Dazhai () is a village and former commune of several hundred farmers in
Xiyang County in eastern
Shanxi
Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
province, chiefly known for
Mao Zedong's directive, "
Learn from Dazhai in agriculture", which set up Dazhai as the model for agricultural production throughout China during the 1960s and 1970s, amid the
Cultural Revolution.
[ Spence's '' The Search for Modern China'' 2nd Edition, p.562]
'Learn from Dazhai'
Numerous newspaper and magazine stories and books as well as films were published nationwide about how hard and diligently the villagers of Dazhai had worked to build the village into one with not only well-managed
fields and bountiful
crops
A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydroponics ...
, but engineering marvels such as amazing
reservoirs and grandiose
aqueducts crossing deep
valleys for
irrigation. Under the leadership of
Chen Yonggui, the villagers endeavored to tame the nature by turning the mountainous ridges and hills into productive fields and enhancing productivity in such an unfriendly environment. Miraculously, Dazhai indeed became a model for Chinese farmers to contribute grain to the state. They allegedly worked on their own on the principle of
self-reliance, without any financial and technical support from the government.
[Patrick Fuliang Shan, "Chen Yonggui Revisited: Intriguing Figure, Diverse Identities, and Maoist Regimentation". '']American Journal of Chinese Studies
The ''American Journal of Chinese Studies'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Association for Chinese Studies. It covers research in all social science disciplines "dealing with Taiwan, China and locales with significan ...
'', (Vol. 25, no. 1, April 2018), pp. 31-46.
A number of songs about Dazhai were popular for a while, the best-known perhaps being "Dazhai Yakexi"《大寨亚克西》(''yakexi'' being the
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
transliteration of the
Uyghur word meaning ''good'' or ''great''), about a
Uyghur farmer telling how happy he was after he visited Dazhai. The song was adapted to a dance in which a Uyghur male sang while six ladies accompanied him with dances in the Uyghur traditional style. Both the singer and the dancers were in clothing typical of the Uyghur nationality, which the
Han Chinese people found aesthetically appealing. Following the fall of the
Gang of Four
The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...
and the death of Mao Zedong, however, this song was banned. Others include a 1972 piece for ''sheng'' and ensemble by Xu Jingqing (许镜清, b. 1942) entitled "Dazhai Hong Hua Bian Di Kai"《大寨红花遍地开》(The Red Flower of Dazhai Blossoms Everywhere
a 1972 song by Yan Cunyi (闫存义) entitled "Dazhai Renxin Xiang Hong Taiyang"《大寨人心向红太阳》(The Hearts of the People of Dazhai Turn Towards the Red Sun); and a 1976 piece for ''banhu'' and ensemble by Dou Denggui (窦登贵) entitled "Jianghe Yuantou Dazhai Hua"《江河源头大寨花》(The Dazhai Flower Blooms at the Source of the Rivers).
See also
*
Learn from Daqing in industry
Daqing (; alternately romanized as Taching) is a prefecture-level city in the west of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China. The name literally means "Great Celebration". Daqing is known as the "Oil Capital of China" and has experi ...
(industrial counterpart of Dazhai)
*
Mao Zedong Thought
Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Chi ...
*
Potemkin village
* ''
Shanzhai''
References
Further reading
*
External links
China-dazhai.com - a comprehensive website about DazhaiZhao, "Socio-spatial transformation in Mao's China : settlement planning and dwelling architecture revisited (1950s-1970s)", Chapter 5 : Dazhai, a rural settlement, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2007Posters of Chen YongguiSoils and Sustainability: Tales from the Loess Plateau
The Dazhai Spirit gets religion
{{Authority control
Agriculture in China
Jinzhong
Villages in China