21. Returning the Yellow River to Its Old Course

Victory came, with the demobilization [of the people] happening everywhere, and displaced wanderers all returned back to their hometowns. The Yellow River, with its banks breached [during the war], needed to be returned to its old course. It was a very difficult and dangerous thing to undertake!

After the victory [against the Japanese], I returned back to Kaifeng. During one year’s time, the Party’s affairs had been sorted out. At the same time, friends gathered to setup the Zhongyuan College of Engineering in order to continue cultivating talented hydraulic engineers. In June of the 36th year of the Republic [~1947] (when I was 56 years old), I was appointed Director of the Yellow River Conservancy Project. My mission was to sort out [the problems] with the Yellow River and return it to its old course. When I accepted this difficult and dangerous task, I resigned from my post as Director of the provincial [Nationalist] Party Committee, so that I could devote myself to fighting the torrential floods of the Yellow River. My job was to protect the lives of millions of people, as well as [deciding] the fate of thousands of square miles of land along the banks of the yellow river!

Back in the early years of the War of Aggression by the Japanese, Xuzhou was defeated in May of 27th year of the Republic [~1938], and on June 5th, the city of Kaifeng fell. In July, the embankment of the Yellow River was bombed by enemy planes, so the river bank collapsed from Huanyankou in Zhengzhou. The waters of the Yellow River flowed southeast, going into Anhui Province and across various lakes into the Huai River Basin. Then from Hongze Lake, it traveled through the canal to the Yangtze River.

It has been nine years since the floodwaters of the Yellow River diverted from its old course, which went through Zhengzhou to Kaifeng, entered Hebei Province towards Shangdong, and then to the sea. In the preceding nine years, the old levees along the Yellow River had been damaged greatly, and the riverbeds have been converted into dry land. Originally, the riverbed of the Yellow River was higher than [the surrounding] plains, with both sides of the river blocked by embankments. These [embankments] often collapsed during flood season. To bring the Yellow River back to this old course, it will inevitably lead to problems. Therefore, no one wanted to preside over this major project, and in fact, they particularly avoided it. Moreover, Communist [Party forces] occupying the area north of the Yellow River obstructed the efforts and made this project more burdensome.

I had a great plan to combat the harm done by the Yellow River, and I was determined to deal with it. I hoped that it would eliminate the thousands of years of harm done to the population, and turn it into a great benefit for tens of millions of people. At that time, I firmly believed in the greatest spirit of sacrifice, or “Buddha entering Hell”, so I resolutely accepted the assignment. The flood season was coming (from July to the first frost). In this time period, the Yellow River surges. When will the flooding come?

After being appointed to the post, I first mobilized millions of migrant workers along the river to work on the levees. On the other hand, we reinforced the communications system along the Yellow River, so that we could mobilize and be prepared to fight against the flooding at any moment. At that time, the Nationalist Army and the Communist [Party forces] were fighting along the banks of the Yellow River. The dynamics of the Yellow River have a lot influence on military affairs. Therefore, the Yellow River project should not only protect against flood waters, but it should also be used in cooperation with the [Nationalist] army in the fight against the Communist Party. This arduous and dangerous task needed to be attended to both day and night, with a look out for any change in the water conditions or the military situation.

Because the communications equipment along the Yellow River was updated, there was long distance telegraph and telephone available. In addition, the engineering project on the river was well organized, so there was a lot of information about the Nationalist Army that was supplied by the Yellow River [workers]. In the office, every time I heard the phone ring, my nerves would be tense, and my heart would jump and race. A chart of “The Record of the Rise and Fall of the Water in the Yellow River” hung in a space on the wall. The fluctuation of the water level also represented the rise and fall of my heart. Indeed, the entire time we were all waiting nervously for something to happen!

On the whole, thanks to everyone’s work, the Yellow River Engineering stood like a towering giant and did not yield, until the retreat [to Taiwan] in the 38th year of the Republic [~1949]. Then the project was abandoned after three years without ever being completed. After the mainland fell to the Communist [Party forces], the dikes along the Yellow River collapsed in several places during the 40th year of the Republic [~1951], resulting in the flooding of thousands of miles throughout the country. Although this was not planned [by the Nationalist government], it almost seemed like it was the Will of Heaven!