Liu Xiaogang carries his "medicine pot" while doing real work for the people
Carrying his "medicine pot" while doing real work for the people - remembering Liu Xiaogang, village director of Shadui Village, Yuqing County, Guizhou
Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ping
In the darkness, he braved heavy rain, limping along, to visit poor households and ask about their wellbeing; during his illness, he carried his "medicine pot" and went to villagers' homes three times to coordinate the land acquisition issue for the road linking the village groups; before he died, migrant workers bought plane tickets specially to return home and visit him...
On September 2 this year, Liu Xiaogang, 52, village director of Shadui Village, Yuqing County, Guizhou, unfortunately died of illness. More than 600 villagers spontaneously came to see him off, and his spirit of wholeheartedly serving the people and being willing to devote himself has remained in the hearts of the masses.
?From village epidemic prevention worker to village cadre: more than 30 years of steady service to the people
In 1983, 18-year-old Liu Xiaogang followed in his father's footsteps and became a village epidemic prevention worker in Shadui Village, Guanxing Town. His main work was giving livestock vaccinations, performing operations, acting as a midwife, and so on. He did this for 30 years, treating tens of thousands of livestock and recovering several million yuan in losses for villagers.
"Liu Xiaogang is one of the most down-to-earth grassroots epidemic prevention workers I have ever seen. Although epidemic prevention workers in other villages changed five or six times, and his annual income from epidemic prevention work was only enough for motorcycle fuel, he always stayed in this poor mountain village serving the people," said Pi Zhengxi, a staff member of the Guanxing Town Agricultural Service Center.
It is precisely because of the dedication of grassroots epidemic prevention workers such as Liu Xiaogang that Shadui Village's poultry and livestock breeding industry has continued to grow and strengthen in recent years, and many villagers have escaped poverty and become better off through breeding.
Starting in 2004, Liu Xiaogang, who enjoyed a good reputation among the masses, was successively elected deputy secretary of the Shadui Village Party branch and deputy director of Shadui Village, and in 2013 was elected village director of Shadui Village with a high vote.
After being elected a village cadre, Liu Xiaogang's heart for serving the people grew even "warmer."
Xu Daiquan, a villager from the Tianba group of Shadui Village, still remembers that late one night in May 2009, rain was pouring down and the old wooden house where he lived was about to collapse. Just then, Liu Xiaogang appeared before him covered in mud and water, walking with a limp, and said: "Old Xu, hurry and go. It's not safe here. We have to move you tonight." Only afterward did Xu Daiquan learn that Liu Xiaogang had taken a heavy fall on the dark, slippery mountain road. After the rainstorm, Liu Xiaogang immediately helped him apply for national funding for renovating dilapidated houses so he could rebuild the dangerous house.
?In and out of the hospital eight times, all for 20 practical livelihood projects
In September 2015, Guanxing Town organized all town cadres to go to Zunyi Medical College for physical examinations. Liu Xiaogang, who had often felt unwell in recent years, was diagnosed with "late-stage lung cancer with liver metastasis" and urgently needed hospitalization. But during a treatment period of just one year, Liu Xiaogang went in and out of the hospital eight times, citing the many matters in rural areas and improvements in his condition.
"He did it to fulfill the 20 livelihood promises he made when campaigning for village director," said Zhao Song, Party secretary of Guanxing Town. During treatment at home, Liu Xiaogang every day carried a "medicine pot" holding more than two jin of Chinese herbal medicine to the sites of the 20 livelihood projects to inspect project quality and progress. Whenever villagers smelled the strong herbal medicine aroma coming from his "medicine pot," they could not help but feel a lump in their noses.
Zhou Jinli, deputy director of the Shadui Village committee, told reporters that in the last three months of Liu Xiaogang's life, in order to coordinate the land acquisition issue for the road linking the Liangshui group to the village committee, he carried his "medicine pot" and went to villagers' homes three times. The villagers whose land was involved were moved by his spirit of wholeheartedly serving the people and actively cooperated. And this road linking village groups, benefiting more than 1,200 villagers, was completed 20 days after his death.
Town cadres spontaneously donated money for him; migrant farmers flew home to visit him
Liu Xiaogang cared deeply about the masses, and his deeds also moved local cadres and masses. Wang Yunlan, a migrant worker who ordinarily lived frugally, specially bought a plane ticket from Chengdu to Zunyi in July this year just to visit Liu Xiaogang, who was seriously ill.
"In 2011, when I was working in Guangzhou, I lost my ID card, and Director Liu helped me get a replacement without a second thought. For a village director who treats villagers like family, my heart is full of gratitude and emotion," Wang Yunlan said.
"One after another, Liu Xiaogang's acts of wholeheartedly serving the people are too numerous to count. But when he died, there was only 2,100 yuan in his salary card, and the new house built in 2014 was only completed after his two daughters provided 50,000 to 60,000 yuan," Zhao Song said. Moved by Liu Xiaogang's deeds, town cadres spontaneously donated nearly 30,000 yuan for him.
On September 2 this year, just as Shadui Village's 20 practical livelihood projects were about to be completed one after another, Liu Xiaogang, the "good cadre" in the eyes of villagers, passed away, but the work notebook recording "Tianguo group Lin Guoquan, 2 people; Yangou group Huang Anqing, 1 person, short of grain, need to be delivered soon..." still reflects his wholehearted service to the people.