seem to still tell people about the pride and glory of the third-line military factory in that special era. Doesn't this contrast remind people of "The Great River Goes East" and "Reminiscent of Gong Jin's Years"?

This place used to be full of laughter and bustle. Thousands of aspiring young people gathered here to work and live here. Various dialects and living habits blended together, forming the latest local small society. There are not only infrastructure facilities such as factories, employee dormitories, and hospitals, but also entertainment and living facilities such as open-air cinemas, employee clubs, and shops. Children have extensive space to play. They can go up the mountain to pick orchids, plan bamboo shoots, taste red fruits, and go down to the river to bathe and fish. When you get tired of playing, you can go to the factory cafeteria to taste big meat buns, go to the store to buy ice cream for two cents each, etc.

Now when I walk into the former site of Dongfeng Machinery Factory in Anhui Province again, except for a few workshops used by local farmers for breeding and as warehouses, most of the buildings are in a state of neglect. These gray factories and well-decorated family buildings hidden in the ravines are in disrepair for a long time, with broken glass and some have begun to collapse. Although the tall and solid buildings made of cement can be seen as glorious in the past, they are empty and empty. The people are infinitely desolate; there are no athletes in the lively lighted stadium. The ground of the stadium is potholed and muddy, and sewage flows across it. It is like an abandoned construction site, which makes people sigh... The slogans on the wall also look blurry... All of this is... Telling people about the vicissitudes of life here.

Facing these ruins, young people living in peaceful times may find it difficult to imagine why these third-line military factories were built here. Nowadays, the Cultural Palace, the landmark building of Anhui Dongfeng Machinery Factory, reminds people of the glorious past and lively and prosperous past of Anhui Dongfeng Machinery Factory. Third-line military industrial enterprises remind people of so many past events. In that special era, how many military workers dedicated their youth to their children and grandchildren. Today, these old sites seem to tell their vicissitudes of life in silence.

At that time, most third-tier military factories were built in large ravines far away from cities, sparsely populated, desolate and remote. The harsh environment at that time can be imagined. People today can no longer imagine how much hardship those old third-tier people from the urban third-tier munitions factories have endured. They stayed away from the city and modern life. They not only devoted their youthful blood and intelligence, but also devoted their lives to the national defense of the Republic of China.

After many years, when people step in again, the factory and workshop deep in the mountains still exist, but they are dilapidated and lonely. Boxy Soviet-style buildings, slogans and slogans with a strong sense of the times, empty and tall workshops, towering trees and old public facilities. However, the excitement and glory of the past can no longer be seen...

"Third-line military factories" emerged in response to the needs of the times, and then disappeared due to the development of history. The fate of third-line military factories is not something we can control. History will sooner or later get rid of those backward factories and products as it advances. But millions of builders have spent their youth, sweat, and even their lives on this. Who will remember their efforts and beliefs? Who will remember the China that forged ahead?

The "third-line military factories" emerged in response to the needs of the times, and then disappeared due to the development of history. The third-line builders have created brilliant achievements with wisdom and sweat, and written touching stories with youth and love.

More than twenty years later, the factory building with the rumbling machines has become quiet, the good people and horses in their prime have gradually aged, and the noisy family area has been deserted. It was once glorious and noisy, but now it has become a fading memory.

In ten, thirty or even fifty years, will these third-line witnesses-the ruins of the third-line military factory area still exist? When people leave the building and everything becomes empty, is it right or wrong? Leave it to future generations to comment! The years of burning passion will eventually pass!