Witness to History, Woman's Journey Through New China
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CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Monday, July 5, 2021 | 7 CHINA Award recognizes community management’s role in beating outbreak By CHENG SI [email protected] China is contributing its community management experience in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic to the world, with its grassroots medical work- ers being recognized by the world’s top health officers. In late May, Wu Hao, director of the Fangzhuang Community Health Services Center in Beijing’s Fengtai’s district, was presented with the Sasakawa Health Prize at the World Health Assembly, becoming the third Chinese winner. Left: Ma Maojie talks with community workers in Hefei, Anhui province. AN JUN / CHINA NEWS SERVICE Wu, who focuses on grassroots health- care work, knows the importance of com- munity management, especially during Many people were wounded and died the early stages of epidemic control. beside her. “Infectious diseases are different from In a recent visit to the riverside where the other diseases, and can’t be controlled if Witness to history, woman’s battle started, Ma told her children that she problems appear at the community lev- could still hear the guns and cannons, even el,” he said. now. She said that she felt no fear during the “I think the major reason for our battle and the worn-out, patched jacket she success in controlling the epidemic was wearing at the time is now kept at the lies in the good performance of com- Anhui Museum. munity management. It shows the journey through New China Some months after the battle, Ma received advantages of our social system, patri- an invitation from Mao to attend the found- otism and the Chinese people’s spirit ing ceremony for New China, but her father of self-sacrifice.” Nameless fisherman’s daughter remembers night her life changed would not let her go because he thought she An expert in community healthcare was too young to travel so far. management, Wu was deployed to Two years later, Mao sent another letter, Wuhan, capital of Hubei province and By ZHU LIXIN in Hefei “The army also brought us grain, which inviting her to attend the nation’s second the Chinese city hit hardest by the out- [email protected] PATH TO GLORY made me very happy,” Ma recalled. anniversary celebrations. This time, she went. break, early last year. PathPROF toIL gloryE Before the battle, she noticed that the PLA After the celebrations, Mao invited Ma to “I arrived in Wuhan in early February Chinese people often quote a saying by was recruiting residents to help with the his home and held a family banquet for her, and I remember it was a freezing, rainy Chairman Mao Zedong, “Study hard and campaign. attended by his wife and daughters. night,” he said. “I was part of a special make progress everyday”. “She was very excited that villagers to the She did not have a formal name until the expert team made up of professional The words of advice, which consist of secretary of the Communist Party of China south of the river would also be liberated,” banquet. Ma was the third child in the fami- grassroots medical workers and disease eight Chinese characters, were written by Central Committee and chairman of the said Ma’s daughter, Liu Guanglin, who has ly and so people just called her Sanjie, which control staff members. the late leader on a notebook in Beijing Central Military Commission. heard the story many times. means “Third Sister” in English. “We grassroots medical workers shortly after Oct 1, 1951, the second anniver- Ma’s road to glory began on April 20, 1949. When the battle began, Ma jumped into When Mao suggested she be called Maojie know how to communicate with resi- sary of the People’s Republic of China. That night, the People’s Liberation Army the family’s boat with her older brother, (Mao Sister), she was thrilled. dents better. He then presented that notebook to Ma launched the Yangtze River Crossing Cam- even though she had not been recruited. Returning to Anhui, Ma went to school. In “We were racing against time every Maojie, who has been witness to the contin- paign, a major offensive against the then- At first, the soldiers refused to let her 1954, she joined the Party as a student. After day. From my perspective, locking down uous progress the country has made under ruling Kuomintang during the war leading come as they thought she was too young for graduation in 1957, she was recruited by a a community is a sad and solemn act. We the leadership of the Communist Party of up to the founding of New China. the dangerous mission, but she insisted and State-owned garment factory as an ordinary were unwilling to do this but we had no China. “I spent my first 14 years in extreme pov- persuaded them to let her stay by explaining worker. better options. It was a very difficult Born into a fishing family in Wuwei coun- erty like many other people, a wooden fish- that she was skilled at steering the boat, and She worked hard in a number of positions choice.” ty, East China’s Anhui province in 1935, Ma ing boat was almost all my family owned,” was strong enough for the mission. The sol- and by the time she retired in 1990, she had He said that at the very beginning, is one of the 29 recipients of the July 1 Medal she said. diers relented even though she was risking become deputy manager of the factory. She his work team and residents used any — the Party’s highest honor — which is In January 1949, the PLA liberated her life to help. now lives with her daughter in Anhui’s capi- available items, such as cars and awarded to outstanding Party members. Wuwei, which lies to the north of the Yang- Ma remembers bullets and bombs from tal, Hefei. motorbikes, to block community exits. The medals were presented for the first time tze and Ma’s family was given their first plot airplanes and positions on the opposite He also made great efforts to help solve this year by President Xi Jinping, general of farmland. bank falling like rain. Xinhua contributed to this story. daily problems. “I went to supermarkets to coordinate supplies. I proposed that the supermar- kets pack the vegetables in advance and New pedestrian bridge over Pearl River opens in Guangzhou transport them to the team managing the community, who would take on the job of handing out the supplies to resi- By ZHENG CAIXIONG in Guangzhou soccer fields and basketball and tennis dents,” Wu said. [email protected] courts. Managing a community amid an epi- Pedestrians can also walk from Canton demic requires both a scientific approach A new cross-river pedestrian bridge was Tower, commonly known as Xiaomanyao, to and persistence, he said. “Also, it’s not a officially opened last month in Guangzhou, Huacheng Square, the Haixinsha Asian job that can be done by a single person, capital of Guangdong province. Games theme park, the Guangdong Museum but one that needs professional guidance The Haixin Bridge, a curved-girder, cable- and other landmarks in Zhujiang New Town from medical workers, administrative stayed bridge, spans 198 meters of water, in the Tianhe district. control measures and coordination with with a total length of 488 meters and a width The east side of the bridge deck is residents.” of 15 meters. designed for leisure, allowing pedestrians to Wu said that in prevention and control The structure has become a new attrac- sit and enjoy the scenery on both sides of the work to combat the epidemic, a communi- tion, drawing many residents and tourists river. It can also accommodate small-scale ty is usually divided into smaller grids, since it opened. art performances. which can each be managed by a team He Jingtang, an academician at the Chi- The west side is the main thoroughfare, consisting of community officials, inspec- nese Academy of Engineering, said the Hai- and is shaded to enable walking with bicycles, tors, medical workers and volunteers. xin is the first pedestrian bridge to run across exercising or just enjoying the sunset. “Every person in the management the Pearl River in Guangzhou. It integrates Spanning the Pearl River in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, the Haixin Bridge is In addition, the bridge — which links team has specific tasks, including elements of Lingnan (South China) regional the largest pedestrian bridge in the world. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Yuexiu and Tianhe districts in the northern checking residents’ identities, health culture. part of the Pearl River to Haizhu district in monitoring, carrying out closed-loop “The Cantonese-style design fully embod- the south — is an ideal destination for peo- management of those from areas with ies the depth of Lingnan culture and the Running from Ersha Island to the south- residents living on the southern bank of the ple who want to watch the city’s annual high risks of infection and environ- image of Guangzhou as a modern interna- ern bank of the Pearl River in the city’s central Pearl River to walk to Ersha Island, a destina- dragon boat race and enjoy fireworks mental disinfection,” he said. tional metropolis,” said He, who led the business district, the footbridge is the largest tion for recreation and leisure for local resi- shows during festivals and special celebra- A precise lockdown of a particular design team. of its kind in the world. dents,” she said. tions, including National Day and the community according to the severity of The bridge’s completion is emblematic of Xie Weizhen, a white-collar worker in Covering 1.26 million square meters, Spring Festival.