Half an hour west of Pinglu county in Yuncheng, Shanxi, lies the town of Changle. Nestled silently among the loess gullies is Zhangjiagou Village, accessible by a winding asphalt road. Along this road, peach and rapeseed blossoms bloom on the southern slopes of the Zhongtiao Mountains. The road itself was built in March 2025, funded through a joint effort by Zhangjiagou and a neighboring village. It has solved transportation difficulties and also reminded the outside world of the significant event that occurred here.
Sixty-six years ago, a long-distance rescue moved the entire nation, etching this small village on the banks of the Yellow River into the country's collective memory. On February 2, 1960, sixty-one construction workers at the Fengnan Highway worksite suffered severe food poisoning, their lives in critical danger. Pinglu urgently needed the antidote "Dimercaprol," but it was unavailable in the entire province. A race-against-time rescue operation immediately unfolded.
On February 28, 1960, the China Youth Daily published a feature story titled "For the Sixty-One Comrades." The article detailed how a relay effort from the central government to local authorities ultimately performed a life-saving miracle. Following its publication, the story garnered nationwide attention and was reprinted by major newspapers. The cultural and educational sectors responded swiftly, adapting it into films, stage plays, and other formats that same year, and it was included in middle school textbooks. Over the following decades, it continued to appear in various educational materials and inspired comic books, documentaries, and choral works, embedding the spirit of "when disaster strikes, help comes from all sides" into the memory of generations.
This "national rescue" not only saved sixty-one lives but also planted the seed of this spirit in Pinglu. Last year, when a truck carrying apples overturned in Pinglu, local authorities promptly arranged traffic and rescue services. Residents also stepped up, with some even buying apples to help reduce the driver's losses, prompting online comments echoing the familiar phrase. Time has not faded the memory. Today, the "Sixty-One Comrades" memorial hall receives daily visitors, a change attributed largely to improved transportation, which was once a major obstacle to poverty alleviation in Pinglu. The area is now well-connected. A retired local official remarked that such modern living conditions were once unimaginable, representing not just material progress but a renewal of spirit and life.
The incident dates back to February 2, 1960. Workers constructing the Zhangdian to Changle section of the Fengnan Highway were poisoned during tunnel work. An investigation later revealed the poison was administered by two workers holding grievances. Niu Gencun, now 84, one of the three surviving comrades, recalls the freezing night the poison was placed in the pot. He believes the outcome would have been far worse if they had eaten millet porridge instead of sorghum noodle soup. After falling ill, he vomited and lost consciousness. Other workers suffered similar fates. The critical antidote was only available in Beijing and Shanghai. With time short and transport difficult, the local Party committee decided to seek help from the central government. The request moved up the chain, and with central coordination, an aircraft was dispatched from Beijing to airdrop the medicine to Pinglu, where local干部群众 used torches and flashlights to light a makeshift "landing strip." The timely delivery saved all sixty-one workers.
A professor noted that this cross-regional, nationally coordinated rescue was a vivid demonstration of the socialist system's superiority, concretizing the advantage of "pooling resources to accomplish major tasks" and embodying the principle of "putting the people and life first." She suggested it provided an early organizational and spiritual model for subsequent major rescues. For many in Pinglu, like Wu Qiuxia, a deputy chief nurse, the story planted a "spiritual seed" early on. She first heard it during a school trip and later encountered it in her health school textbooks, which fostered a sense of pride. This sentiment is common among locals, for whom the story is a foundational memory.
There was a period where economic pursuits somewhat overshadowed spiritual values, but there seems to be a return now, according to Zhang Zhicheng, an 82-year-old former village Party secretary and voluntary docent at the memorial hall. The hall and five accompanying cave dwellings, built with support from companies including Sinopharm Group Co. Ltd., serve as a local red landmark promoting the spirit of mutual aid. The caves, converted from the original workers' quarters, display historical artifacts and photos. Mr. Zhang, who witnessed the event as a teenager, now dedicates himself to sharing his firsthand account with visitors, believing it is his duty to ensure younger generations understand how the nation mobilized its limited resources to save lives decades ago.
The memorial has also brought renewed activity to the small village of Zhangjiagou, which has only 324 residents, mostly elderly, as younger people have moved away. During holidays, tourists arrive by the busload, and some villagers have begun to benefit from tourism. If the 1960 rescue was a "blitzkrieg" against death, the subsequent decades involved a protracted "war" against poverty. External assistance and internal efforts have combined in Pinglu over the years. Sinopharm Group Co. Ltd., whose predecessor was involved in the 1960 rescue, has maintained a special connection with Pinglu, offering free medical clinics and support for the surviving comrades. Another state-owned enterprise has also provided significant targeted assistance for rural revitalization.
Local initiative remains crucial. Liu Zhanlu, a former soldier and police officer, volunteered to serve as the first Party secretary in Xianliang Village, a major agricultural community. Facing initial challenges, he spent months building trust with villagers. Identifying infrastructure as key, his team secured funding to build roads and irrigation channels and established a fruit sorting center. Following these improvements, they upgraded 1,230 acres of aging apple orchards. Last year, the village successfully sold over 15 million kilograms of apples, and per capita income has exceeded 20,000 yuan, with many households earning substantially more.
Similar progress is evident elsewhere. In Xiniu Village, a "seniors' canteen" has been operating smoothly for 14 years, providing affordable meals for elderly residents, including survivor Niu Gencun, who expresses contentment with his current life. Another survivor, Li Chuangye, 84, remains healthy and is also satisfied, repeatedly expressing gratitude to the Party and government. His daughter, Li Qinghui, reflects that without the national rescue effort, she might not have been born. She sees her father's perseverance and care for her ailing mother as a form of "ordinary greatness," an influence that has been passed down to her son—an "unconscious inheritance."
Over sixty-six years, the spirit born in Pinglu has endured. The president of Pinglu County People's Hospital, who read the story in his youth, says it serves as precious spiritual nourishment for the Chinese nation. The hospital frequently organizes its staff to study the article, reinforcing its values, which have proven important in handling public health emergencies. A department head emphasized that while challenges are inevitable, possessing this spirit ensures that any difficulty can be overcome.
This was demonstrated in early 2020 when medical workers from Pinglu volunteered to support Hubei during the pandemic. Nearly half the hospital staff volunteered. For Nurse Wu, the immediate feeling was not fear but a sense of duty, a direct lineage from the nationwide effort to save Pinglu decades prior—a commitment to life at any cost. Working in a重症病房in Tianmen, she saw the same desperate "look in the eyes" described in the original article. Despite pressure, the medical team reassured patients they could be treated. Upon departure, they were warmly seen off by locals, though Wu felt the credit was shared with supportive drivers, hotel staff, and volunteers, seeing it as a living example of "when disaster strikes, help comes from all sides," where everyone contributes in their own way. She often tells her children that helping others when able is what makes a society better.
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