Hongqi Canal

The Hongqi Canal is a water conservancy project in Linzhou, Anyang of Henan Province. From 1960 to 1969, to solve the water shortage that had troubled the locality for hundreds of years, the people of Linxian County (present-day Linzhou) spent nearly 10 years digging a 1,500-kilometer-long canal on the cliffs of the Taihang Mountains. About 100,000 people joined the project: They flattened 1,250 hills, erected 151 aqueducts, dug through 211 tunnels, built 12,408 structures of various kinds, and used 22.25 million cubic meters of earth and stone.

The Hongqi Canal improved the Linxian people's living environment and ended their long history of dire water scarcity due to frequent drought. The canal was therefore called by the locals a "canal of life" and "canal of happiness" and also reputed as a "man-made heavenly river," a "miracle of China," and the "eighth wonder in the world history of water conservancy projects." It was built at a time when China suffered from natural disasters over three consecutive years and great economic difficulties, but the Linxian people, in the spirit of the mountain-moving Yu Gong, worked a wonder on the Taihang Mountains against unimaginable obstacles just with hammers, drill rods, and their hands. The self-reliance, endurance, unity, cooperation, and selfless dedication they displayed during this large-scale project have given birth to the spirit of the Hongqi Canal.

Since the reform and opening up began in the late 1970s, the local people have injected new elements into this spirit, combining the Chinese nation's traditional virtue of hard work with the realities of the new era. Working in this spirit, they have turned Linzhou from an impoverished mountainous county into a modern place supported by eco-tourism.

紅旗渠

紅旗渠位于河南省安陽市林州市，是20世紀60年代林縣（今林州市）人民為了解決千百年來干旱缺水的難題，在太行山懸崖峭壁上修建的引漳入林的水利工程。紅旗渠全長1500千米，參與修建人數近10萬，耗時近10年（1960—1969）。該工程共削平了1250座山頭，架設151座渡槽，開鑿211個隧洞，修建各種建筑物12408座，挖砌土石達2225萬立方米。如把這些土石壘筑成高2米、寬3米的墻，可縱貫祖國南北，把廣州與哈爾濱連接起來。

紅旗渠的建成徹底改善了林縣人民靠天等雨的惡劣生存環境，結束了林縣十年九旱、水貴如油的苦難歷史，紅旗渠被當地人民稱為“生命渠” “幸福渠”，也被譽為“人工天河”“新中國奇跡”“世界水利第八大奇跡”。在當時三年自然災害和國家經濟困難的大背景下，林縣人民以愚公移山精神，自帶工具，自備口糧，風餐露宿，靠著“一錘、一釬、一雙手”，創造出太行山上的人間奇跡，孕育了“自力更生，艱苦創業，團結協作，無私奉獻”的紅旗渠精神。

改革開放以來，林州人民不斷賦予紅旗渠精神新的內涵，將中華民族艱苦奮斗的傳統美德與時代精神結合起來，譜寫了氣壯山河的“戰太行、出太行、富太行”創業三部曲，實現了林州由山區貧困縣向現代化新興城市、生態旅游城市的跨越。