Chongqing 1976 Photography Studio

Pay attention to the secrets of the city and decrypt the city for you.

Wang's The Secret of the City

Hangzhou is a small city with many parks. It is one of the earliest cities in China to build parks, and it is also one of the most active cities in modern parks.

In addition to one or six parks built by the lake during the Republic of China, after liberation, a children's park was built near Yongjinmen on Nanshan Road, and a zoo was built in Qianwang Memorial Hall not far away. The zoo used to be Liulang Wenying Park.

The reason for setting up the zoo is that the Qianwang Memorial Hall is not a special zoo, but in the past, some animal cages were put in the space of the ancestral hall, where lions and tigers were kept. I vaguely remember that there are birds on display around, and there are chirping birds in the cage.

What impressed me deeply was that the space was cramped, the ground paved with green slate was wet, which was left by washing animal cages, and there was a strong smell of coquettish in the yard.

1962, photographed by zoo staff. Image source @ Hangzhou West Lake Xixi Scenic Area

The head of the zoo is Ji, a simple and honest Shandong native, who should be a cadre from the south. He lives next door to the Qianwang Memorial Zoo.

In addition to Qianwang Memorial Zoo, there was a small zoo at the back of Zhejiang Museum at that time. This pattern was left after the West Lake Expo established the West Lake Museum, and there were also tigers, lions and wolves. The Cultural Revolution was cancelled in the early days, and all animals were included in Hangzhou Zoo.

The following story happened in Hangzhou Zoo. Hangzhou Zoo is located at the foot of Baihe Peak in Dacishan, Hupao Road, adjacent to Hupao Temple and facing Huang Yu. The terrain in the park is complex and changeable, inclining from west to east, with an altitude of 20 meters to 130 meters. 1959 the draft planning of Hangzhou zoo was drawn up, and preparations were started to build a garden road, a small animal house and a tiger hill, but it was interrupted halfway. It was not until 1973 that the zoo project, which had been suspended for many years, finally started construction and was opened for sightseeing during the National Day of 1975. It took only two years to build an area of 20 hectares, of which Uncle Wang, the secret of the city, settled in Hangzhou Zoo in the first year of opening the park.

The main entrance of the park in the early stage of construction Image source @ Hangzhou West Lake Xixi Scenic Area

Now the main entrance photography @ Ajia

1975 autumn, I was deeply impressed, and Deng Xiaoping made a comeback. I clearly remember there was a key word at that time: rectification. Rectify education, railways and ...

That year, I had graduated from middle school and was unemployed for four years. My parents are very worried about this. My mother asks people everywhere. A friend asked, do you want to work in Hangzhou Zoo? Hungry, as long as you have a job, you can go anywhere. Later, I learned that Hangzhou Zoo was going to move from Qianwang Memorial Hall on Nanshan Road to Hushu Road, and the new zoo was ready to open, and people needed to write and draw.

At that time, Chishan Port was a great barrier, and it felt as far away as Lin 'an today, better than staying at home! So I agreed. When I went, the zoo had not been officially moved, and the final finishing work was being done for the construction of the park. Every day, I ride a bike from my home in Mashi Street, cross Nanshan Road and Tiger Road, ride on the high Chishan Port and go to work in the zoo.

Tour guide card photography in the park @ Li Jia

It was an era when materials were still scarce. I don't know how the Hangzhou municipal government made up its mind to build such a large-scale zoo. The new zoo covers an area of 300 mu, sitting west to east, with its back against the mountains, winding, lush trees and convenient transportation. The back door is connected with the Tiger Running Temple.

The overall design concept of the new zoo is to let animals live in the natural jungle environment. Therefore, according to the mountain situation, the whole park is divided into different parks such as birds, mammals and large animals from south to north and from bottom to top. All animals, except raptors, wolves and birds that need to be caged, should be kept in captivity as much as possible, such as Monkey Mountain and Tiger Mountain. In addition, there is a panda house with advanced facilities and supporting animal food workshops.

1973 Hangzhou Zoo Design Master Plan Image Source @ Hangzhou West Lake Xixi Scenic Area

Schematic Diagram of Zoning of Hangzhou Zoo Drawing the Secret Green Fish of the City

Looking back now, in 1975, a series of concepts such as ecological civilization, harmonious relationship between human beings and animals, and animal's right to life are rarely mentioned. At that time, the design idea of Hangzhou Zoo was very advanced. Even now, the function, park distribution and route design of the whole zoo are very reasonable. In the design of the park, elements of natural forests and Jiangnan gardens are also integrated. Seen from a distance, the whole zoo is hidden in the dense forest. From a close distance, there are some small gardens with Jiangnan characteristics, such as snake pavilion, bird pavilion and panda pavilion.

I have a very important motive for working in the zoo. After studying painting and writing for a long time, I can finally come in handy. After the completion of the new garden, there are still many artistic facilities to be done, including sculptures, guide plates, window posters and so on. The zoo belongs to Hangzhou Garden Administration, and there was a powerful art studio at that time. The words on the top of the zoo gate were written by Sha Menghai. There is also a tall reinforced concrete guide plate in the door. Colored glass particles are used for surface treatment, and animal patterns are used to indicate the position of each area. Chen Zhixiang, the designer of the art group, is in charge of this matter. He graduated from Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, and his design is very atmospheric. I admire him very much. In order to catch up with the opening hours, the bureau also convened artists from various subordinate units to participate in the work. I remember there was an artist named Zhang Zhenhua in the Southern District Management Office of the Garden Administration. He is white and gentle, wears glasses, and draws posters on the window of the snake pavilion with gouache. An artist surnamed Zheng in northwest China is responsible for painting posters for windows. Of all people, it seems that my handwriting is the best, so I am responsible for writing all animal introduction cards. On the white-painted iron sheet, I write with a brush in black paint, which is an official script. Because it is an explanation card, the font must be stable and clear.

The photo taken at Hangzhou Zoo during 1996 was once one of the places where every child in Hangzhou had to punch in. Photography @ Ruan Xiao

One of the two places where Hangzhou Xiaoer must punch in, when he was a child, he sat on the back of a tiger and raised his hand. Photographic purple clothes

It's late autumn. Riding to work in the morning, taking Nanshan Road and turning Chishan Port, the air is particularly fresh all the way. Working in such an environment, especially when the sunset passes through the tall camphor tree and shines into the office, feels particularly good.

I usually work overtime at night. About 1974, a murder case occurred in a pavilion at the intersection of Chishan Port and Santaishan Road. At that time, there were no street lamps on that road. If you work overtime at night, it means going back through the dark Chishan port. Coupled with the influence of the murder case, it will be a test of courage for ordinary people. Speaking of overtime, Zhang Zhenhua suggested going home. I would definitely say, you go first. He always said, I'll wait for you. On the way back, I rode through Chishan Port, and it was always dark in front of me, just like entering a completely dark world. I am young, I am excited, but I am not afraid at all, and I am not afraid.

1975 ended and all zoos were relocated. At the same time, set up Siyanjing bus station and police station. In retrospect, this is probably the first overall planning and expansion of the West Lake Scenic Area, and the first large-scale public facilities construction.

After the zoo moved here, something unexpected happened.

Sea lion photography performed in the park @ Li Jia

First, monkeys. After the captive monkeys were put into Monkey Mountain, they jumped out of Monkey Mountain and ran to the trees in the surrounding mountains. It seems that the design has been neglected. I didn't expect monkeys to have such strong jumping ability. This really worries monkey keepers. They set up ladders and climbed trees to catch monkeys. But where can monkeys give in easily? The keeper climbed closer and the monkey jumped further into the tree. Many tourists gathered around Monkey Mountain to watch the arrest and were stunned by this thrilling and funny scene. At that time, the ticket was about 3 cents or 50 cents, and the tourists smiled and said, "Offenders! Today's 5 points are calculated in foreign currency! "

Yuanyang in the lake also fluttered out of the lake and flew into the distant sky. Fortunately, the zoo fed regularly, and the flying mandarin ducks and escaped monkeys came back one after another. Such a large-scale zoo relocation, allowing animals to enter such an environment, managers are indeed inexperienced and have a gradual adaptation period.

Jumping out of Monkey Mountain Illustration @ Zheng Kaijun

The zoo officially opened, and my artistic work came to an end. I was arranged to pick up the ticket at the gate. It is rare for Hangzhou to have such a big place to play. There was a sea of people at the gate of the park, and Xiao Jiahui, who was fat, and I collected tickets together. She wears a pair of glasses and is amiable. With the expansion of the zoo, Xiao Jiahui came with more than 20 unemployed youths from various streets in Xihu District, many of whom returned to the city from Heilongjiang or other rural areas. When they entered the zoo, most of them were assigned to work as keepers, although from their temperament or interest, their original ambition must not be to work in the zoo. Xiao Jiahui's father is Xiao Chuanjiu, a sculptor from Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts. In her spare time, she will tell her father's story. On one occasion, she said that her father had introduced a famous Soviet painter Nikolai Qin to fly to China, and later he defected to the United States. I found Nicholas Fitch's work and liked it very much. I copied it for a long time.

Now the monkeys in the park are taking pictures.

Teenagers don't know what it's like to worry. Even though I'm a hopeless temporary worker, I'm happy. I may be smart. Slowly, I don't know why I became an office handyman, and I listened to the instructions of the leaders to do all kinds of chores, such as going to Houshan Tiger to buy wine at noon. I often use my freedom of work to go to the feed room to see the food prepared for animals. Those animals eat milk, cod liver oil, vitamins and a lot of meat and fruit every day, which makes me very envious.

After the zoo moved here, the biggest move was to "let the tigers go back to the mountains" and let the tigers that had been kept in cages enter the Tiger Mountain of the new zoo.

The requirements of superior leaders are: foolproof. At that time, "foolproof" meant that any mistake was not a simple technical problem. The longer the zoo is open, the greater the pressure on Hushan to open. Is the lake and mountain safe? The leader asked the chief engineer of the zoo to give a clear answer.

At that time, the chief engineer of the zoo was Fu, who graduated from National Central University (the predecessor of Nanjing University). He is a thin and energetic intellectual. I remember him muttering to himself, "According to the law, the vertical jump height of a tiger is three meters ..." And the height of Tiger Mountain is only five or six meters. It depends on the leader whether to let the tiger go or not, and the leader is very entangled.

The lake and mountain in the early days of the park @ Hangzhou West Lake Xixi Scenic Area

There is a reason why the leaders are hesitant about this matter. When the zoo was in the Qianwang Memorial Hall, there was a major accident. After feeding, the breeder forgot to plug in the bolt of the iron cage. A leopard escaped and ran into the toilet in the parking lot of the bus company next door. The keeper rushed to catch it and was caught red-handed by the leopard. When I arrived at the zoo, I saw that the keeper had obvious scars on his face.

1at the end of 975, the new park was open for several months, and the leaders decided to let the tigers out. In order to be foolproof, the zoo invited the fully armed People's Liberation Army. However, the PLA entered the park with weapons. In case the tiger escapes, visitors can move freely in the open zoo, and new hidden dangers will appear. Close the zoo? No, since the new park is opened, it can't be closed casually, and the leaders are in a dilemma. Hesitated, 1976 arrived. On October 8th, 65438+ year/kloc-0, Premier Zhou Enlai passed away, and the national atmosphere was depressed, and the whole country mourned, and entertainment was forbidden for three days. This has brought an opportunity to the "release the tiger to the mountain" plan, that is, closing the park. If you close the park, you can let the PLA in.

During the period of 1979 @, Tiger Mountain and Tiger Photography in Hangzhou Zoo was Jingjing Jingjing Jingjing.

On the second day of the memorial service, Hangzhou Zoo was closed all day. The staff of the zoo are all fenced, which ensures that no outsiders can enter the zoo. The specific scheme of "releasing tigers to the mountains" is divided into safety group and feeding group. Peace preservation corps members are all Class I soldiers of the People's Liberation Army, armed to the teeth, and will kill the tiger in case of any accident or danger. The feeding group is responsible for releasing the tiger, and then scaring the tiger with firecrackers to make it jump to see how high the jumping limit of the tiger is; Dogs and chickens should also be released for tigers to catch and watch the wild performances of tigers. I followed the director of the office and was responsible for serving as a liaison in Hushan.

After careful preparation, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the PLA lined up along the railing of Hushan, and all the rifles were placed on the railing. There is also a machine gun on the pavilion on the south side of Hushan Mountain. Ready, a PLA "Sidou" officer gave the password to be in place, and a dozen soldiers in a class pointed their guns at Hushan and loaded them. Just as the People's Liberation Army was in place, it suddenly heard a gunshot! Everyone doesn't know what happened. All was silent and the air froze for a while. Maybe I was too nervous. A soldier's gun went off. I stood on the edge of the pavilion and saw it clearly. The soldiers themselves were shocked. The officer immediately stepped forward and asked, "What's the matter?" The soldier was dumbfounded and confused. The police officer picked up his gun, pulled open the bolt and checked it. He ordered, "Stand back!" "The soldier quit.

Let the Tiger Return to the Mountain Illustration @ Zheng Kaijun

The tiger was finally released. It walked out of the cage slowly, wondering what was happening outside. The tiger walked into the tiger mountain, a little stunned, not excited and active at all. People can't wait to light firecrackers and throw them into Tiger Mountain. The tiger jumped up when he heard such a loud noise for the first time. However, according to my observation, tigers can only jump less than two meters high. As soon as the firecrackers stopped, the tiger was calm again.

The next step is to see if it will be excited by meeting a living thing, so let the dog go. When a tiger sees a dog, it seems that he doesn't know what a dog is. He seemed frightened and stopped slowly. At first, the dog didn't know what was going on When he faced the tiger face to face, he trembled with fear, stepped back and fell into the ditch around the tiger mountain, panicking.

In this way, the "release the tiger to the mountain" operation ended successfully, and nothing happened except the fire. When the tiger meets chickens and dogs, it shows that some abilities of the domesticated tiger are seriously degraded. If today, I don't know how many media will report this action, and at that time, the information was blocked and it was absolutely impossible to spread it. It can be said that people in Hangzhou basically don't know this "returning tigers to the mountains" action.

Now the tigers in Tiger Mountain in the garden

1976 Spring has arrived. The zoo is full of vitality, and all kinds of plants grow new green. This is the first time I feel such a rich spring.

Now Hangzhou Zoo Elephant Photography @ Tian Zheng

After working there for half a year, I met many new colleagues. Left-handed Lu is one of those newly recruited employees. He is in charge of the zoo. He has been living by the West Lake and is familiar with the life in the scenic spot. He often teaches me some interesting things, such as catching frogs. On duty at night, Lu made himself a fork, took me with him and took a flashlight to catch frogs. There are many frogs around Youqin Lake in the Snake Pavilion. Every time you catch one, you can be sure. Then you go to the office to cook.

It rained cats and dogs in spring, and all the rain on the mountain flowed down the mountain path. It rained heavily for several days. One morning, when we were on duty, we found that the east wall of the whole zoo near Tiger Run Road was completely washed away by flash floods. Those big birds, swans and herons all swam to Tiger Run Road. Tigers can also accumulate 30 centimeters of water when they run.

However, spring is also beautiful. Spring is the season of animal estrus, but some animals are in estrus that tourists can't see anyway, such as the red-crowned crane. The habit of red-crowned crane courtship in estrus is five or six o'clock in the morning. It has long legs and good jumping ability, flapping its wings gently and dancing! In such an environment, I completely forgot my situation for love.

Animal Photography in MengMeng in the Garden @ Tian Zheng

Pickpockets were rampant in the zoo, and many tourists had their wallets stolen while playing. The leader asked me to learn to pick a thief. I caught it for several months and achieved fruitful results. If the thief is caught, he will be sent to the police station, so I became a frequent visitor to the Longjing police station. There, I had the opportunity to see all kinds of hopeless, depressed and lost people, which I didn't expect when I went to the zoo.

/kloc-in the summer of 0/976, I went to the Longjing police station and the police were looking at a piece of paper. what did i say? It is said that this is "the last words of the Prime Minister". I also took a look. I was immediately moved by what was inside. The death of the Prime Minister is a great blow to the people of China. People don't know their future, they are at a loss and confused.

One day, I climbed the hillside to the office and suddenly found a brand-new piece of paper torn in half on the ground. I picked it up and put it together. It was a person's name. Somehow, I have a feeling that this man will take my place in the zoo. So I decided to quit my job at the zoo. 1976 65438+In February, I was assigned by the sub-district office to work in Hangzhou Wool Sweater Factory. During the period of 1985, when I returned to Hangzhou Gardens and Cultural Relics Bureau, my identity, our country and the situation of the zoo all changed greatly.

Leopard, don't get lost. Photography Bruto Cat Adult

References:

[1] Some old photos of Hangzhou Zoo come from the official number of Xixi Scenic Area of West Lake in Hangzhou, "Oral History of West Lake, Try Our Best to Make Animals Happy".