Huang Wanli

Huang Wanli

Huang Wanli (August 20, 1911 - August 27, 2001) is a famous expert in hydraulic engineering in China and professor of Tsinghua University. Huang Yanpei, the third son of a famous educator and revolutionary in modern times, graduated from Tangshan Jiaotong University (now Southwest Jiaotong University) in his early years, and later received a doctorate in engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. He was the first Chinese to obtain a doctorate in engineering from this university. He was wrongly classified as a rightist for opposing the Sanmenxia water conservancy project on the Yellow River. In his life, Huang Wanli mainly opposed two water conservancy projects: the Sanmenxia Project and the Three Gorges Project. He died in Beijing on August 27, 2001.

Life of the characters

Huang Wanli, whose ancestral home is Chuansha county (now Shanghai), is the third son of Huang Yanpei, a famous educator and revolutionist. Huang Wanli studied in Wuxi Industrial School in 1924, entered Tangshan Jiaotong University (now Southwest Jiaotong University) in 1927, and graduated in 1932. In 1933, he served as a trainee engineer of Hangzhou Jiang railway and participated in the construction of jiangshanjiang railway bridge. In 1934, he went to the United States to study. In 1935, he received a master's degree from Cornell University. In 1937, he received a doctor's degree in engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. Huang Wanli was the first Chinese to receive a doctor's degree. Mr. Huang Wanli's wife is Ding Yujun, the youngest daughter of Kuomintang veteran Ding Weifen, who works in Tsinghua University. In 1945, he served as an inspection engineer of the Ministry of water resources in Nanjing. From 1947 to April 1949, he served as director and chief engineer of Gansu Water Conservancy Bureau and member of Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission. In March 1949, I went to Hong Kong. He went to Shanghai in April 1949, resigned from his post in Lanzhou in May, and went to Hong Kong via Guangzhou. In September 1949, he went to Shenyang and served as a consultant of the northeast water resources administration. In June 1950, he returned to Tangshan Jiaotong University to teach. He was transferred to Tsinghua University in 1953. In the following years, he wrote important academic monographs flood estimation and engineering hydrology. In April 1957, the construction of Sanmenxia Dam on the Yellow River started. In the same month, the Ministry of water resources of China convened more than 70 scholars and hydraulic engineers to discuss the water conservancy planning scheme of Sanmenxia on the Yellow River. Huang Wanli was the only participant who opposed the construction of Sanmenxia reservoir under the saying that "the sage comes out, the Yellow River is clear" at that time, and held a seven day debate with other experts at the meeting. On June 19, 1957, Huang Wanli published his prose "Hua Cong Xiao Yu" in the Journal of Tsinghua University, which was criticized by Mao Zedong as "what are these words?" And published it in the people's daily under the title of "what words". "What words" was also used as the column title of the right-wing articles published in the people's daily for criticism. In 1969, he was sent to work in Poyang Lake, Jiangxi Province. In 1974, he was arrested and returned to Tsinghua University for criticism. During this period, he completed the general plan for harnessing the Yellow River. On February 26, 1980, he was "rehabilitated" by the Party committee of Tsinghua University. In 1998, Huang Wanli was approved by Tsinghua University to teach postgraduates. Huang Wanli advocated that we should start from the history and characteristics of the geomorphology of rivers and their basins, grasp the movement trend of rivers in an all-round way, understand and respect the laws of nature, and make the best use of the situation as the guiding ideology of river control strategy. His theory has a wide influence in academic circles. All his life, he insisted on opposing the construction of Sanmenxia water conservancy project on the Yellow River and the Three Gorges water conservancy project on the Yangtze River, not because he was a man with a strong head, but because of his basic idea of water conservancy and his correct evaluation of China's water resources. However, his strategy of harnessing the Yellow River and his opinions on the Three Gorges project were not adopted by policy makers. After he was "rehabilitated", he wrote to the central government many times to elaborate his views But no response was received. In the month of his death, Mr. Huang Wanli left a will to the students who visited him. The full text is as follows: "min'er, Shen Ying, husband and wife Shu, written by Wanli's old hand, said that river control was originally a national affair. Among the four strategies of" storing "," blocking "," Dredging "and" digging ", dike" blocking "should still be the main one. The Hankou section has a strong dike. The steel sheet pile should be driven near the water surface of the dike, and the stone should be built on the back surface of the dike to ensure the safety of the dike. Look forward to your attention. Wanli will, August 8, 2001. (there is a small line at the end) tens of thousands fewer people will die. " Apart from the water conservancy of the Yangtze River and the safety of Hankou, he didn't mention a word about himself or his family. His deep feelings and great love like fire were all devoted to the people of his motherland and the rivers for which he had exhausted his life's energy and endured endless humiliation and pain.

Academic leader

In China, we all think that academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or the Chinese Academy of Engineering (now there are academicians of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) are all learned people, especially if they are academicians of the two academies. The fact is that many learned scientists in China are not academicians. For example, Professor Ma Yinchu, former president of Zhejiang University and later president of Peking University, and Professor Huang Wanli, former Water Conservancy Department of Tsinghua University, are all learned scientists in China, but they do not have the title of academician. from the early days of the founding of the people's Republic of China to the 1970s, the rapid growth of China's population brought huge social, economic and ecological problems to China. Now we all know that Ma Yinchu was wrongly criticized for "giving birth to hundreds of millions more people.". At that time, there were not a few intellectuals who had the same opinion as Professor Ma Yinchu. However, under political pressure, Professor Ma Yinchu was the only one who could stick to his point of view and dare to tell the truth. Professor Huang Wanli once said: "my opinions on the Three Gorges project have been repeatedly submitted to the Central Committee of the CPC, six times in succession, and repeatedly frustrated. I asked the leaders of the Central Committee to give me 30 minutes to listen to my report so that I could explain the problems clearly. Unfortunately, there was no such opportunity. At that time, Sanmenxia was still open for seven days. Now no one has argued with me, and my different opinions are not published in magazines. I can't see the consequences after the completion of the Three Gorges Project. If you can still see it, please remember it for me. I hope my words are not true, otherwise the loss will be too great. " In 1957, Professor Huang Wanli opposed the construction of Sanmenxia Dam on the Yellow River. Don't other scientists and engineers know the simplest reason that sediment will deposit in the reservoir? Professor Huang Wanli was beaten to the right and lost the right to teach. After 1992, Professor Huang Wanli wrote six letters to the leaders of the CPC Central Committee stating that the Three Gorges Dam Project on the Yangtze River will never be built. In China, to be a true intellectual, we should not only have knowledge, but also tell the truth, not be afraid of political and academic repression, persist in opposing wrong decisions, and even risk our lives. Professor Ma Yinchu and Professor Huang Wanli are the models of Chinese intellectuals, and they are the academic masters without the title of academician.

Be drawn to the right

In the first half of 1957, the Sanmenxia Project was about to start. Huang Wanli told the students his views on the Sanmenxia Project in the hydrology class. First, the reservoir will be silted up soon after it is completed. As a result, the possible flood in the downstream will be moved to the upstream, which will become an inevitable man-made disaster. Second, there is no basis for the so-called saying that "the sage comes out, the Yellow River is clear". Because the bed forming material of the lower Yellow river bed is sand, even if the water is released from the reservoir, the sand in the bed must be carried down. In the classroom, he disdained the saying of "sage comes out, Huang Heqing", which makes people feel that this kind of saying is due to political flattery and lacks the basic scientific spirit. As early as may 1956, Huang Wanli put forward to the Yellow River Basin Planning Committee "opinions on the current planning method of Sanmenxia Reservoir on the Yellow River". This article was published in the eighth issue of China Water Conservancy in 1957, and included in the information collection of Sanmenxia water conservancy project seminar (printed by the Ministry of water resources and electric power in April 1958). The opinion completely negated the Soviet experts' plan for Sanmenxia reservoir, rather than holding different opinions only on individual issues. During the anti rightist period, it is "anti party" to give advice to a party branch secretary. He pointed out that Vice Premier Deng Zihui's report was "incorrect". This sentence alone is enough for the Rightists. On November 25, 1958, the Sanmenxia Project began to intercept the Yellow River. In June 1960, the high dam was built to 340 meters and began to stop the flood. In September of the same year, the sluice was closed to store water and stop the sediment. This was a big siltation of the Weihe River above Tongguan, which destroyed 800000 mu of fertile land and forced a small town to evacuate. The water level in the reservoir is rising, and the farmers in the reservoir area are leaving their hometown in tears. Right in the middle of Huang Wanli's foresight. As a matter of fact, Huang Wanli only spoke the scientific truth about the Yellow River, sediment and Sanmenxia Dam Based on the conscience of a scientist, but he was defeated by non democratic decision-making and became an "anti party and anti socialist rightist". Therefore, the "two tunnels and four pipes" scheme for the reconstruction of Sanmenxia Project was established. The four reconstructed steel pipes were put into operation in July 1966, and the two additional tunnels were built in August 1967 and August 1968 respectively. The siltation of the reservoir began to slow down, the sediment discharge capacity was still insufficient, and the "tail up" siltation of the riverbed above Tongguan continued. Although facts have proved that the truth is on Huang Wanli's side, it is sad that some people are angry with Huang Wanli who has put forward correct opinions. In 1961, Huang Wanli "was ordered to work in Miyun, live with Changli migrant workers, eat and work together, and live half underground." During the cultural revolution, he was even demoted to dig toilets in Sanmenxia as a punishment. In 1964, Huang Wanli had a chance to take off the rightist hat. In a meeting with Huang Wanli, Mao Zedong said: "I've read your son Huang Guanhong's poems, and they are very good. I love reading them very much." I hope Huang Wanli can check them and "take off his hat" according to the situation. Huang Wanli wrote to Mao Zedong that there was no profound knowledge about the Sanmenxia issue

Chinese PinYin : Huang Wan Li