his black hair turned white, he wrote his life-long love on the blue sky of the motherland｜alumni returned to hunan and met with outstanding alumni
2024-09-19
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editor's note
the spirit of hunan is to care about the world and dare to be the first. in 2024, the hunan provincial party committee and the provincial government issued a call for "alumni to return to hunan" to the whole country, and changsha city responded positively. changsha evening news and hunan normal university affiliated high school formed an "alumni return to hunan" search team and went to beijing, shanghai, zhuhai and other places to conduct in-depth interviews with hunan alumni who are shining in various fields. starting today, this newspaper will launch a series of reports on "alumni return to hunan-outstanding alumni face to face" to encourage outstanding alumni and young talents from all over the world to gather surging momentum for the construction of a modern new hunan and changsha's full efforts to build a global r&d center city.
【business card】
zhang luqian is a famous radar and space electronics technology expert in my country. he was born in changsha, hunan in march 1926. he was admitted to hunan guangyi middle school (now the affiliated middle school of hunan normal university) in 1942. he studied hard in the war and graduated from the department of electrical engineering of tsinghua university in 1951. he worked in the communications department of the general staff of the people's liberation army, the fifth academy of the ministry of national defense, the seventh ministry of machine building, the ministry of aeronautics and astronautics, and the china aerospace corporation. he was elected as an academician of the chinese academy of engineering in 1995. he has won the special prize and the first prize of the national science and technology progress award.
【character sketch】
as a teenager, he walked out of the war and was determined to study to save the country; as a young man, he joined the army and used a few cans to resist the electronic interference of the us military, starting his radar life. after the founding of new china, he devoted himself to the aerospace industry and presided over the development of my country's first generation of air defense missile guidance radar, helping to shoot down the us u-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft five times. he presided over the development of the microwave unified measurement and control system, realizing the launch and positioning of my country's first synchronous communication satellite. he participated in the research of my country's communication, meteorology, remote sensing, navigation and other application satellites, as well as manned space flight and lunar exploration projects, and made significant contributions to the development of china's aerospace industry.
changsha evening news special all-media reporters yang weiran and zhang yanyan
in early summer in beijing, the sun is shining and the wind is smooth. at the agreed time, the "alumni return to hunan" search team came to the residence of mr. zhang luqian, an academician of the chinese academy of engineering, in dongcheng district for an interview. "you are all from hunan, right? my home is in huanghua town, changsha county. fellow villagers are here, come in, come in..." when entering the academician's home, the 98-year-old elder immediately stood up and greeted everyone with a friendly smile. he is tall and thin, with white hair, but he is energetic and elegant. listening to the old man reviewing his life journey is like listening to a neighbor's grandfather telling about his incomparable love and loyalty to my country's national defense and aerospace industry. his life is like a wonderful and magnificent painting, which deeply inspires people's souls.
studying during war:
"as long as the teacher has food to eat, you will have food to eat"
"classmates, stand up and take responsibility for the rise and fall of the world!..." recalling his experience of studying in hunan when he was young, academician zhang luqian said affectionately that the uplifting melody of "graduation song" still echoes in his mind.
in 1938, zhang luqian graduated from changsha high school. "japan invaded china and the full-scale war of resistance had already broken out. the teacher taught us to sing the "graduation song" and took us to the streets holding the flag of resisting japan and saving the country to raise funds and support the war of resistance."
later, the kuomintang government implemented a "scorched earth policy" and changsha was reduced to a deplorable ruin in the wenxi fire. during the war years, the young lu qian dreamed of saving the country and worked hard. even in the midst of displacement, he did not give up his desire to learn and began to self-study junior high school courses.
in 1942, zhang luqian was successfully admitted to hunan guangyi middle school, the predecessor of the current hunan normal university affiliated middle school, and entered high school. during the anti-japanese war, hunan guangyi middle school moved to daping village, hengyang city, hunan. in may 1944, the japanese army launched an offensive against northern hunan, and the fourth battle of northern hunan broke out. changsha fell. the japanese army went south to hengyang, less than 100 miles away from daping village. the situation was critical, and guangyi middle school was forced to announce its dissolution. at this time, zhang luqian had not studied at guangyi middle school for two years, and he and many of his classmates in northern hunan became homeless.
the teachers of guangyi middle school saw this and could not bear to abandon the students, so they gathered the students who stayed and said to them: "as long as the teachers have food to eat, you will have food to eat." after that, the teachers led the students to evacuate the school separately, and traveled to western hunan and southern hunan. they sought help while organizing teaching. the teachers and students persisted in this "wandering" school. in order to share the burden of the teachers, zhang luqian and another classmate temporarily went to jiahe county for refuge at the invitation of li xiusheng, a classmate from jiahe county, chenzhou.
in august 1945, japan surrendered and the anti-japanese war was won. zhang luqian left jiahe county and found guangyi middle school which had moved to nanshan county. with the help of his teachers, zhang luqian continued his studies and finished high school.
"during the war, we studied english and did math in air-raid shelters. our teachers taught us to study hard to save our country, so that we could build airplanes and cannons and drive out japanese imperialism!" zhang luqian said, "if it weren't for the good teaching of the teachers at guangyi middle school, i wouldn't have been able to get into tsinghua university."
"when i was studying at tsinghua university, my teacher said that we were all chosen by heaven, but we had the heavy responsibility of serving the motherland. we must take good care of our health and work for the motherland for 70 years after graduation." this is what zhang luqian said, and he did so throughout his life.
resisting us aggression and aid korea: using a small can to solve the problem of radar anti-interference
"in 1951, i joined the chinese people's liberation army, just after graduating from the department of electrical engineering of tsinghua university. i was assigned to work in the radar department of the communications corps of the military commission. one month after joining the army, i received an extremely urgent task..." zhang luqian recalled.
at that time, the korean war was in a stalemate. in order to cut off our army's transportation and supply, the us military sent b-29 bombers to bombard both sides of the yalu river and release electromagnetic waves for interference. our radar could not find the target and could not command the air battle.
wang zheng, then minister of communications, found zhang luqian and issued an urgent order: "the radar ahead is being interfered with. get ready and set off in the afternoon. we must solve the anti-interference problem. we will not come back until it is solved!"
this was zhang luqian's first time on the front line and also his first time seeing radar. after understanding the basic principles of radar, he spent more than ten days studying and analyzing. as a beginner in the field of radar, he came up with several solutions, the most effective of which was to avoid interference by quickly changing the frequency of radar waves.
"at that time, i saw a few empty cans on the windowsill, so i had an idea. because cans are made of metal, if you put them in a capacitor, the capacitance will change, and the frequency can be changed. if the enemy interferes with this frequency, i will jump to that frequency. when that frequency is interfered with, we will jump to another frequency..." in this way, a few inconspicuous cans became a weapon for radar anti-interference in zhang luqian's hands. he completed this difficult task brilliantly.
"from now on, the radar of the entire army will be handed over to you!" wang zheng said to zhang luqian. in 1953, zhang luqian was appointed as the leader of the first jamming and anti-jamming team of our army, responsible for managing the radar of the entire army.
shoot down enemy planes: "the enemy will never dare to invade our airspace again"
in 1962, my country's major national defense project of "two bombs and one satellite" was at a critical stage. the united states was eager to spy on my country's intelligence and sent its most advanced reconnaissance aircraft u-2 to invade my country's airspace many times.
"at that time, my country only had the sam-2 surface-to-air missile imported from the former soviet union that could compete with it, but the number was very small. i was ordered to imitate it and was appointed as the chief designer of the guidance radar station." zhang luqian recalled, "without instruments, we developed them ourselves based on the explanations in the book; without materials, we tried to find alternative materials. in order to ensure that the instruments were accurately developed, i carried a quilt on my back when i went on business trips and took the drawings to the workshop to communicate in detail with the workers..."
after the first u-2 was shot down with a sam-2 missile, the u-2 immediately changed its course and fled as soon as our radar was turned on. zhang luqian judged that the enemy aircraft might have installed some kind of warning system. after a lot of calculations, he proposed the "close and fast attack tactics" to the general staff.
"i didn't turn on the camera when he came in. i waited for me to hit him. i found the best area, turned on the camera and hit him immediately. the enemy plane couldn't escape and i was sure to hit it." zhang luqian said that starting from november 1963, in just a few months, my country's surface-to-air missile forces shot down u-2 aircraft twice, and the "close and quick strike tactics" was a great success.
on october 16, 1964, china successfully tested its first atomic bomb. in two months, the united states sent u-2 aircraft for reconnaissance 11 times, and the reconnaissance aircraft were equipped with signal jamming systems to deliberately induce. "if you interfere with me, i will fight back with fakes, and give you a taste of your own medicine." zhang luqian said that he shot down the fourth u-2 reconnaissance aircraft. "later, we used the self-developed 'red flag ii' and installed new anti-interference facilities on the radar to shoot down the fifth u-2 high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft. from then on, the enemy no longer dared to invade our airspace."
lifelong struggle: still working on scientific research and popular science in his 80s
in the 1960s, in order to overcome the difficulties in radar technology, zhang luqian spent a full 12 years "reading" through 28 volumes of the american english original "radar series" which were about 1 meter high, laying a solid technical foundation for the development of my country's aerospace industry.
now 98 years old, zhang luqian is still concerned about the development of the country's aerospace industry. whenever there is a major event or a happy event, he is the first to post on wechat moments. at the age of 84, he was hired as the chief expert of the "shenzhou 8" and "tiangong 1" rendezvous and docking measurement and control task force. in more than half a year, he and other experts submitted a 100,000-word special independent evaluation report.
li nianbin of china aerospace science and technology corporation started working with zhang luqian in 2007. li nianbin told reporters: "academician zhang is an expert who has never studied abroad. his major specialty is radar, but i didn't expect that he knows everything else. he knows exactly what other countries are doing, what we are doing, and how to do it in accordance with our national conditions. this is rare."
in addition to scientific research, zhang luqian also spent a lot of energy on cultivating talents, paying attention to the growth of young people, and popularizing scientific and technological knowledge. among the work team he led, three people were named academicians, and more than 30 people became leading talents in professional research or model development.
he has given lectures in universities, middle schools and primary schools across the country many times, sowing the seeds of aerospace knowledge in the hearts of children. in 2008, after the wenchuan earthquake, the 82-year-old went to chengdu to give a report entitled "the application of satellites in emergencies", which played a great role in promoting the popularization of satellite applications in southwest my country.
the "alumni return to hunan" search team talks with academicians:
“i am really proud of the development of my hometown”
in order to ensure the health of 98-year-old academician zhang, the "alumni returning to hunan" search team reached a consensus that the interview time should be shortened as much as possible. "come on, let's add each of us on wechat first, and then we can communicate more on wechat later..." unexpectedly, the old man saw everyone's intentions, and he was considerate and fashionable and asked to add contact information for all the fellow villagers in the room.
changsha evening news: have you ever returned to your hometown after arriving in beijing?
zhang luqian: i have been back four or five times. i have seen changsha, which was a ruin back then, become so beautiful and magnificent now. it is also a famous internet celebrity city. yuelu mountain, orange island and huangxing road pedestrian street have now become internet celebrity check-in spots for tourists to changsha. i am really proud of the development of my hometown!
changsha evening news: what suggestions do you have for the development of the aerospace industry in your hometown?
zhang luqian: we have the national university of defense technology in changsha. hunan has made great contributions to my country's national defense and aerospace industries, and the development of the aerospace industry is promising. i think we can consolidate and expand the existing scale and increase the efforts to cultivate aerospace talents. we can offer aerospace specialty courses at the hunan normal university affiliated high school. these talents will be of great use to hunan's construction in the future.
in addition, as one of the national beidou satellite navigation application demonstration areas, hunan has a good foundation. hunan can work harder on satellite applications and play an important role in disaster relief, precision agriculture, tourism services, etc., making people's lives better.
changsha evening news: next year will be the 120th anniversary of the founding of hunan normal university high school. would you like to come back and visit?
zhang luqian: sure, if my physical condition allows, i would certainly like to come back. i hope my alma mater can become an international middle school, recruiting not only domestic students but also foreign students. if changsha is to become an international metropolis, talent cultivation and cultural exchanges must be internationalized.
