75.8 Disaster
This work is a documentary novel based on the true historical data of the catastrophic flood in Zhumadian in 1975. The book consists of five volumes and sixty chapters, with a two-line narrative: the actual scene of the disaster in 1975 as the main line, and the oral narratives of descendants in 2025 as the auxiliary line. It completely restores the century-old flood that caused chain failures of more than 60 reservoirs including Banqiao.
In July 1975, southern Henan suffered a severe drought for 100 days. All the people in the ancient village worked hard to resist the drought, and the green brick courtyards and stone streets and alleys were peaceful with fireworks. Reservoir keeper Lin Wangsheng secretly made an engagement with the village girl Su Wanhe, and they agreed to get engaged on the tenth day of August. The two exchanged tokens at the ancient ferry, laying the foundation for a poignant love affair. At that time, the reservoir had been storing water beyond its capacity for a long time, the gate body was corroded, warnings were delayed, and multiple hidden dangers were accumulated. Extreme torrential rain began on August 4. In the early morning of August 8, the Banqiao dam collapsed, and the nine-meter flood wall swallowed the village. Su Wanhe clung to the entrance of the village waiting for his lover, but was swallowed by the flood. Lin Wangsheng stood on the top of the dam and witnessed the farewell. He was heartbroken for the rest of his life and never married.
Floods destroyed ancient buildings and swallowed thousands of lives. Two thousand villagers were trapped on the isolated island of the blue brick supply and marketing cooperative. The People's Liberation Army carried out searches and rescue operations on foot, wading through rivers and rafts, airdropping supplies, burying the dead, and conducting epidemic prevention and treatment. After the disaster, everyone carried out dredging and reconstruction, the national water conservancy system was comprehensively rectified, and the original site of the Banqiao Reservoir was rebuilt and a warning monument was erected.
Decades later, hydrology practitioner Chen Xiaogen and his daughter returned to their hometown to visit survivors, compile oral historical materials and shoot documentary short films. There is a strong contrast between the old and new reservoirs and the people's livelihood in the past and present. It not only records the painful lessons of natural disasters caused by human negligence, but also uses the tragic love between Lin Wangsheng and Su Wanhe to depict the joys and sorrows of ordinary people under disasters and warn the world not to forget danger. Each chapter is accompanied by an ancient-style opening poem, and the end of the chapter follows a traditional review and conclusion, which is documentary-rich and tear-jerking.
Purpose: Use complete official historical data to restore the full picture of the Banqiao dam collapse in 1975, and objectively reveal multiple omissions such as shortcomings in engineering design, neglect of gate operation and maintenance, prioritization of drought relief and flood control, paralysis of communication early warning, and paralysis and laxity at the grassroots level. It proves that extreme disasters are not just natural force majeure, but human negligence can amplify the scale of disasters. It uses the history of dam collapse to set a permanent alarm and illustrates the hard-core practical truth that "flood prevention is no small matter, and danger must not be forgotten when living in peace".