The Awardee of Medal of the Republic—Shen Jilan“共和國(guó)勛章”獲得者—申紀(jì)蘭

張建

她曾榮獲“全國(guó)勞動(dòng)模范”“全國(guó)優(yōu)秀共產(chǎn)黨員”“全國(guó)脫貧攻堅(jiān)奮進(jìn)獎(jiǎng)”“改革先鋒”等稱(chēng)號(hào)。但她只把榮譽(yù)看作一種鞭策。她“勿忘人民、勿忘勞動(dòng)”的話語(yǔ)，成了自己對(duì)人生的一種詮釋。她就是“共和國(guó)勛章”獲得者——申紀(jì)蘭。

Shen Jilan， who lived a remarkable life， was the only deputy toattend 13 consecutive sessions of the National People’s Congress（NPC） established in 1954. She was a 1）pioneer who encouragedwomen in her hometown to work instead of staying at home， and her2）proposal for 3）gender pay equality was written into the first constitutionof the People’s Republic of China.

She was born in 1929 in a remote village in PingShun County，Shanxi Province. As soon as she married a man from Xigou Village，she actively participated in labor.

In 1951， the government of Xigou formed a cooperative to boostfarming. Shen Jilan was appointed deputy head of the cooperativeand started to persuade women to join men in doing agricultural work.

However， Shen soon encountered a barrier—pay inequality. Men got10 work points a day， but women only got a maximum of five points.So， She organized many contests to plant and 4）fertilize seeds to provethat women can do the same work like men. After that， the women inXigou were given equal pay.

In 60-plus years serving as a NPC deputy， Shen made 5）numerousproposals covering education， transportation， the conservation anddevelopment of water resources and many others， most of which wereclosely related to benefiting farmers.

In 1973， she was appointed the head of the provincial women’sfederation and moved to the capital， Taiyuan. However， she refused toreceive any salary， a house or other benefits for her new position. Afterserving the provincial women’s federation for 10 years， Shen returnedto Xigou Village， where she was given another task—help fellowvillagers get rid of poverty.

Shen opened the first collectively owned enterprise， a 6）ferroalloyplant， in her village in 1985， and later built a walnut oil factory and acannery. These projects became the pillars of Xigou’s economic growth.

In 2013， Shen shut down the ferroalloy plant as it failed to meetthe country’s standards on environmental protection. Later， sheproposed the closures of a number of companies that had high energyconsumption， high levels of pollution and excessive emissions， and setup environmentally friendly businesses.

Shen Jilan was awarded the Medal of the Republic in 2019 for herremarkable contributions. She died at the age of 91 in June， 2020， afterbattling a number of illnesses. Up until her final moment， she was stillraising suggestions on poverty alleviation and improvements to ruralinfrastructure.

1） pioneer n. 先驅(qū)；拓荒者

2） proposal n. 建議；提議

3） gender n. 性別

4） fertilize v. 施肥

5） numerous adj. 許多的；數(shù)量龐大的

6） ferroalloy n. 鐵合金

申紀(jì)蘭的一生不平凡，自1954 年全國(guó)人民代表大會(huì)成立以來(lái)，她是唯一一位連續(xù)13 屆參加會(huì)議的代表。她是鼓勵(lì)家鄉(xiāng)婦女出去工作而不是待在家里的先驅(qū)，她倡導(dǎo)的“男女同工同酬”被寫(xiě)入中華人民共和國(guó)第一部憲法。

1929年，她出生于山西省平順縣的一個(gè)偏遠(yuǎn)村莊。一嫁到西溝村，她就積極參加勞動(dòng)。

1951年，西溝村成立初級(jí)農(nóng)業(yè)生產(chǎn)合作社，以促進(jìn)農(nóng)業(yè)發(fā)展。申紀(jì)蘭被任命為合作社副社長(zhǎng)，開(kāi)始勸說(shuō)婦女和男子一起干農(nóng)活。然而，她很快就遇到了勞動(dòng)報(bào)酬不平等的問(wèn)題——男社員干一天活計(jì)10 個(gè)工分，而女社員只能計(jì)5 個(gè)。為此，她組織了許多勞動(dòng)競(jìng)賽，如播種、施肥，以證明女性可以和男性做同樣的工作。在那之后，西溝村的女性得到了同等的勞動(dòng)報(bào)酬。

在60多年的人大代表生涯中，申紀(jì)蘭提出了許多建議，涉及教育、交通、水資源保護(hù)和開(kāi)發(fā)等諸多領(lǐng)域，其中大多數(shù)都與造福農(nóng)民密切相關(guān)。

1973年，她被任命為山西省省婦聯(lián)主席，并搬到省會(huì)太原工作。然而，她拒絕為她的新職位領(lǐng)取任何工資、房子或其他福利。在省婦聯(lián)工作了10 年之后，申紀(jì)蘭回到西溝村，在那里她接到了另一項(xiàng)任務(wù)——幫助村民脫貧。

1985年，申紀(jì)蘭在西溝村開(kāi)辦了第一家集體所有制企業(yè)——鐵合金廠，后來(lái)又建了一家核桃油廠和一家罐頭廠。這些項(xiàng)目成為西溝村經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)的支柱。

2013年，申紀(jì)蘭關(guān)停了這家鐵合金工廠，因?yàn)樗鼪](méi)有達(dá)到國(guó)家的環(huán)保標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。后來(lái)，她又建議關(guān)停一批高耗能、高污染、高排放的企業(yè)，建立環(huán)保企業(yè)。

2019年，申紀(jì)蘭因?yàn)樽龀龅淖吭截暙I(xiàn)被授予“共和國(guó)勛章”。2020年6月她在與多種疾病作斗爭(zhēng)后去世，享年91歲。直到最后一刻，她還在為扶貧和改善農(nóng)村基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施提建議。