On the afternoon of March 20th, local time, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader arrived in Moscow and began a state visit to Russia. This is his ninth visit to Russia since he took office as president in March 2013.
China and Russia are friendly neighbors linked by mountains and rivers, and the development of Sino-Russian relations has clear historical logic and strong endogenous power. Today, the all-round and multi-level cooperation pattern is bringing tangible benefits to the people of the two countries, and it also provides a steady stream of impetus for the development and revitalization of both sides.
The Yangtze River, the mother river of China, and the Volga River, the mother river of Russia, have many similarities — — Broad-minded, tenacious temperament, all bear the glory and tragic, hope and pursuit of this nation. Nowadays, the magnificent waves of the two mother rivers have "blended" together and "irrigated" the political, economic, trade and cultural map.
As the provinces with the longest runoff mileage in the Yangtze River, Hubei and Russia have many stories to tell … …
Hubei people who went to Russia to grow tea
In 1893, it was the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty. A Russian businessman named Banov came to China and wanted to find someone to help them grow tea in Russia.
At that time, tea was already a commodity between China and Russia, but tea planting in Russia began in the middle of Qing Dynasty, and there was not much experience. In addition, the climate in Russia was cold all the year round, so it was difficult for tea trees to survive.
Bagong House in Jianghan District of Wuhan was once Banov’s residence.
Banov finally found Liu Junzhou, a tea merchant in Hankou, who was extraordinary.
Since the mid-19th century, Hankou has become a big port for tea gathering in the world, with 25,000 tea boats moored on the river and hundreds of tea merchants. One of the most famous tea merchants is Liu Junzhou’s Han family Liu’s Tea House. The annual trading volume of tea in Hankou Port accounts for 65% of the whole country, of which the Liu family accounts for 10%.
Liu junzhou
Liu Junzhou accepted the invitation of Banov, took nine technicians, tea seeds and tens of thousands of tea trees, followed Banov to grow tea in the Caucasus along the Russian Black Sea, and succeeded!
In 1897, Liu Junzhou returned to China, and his son Liu Zerong was 5 years old. Liu Junzhou set out again with his wife and children and 12 technicians to continue his tea growing career in Russia. Liu Junzhou’s deeds have been widely spread, so that many Russians still call tea "Liu Tea".
The tea trade between China and Russia has a long history. As early as the mid-19th century, Russians came to Wuhan to do tea business. In the Russian textbooks of the 1920s, there was a map of the bridge between Chinese and Russian tea bridges, which painted the "China-Russia Wanli Tea Ceremony" formed in the 17th century.
Map of Sino-Russian Tea Road Bridge
In this picture, Wanli Tea Ceremony is painted as a long bridge. The starting point of the bridge is Hankou, Wuhan, and the end points to Moscow, Russia. With this "bridge", from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, there were dozens of Russian tea trading companies in Hankou.
However, influenced by the war, in the first half of the 20th century, the Wanli Tea Ceremony between China and Russia gradually declined, and the Liu Tea House of the Han family went into silence. Until 2006, Liu Jiaguo, the 27th generation descendant of Liu’s Tea House of Han family, was determined to revive Liu’s Tea House of Han family, so he resigned from public office and went into business. According to Liu Taikun, the son of Liu Jiaguo, "My father and mother opened a small shop of less than 40 square meters, sold a lot of things and took out 2 million yuan. It’s really desperate!"
In 2015, Han Liu’s tea once again advanced into Russia. The company has opened four exclusive stores in Russia and joined more than 50 distribution stores.
Through the "Belt and Road Initiative", many famous Hubei teas such as Yangloudong Brick Tea in Chibi and the golden signboard "Yellow Crane Tower Tea" have also entered the homes of Russian people.
In 2014, Hubei tea merchants copied brick tea a hundred years ago and gave it to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Soviet Eagle over Wuhan during the Anti-Japanese War
When it comes to air force aid to China, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? American Flying Tigers? Chennault?
In fact, long before the Flying Tigers, there was such a team, which had fought fiercely in the air with the mighty Japanese Air Force in the sky in Wan Li, China. They were the Soviet Air Force Volunteers.
soviet air force volunteer team
In 1938, in the three Wuhan air battles of "2.18", "4.29" and "5.31", the Soviet Air Force Volunteers, together with the China Air Force, successively shot down more than 40 Japanese planes and sacrificed more than 100 people, completely smashing the Japanese invaders’ attempt to "master the air superiority".
In order to commemorate this unforgettable history, in 1956, with the approval of Hubei provincial government, 15 tombs of Soviet Air Force martyrs were moved from Wanguo Cemetery in Chen Huaimin Road, Hankou to Jiefang Park. The overall design task of the martyrs’ tomb of the Soviet Volunteer Team falls on Huang Kangyu, a famous architect and chief engineer of Wuhan Architectural Design Institute. Zhang Lianggao, one of the founders of the Department of Architecture of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, is responsible for the specific construction design.
Zhang Lianggao (left) and Huang Kangyu (right)
Full of reverence and gratitude, Huang Kangyu and Zhang Lianggao devoted themselves to the design and construction of the martyrs’ tomb. Huang Kangyu originally hoped to design the memorial altar as a dome-shaped building with Soviet style, in which words and pictures were displayed to show the voice and face of the martyrs. However, after the completion of the tombstones and graveyards, the design and construction of the memorial altar had to be stopped due to the shortage of funds, and the dome design of the original drawings has not been completed.
Memories of the design scheme of martyrs’ tomb
Tomb of the Soviet Air Force Martyrs, now located in emancipation park.
Now let’s go to see the tomb of the martyrs of the Soviet Air Force Volunteers. The monument with a square cone points to the sky, indicating that they are martyrs in the sky. There is a big flower bed in front of the monument, in which a huge five-pointed star pattern is planted with red wood, surrounded by more than 60 evergreen trees such as cypress and cedar, guarding the heroes like private soldiers.
Later, in the interview of reporter Chi Dajun and others, four more descendants of martyrs were found, and detailed file information of more than 200 martyrs was sorted out. In addition, 14 members of the Soviet Air Force Volunteer Team who died in Wuhan were also found. In 2015, the names of these 14 newly confirmed Soviet martyrs were added to the tombstone of the martyrs in Jiefang Park for future generations to mourn.
Decades have passed, the smoke over Wuhan has already dispersed, and the tombstone has no words to refer to the sky. The story of the sword of justice and the eagle hitting the sky will be remembered forever!
On this Russian tombstone, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge is engraved.
The Soviet Union has assisted 156 industrial projects in New China, including 7 key projects in Wuhan, including the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, which is known as the "First Bridge of the Yangtze River".
In the second year after the founding of New China, the plan to build the Yangtze River Bridge was put on the agenda. For thousands of years, the Yangtze River without a bridge has ushered in the vision of "a natural barrier becomes a thoroughfare".
Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge
In the design and construction stage of the bridge, 28 members of the Soviet expert group provided a lot of guidance, and Xilin, the group leader, played a decisive role in the bridge construction.
Xilin, an expert sent by the Soviet Union to help build the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge (first from right)
Xilin, who came to China in 1948, had already repaired and erected one bridge after another in the north. However, it is not easy to realize the "natural moat becomes a thoroughfare" under the economic and technical conditions at that time, especially in the most critical bridge foundation construction. At that time, the common practice in the world was the pneumatic caisson method, which has been passed down for a hundred years. However, the Yangtze River was in a turbulent state and the construction depth reached the upper limit of air pressure, which not only delayed time but also endangered workers’ lives. The old method encountered new problems.
Therefore, Xilin boldly proposed to replace the pneumatic caisson method with "pipe column drilling method" to change the bridge construction from underwater construction to water construction. This world-advanced construction method shortened the Yangtze River Bridge to two years and one month, completed two years ahead of schedule, and was successfully opened to traffic in 1957.
During those hard years, Xilin devoted all his efforts to the bridge. After years of outdoor work, the harsh environment made him suffer from severe arthritis, and the hospitalization period happened to be the tense stage of bridge construction, so he resolutely moved back to the construction site.
During the whole process of bridge construction, the builders in China were deeply admired by the professionalism of Soviet experts like Xilin. What impressed Liu Changyuan, a former deputy chief engineer of China Railway Bridge Bureau, was a Soviet expert, West Vacov. When piling pier No.7, some piles could not stand hammering and were easy to crack. In order to tackle the problem on the spot, West Vacov, who was in charge of this pier, went out early and returned late in a boat every day.
Xilin and other Soviet experts have been to China many times since the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was opened to traffic. In May 1993, Xilin led a delegation to China to inspect the construction of cable-stayed bridges, and spent his 80th birthday in Wuhan. At that time, wuhan yangtze river bridge was under construction, and Xilin went to the construction site specially.
On the monument of the bridge pier of Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge, the achievements of experts from the former Soviet Union such as Xilin are cast in copper characters. Thousands of miles away in Canete Nicokov Cemetery, a black granite tombstone is engraved with Xilin’s proudest work — — Patterns of Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge.
The pattern of Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge engraved on the back of Xilin tombstone
The Old Katyusha in Honggang City
In Qingshan District, Wuhan, there once lived an old Russian woman who was the only Russian-born China citizen in Wuhan.
Her Russian name is Ilina Yaclivna Chilkova, and China’s name is Shufan Li.
Shufan Li was born in St Petersburg in 1926. At a campus dance, at the age of 23, she met Qiu Yongyan, an international student from China, and they fell in love. In 1950, Shufan Li followed Qiu Yongyan to China without hesitation.
In 1953, Shufan Li came to Wuhan with all Russian translators in Central and South China, and worked as a full-time translator for Soviet experts who were preparing to build WISCO at that time. Since then, she has had an indissoluble bond with Jiangcheng, her second hometown.
In 2017, Shufan Li was interviewed by the Voice of Hubei.
In 2017, the Voice of Hubei reporter interviewed the elderly in Shufan Li. According to her recollection, "I still remember that the first investigation was not in the East Lake. After the experts came, they said that the water in the East Lake was not good. It was stagnant water, so it was polluted. Because the iron and steel industry must have flowing water, so to investigate in the Yangtze River, this will go to Qingshan and WISCO will land in Honggang City. " The steel mill settled in Wuhan, which was a suggestion made by Soviet experts after investigation. From the layout of factory and living quarters to the determination of main technology, WISCO basically copied the model of Novosibirsk industrial zone as a whole, representing the advanced level of the world at that time.
Russian people can sing and dance, and Shufan Li is no exception. She likes singing and dancing, and after she retired, she organized a dance team with her sisters in the community. The favorite song is the familiar Soviet folk song Katyusha, and the neighbors affectionately call her "Katyusha".
In 2021, Shufan Li died of illness at the age of 96. When she left, many neighbors around her shed tears. In Honggang City, everyone will always miss the old Katyusha.
In Wuhan, there are still many Russian elements. Now the No.1 club in Dongting, Hankou used to be a Russian consulate. Red brick houses designed by Russia can be seen everywhere in Qingshan and Qiaokou.
In April 2014, the China-Europe train that restarted its operation set off from Wuhan and exported "Made in Wuhan" to Russia, realizing the two-way trade between China and Russia.
On July 30, 2014, China Southern Airlines opened a direct flight from Wuhan to Moscow.
Nowadays, under the influence of the "Belt and Road" cooperation, Wuhan and Russia have increasingly close exchanges in economy, trade, science and technology and culture.
In November 2022, Russian Ambassador to China Morcourt Lov said in an interview with Russian reporters that Russia would set up a consulate in Wuhan, but the specific opening time has not yet been determined. Morcourt Love said: In September 2015, witnessed by the leaders of the two countries, Russia and China signed an intergovernmental agreement to establish the Russian Consulate General in Wuhan and the Consulate General of China in Kazan. The Consulate General of China in Kazan will open in 2018. "This means that the Russian consulate in Wuhan will definitely open."