Dazhai () is a village and former commune of several hundred farmers in

Xiyang County Xiyang County () is a county in the east of Shanxi province, China, bordering Hebei province to the east. It is the easternmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Jinzhong. Xiyang County is located at the western foot of Taihang ...

in eastern

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

province, chiefly known for

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

'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 The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

. Spence's '' The Search for Modern China'' 2nd Edition, p.562

'Learn from Dazhai'

Dazhai became famous for its agricultural production in the early 1960s. Mao promoted Dazhai as a national model for agricultural production. 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. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same species a ...

, but engineering marvels such as amazing

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

s and grandiose aqueducts crossing deep

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

s for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

. 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'', (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 The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

people found aesthetically appealing. Following the fall of the Gang of Four 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).

References

External links

China-dazhai.com - a comprehensive website about Dazhai

Zhao, "Socio-spatial transformation in Mao's China : settlement planning and dwelling architecture revisited (1950s-1970s)", Chapter 5 : Dazhai, a rural settlement, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2007

Posters of Chen Yonggui

Soils and Sustainability: Tales from the Loess Plateau

The Dazhai Spirit gets religion
{{Authority control Agriculture in China Jinzhong Villages in China

'Learn from Dazhai'

See also

References

Further reading

External links