Liang Jun (tractor Driver)
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Liang Jun (; April 1930 – 14 January 2020) was believed to be the first female tractor driver in Communist China who later became a
folk hero A folk hero or national hero is a type of hero – real, fictional or mythology, mythological – with their name, personality and deeds embedded in the popular consciousness of a people, mentioned frequently in Folk music, folk songs, folk tales ...
and
model worker Model worker ( zh, s=劳动模范, p=láodòng mófàn, abbreviated as 劳模 or ''láomó'') is a term in the People's Republic of China that refers to a worker who exhibits some or all of the traits appropriate to the ideal of the Socialism wi ...
. She is depicted on the one yuan banknote of China's
third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...
renminbi The renminbi ( ; currency symbol, symbol: Yen and yuan sign, ¥; ISO 4217, ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB), also known as the Chinese yuan, is the official currency of the China, People's Republic of China. The renminbi is issued by the Peop ...
series. She served as a politician, both provincial and national, and advisor on agricultural matters. She is celebrated for breaking down class and gender barriers.


Early life

Liang was born in 1930 in Mingshui County,
Heilongjiang Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...
; her family were peasants and so gave her to a nearby landlord to be a child bride when she was twelve. When Liang was 15, the province was liberated during World War II. As the
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
(CCP) came into power, Liang was allowed to go to school. Tina Mai Chen, a specialist in Chinese history, interviewed Liang in 1996; Chen says that "She took on the idea of getting an education, of also challenging the ideas of her fellow male students and other teachers to show that women could do the work". In 1947, Liang began a work-study program at Mengya teaching school in Dedu County. Here she read books on workers ethics and powerful women, and saw
Soviet films The cinema of the Soviet Union includes films produced by the constituent republics of the Soviet Union reflecting elements of their pre-Soviet culture, language and history, albeit they were all regulated by the central government in Moscow. ...
(including ''Heroine'', about a Soviet woman who takes on a Nazi army) and exhibitions that depicted female tractor drivers. She chose this occupation, going into further education at a specialist tractor driving school. In 1948, the province began a tractor driving course, and Mengya was given three places for their students; Liang signed up, not knowing she was the only female until it began. The course had 70 students in total.


Career

Chen notes that Liang's dedication "fits into the Socialist project of glorifying the worker". Part of the rise of the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
(PRC) involved this, termed by Chen as "celebrating women in particular roles". Liang is popularly seen as China's first female tractor driver, though this may not entirely be the case: before the PRC promoted Liang as such, other women may have been training to drive tractors in other parts of the country. The PRC promoted the
model worker Model worker ( zh, s=劳动模范, p=láodòng mófàn, abbreviated as 劳模 or ''láomó'') is a term in the People's Republic of China that refers to a worker who exhibits some or all of the traits appropriate to the ideal of the Socialism wi ...
concept by creating a generation of 'first women' in various roles, and "no occupation asmore promoted than that of the female tractor driver". Though she became a folk hero across China because of the image as a first woman, Liang continued to work, and was said to have "devoted her whole life to farm machinery". Her rise to notoriety involved stories spreading across the country that she, a woman, took tractors out to explore the wilderness. Liang's story inspired other women to become tractor drivers, and the first all-female team was formed in 1950, with Liang made its leader. In 1951, the local government funded Liang to receive further training from the newly created Beijing Agricultural Machinery Academy, and the Beijing Agricultural Mechanization College in 1952. Liang returned to her province and began working for the government there, heading up agricultural development programs. As a folk hero, in December 1949 she was selected as the CCP's delegate for the Asian Women's Conference. In 1957, Liang became one of the agricultural instructors to the explorations into China's northern wilderness. She continued as an instructor for the 1960 expedition. When the first tractor manufacturing plant in China was opened in
Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...
in 1959, Liang was involved. In 1962, an image of her driving a tractor became the face of the one yuan banknote. Between 1954 and 1966, Liang was elected to be a member of the
National People's Congress The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...
on three consecutive occasions. She continued to work in her province's government agricultural sector until she retired in 1990. Her life is included in Chinese primary school textbooks, and films have been made about her.


Death

Liang died on 14 January 2020 at the age of 90 in
Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...
. She had been suffering a long illness, with her son reporting that she had died peacefully after putting up "a good fight". In the years before her death, Liang had suffered various illnesses, becoming bedridden.


Notes


References

{{reflist 1930 births 2020 deaths Chinese women farmers Chinese Communist Party politicians Politicians from Harbin People of the Cultural Revolution 20th-century Chinese women politicians