Screw Island

Screw Island

Screw Island is located in the center of Shitang Lake in Yangqiao Town. The island has 148 households and a population of 499, among which over 100 young adults work outside all year round. The island is only accessible by ferry. Tuanjie Primary School is situated on Screw Island. It was established in 1954 and currently has 24 students enrolled, 18 of whom are left-behind children, 4 teachers, and 1 support staff member. The school adopts a multi-grade teaching approach. Screw Island is located in Beigangli at the southeastern corner of Yueyang City. It got its name from its screw-like shape. To the west, it connects to Sanyan Bridge, and to the north, it faces Qu Yuan University, offering beautiful scenery.

Located in the middle of Shitang Lake in Yangqiao Town, Anqing City, Screw Island is embraced by water and clouds, frequented by birds, and boasts fresh air — a truly picturesque spot. The island is home to 148 original resident families, totaling over 499 people, mainly surnamed Ren and Hu. They live on two small, adjacent islands. Historically, the two clans were hostile toward each other, but now they live in harmony, intermarry, and have long since let go of past grudges dissolved by the lake. No criminal cases have ever occurred on the island, and even disputes are rare. The villagers truly feel safe enough to leave their doors unlocked at night. According to the tombstone of an elderly member of the Ren family, the Rens have lived on the island since the Daoguang era of the Qing Dynasty. Legend has it that they were once minor officials in the imperial court who sought refuge here to escape political strife. Their descendants have made a living through fishing and farming for over 300 years. The island is small with few residents, transportation is inconvenient, and in the past, poverty deterred thieves from venturing across the water. These days, with frequent inspections and evaluations, aside from town officials, higher-ranking officials rarely visit. Free from noise and disturbances, the island enjoys rare tranquility. The villagers live “a peaceful life within the world of men,” and their days are filled with happiness and ease.

To the west of the island stands a small hill, resembling a round hat or an upside-down screw — perhaps the origin of the island’s name. The hill looks man-made, half rock and half soil, so one side is bare with no vegetation, while the other is covered in trees. Strangely, the barren side faces the rocky mountains north of Dalong Mountain, right where the human eye can see. I suspect it might be the result of a tectonic movement hundreds of millions of years ago, where this tiny Screw Island was once part of Dalong Mountain, cast off like a piece of flesh discarded by an angry mother, thus displaying its least attractive side to the world. Half-submerged and half-emerging in the middle of Shitang Lake, it stands somewhat lonely, somewhat proud, yet strikingly elegant. Xiamen named a small island in the sea “Gulangyu,” Harbin calls an island on the Songhua River “Sun Island,” and Hangzhou refers to an islet in West Lake as “Mid-Lake Pavilion.” There are many more places with beautiful, evocative names that stir the imagination and please the eye. Can’t cultured Anqing come up with a better name for Screw Island? Just because it looks like a screw, it’s called Screw Island? If it looked like a cat or dog, would it be called Little Cat or Little Dog? Shouldn’t the thinking of Anqing folks be a bit more agile?

We came to the island on an official mission. The annual “Love the People Month” campaign has been a tradition in public security units for several years and must be upheld. Today, we are on a mission, carrying clothes and funds donated by a hundred police officers from our department, to deliver them to the island’s poor families. We brought several sacks of new and old clothes along with a modest sum of money, but standing in front of the villagers’ bright and tidy houses, we felt almost ashamed to hand them over, struggling to find the words. I repeatedly apologized to the village secretary, saying that these were just modest contributions from our officers, intended for the poorest families on the island. The secretary replied, “It’s not about how much you bring. Knowing that you care about us is more than enough!”

How could we not care about the people? We are all children of common folk. Most of our department’s hundred-plus staff are also from working-class or farming backgrounds. Even if not from extreme hardship, tracing back a couple of generations, our roots likely lie in the fields. Every day, we earn respectable salaries funded by taxpayers. In winter and summer, we enjoy air conditioning for warmth and cooling. What reason do we have not to treat the people a little better, not to face our providers with a heart full of gratitude?

Winter on Screw Island is especially quiet, with mostly women and children around. According to the village party secretary and village chief, about 160 of the village’s able-bodied young adults have gone out to work, leaving only the elderly and infirm to tend a few acres of poor farmland or contract small water surfaces for fish and shellfish farming. Looking around, the villagers live in uniform small buildings, with quite a few owning rather lovely three-story houses. The aluminum alloy windows and doors shine brilliantly under the winter sun and clear lake water, reflecting the villagers’ prosperous lives. The village secretary said that Hong Kong’s Cheung Kong Group has shown interest in investing on the island, planning to build a five-star hotel and luxury resort, among other leisure and entertainment facilities. May the villagers' wishes come true soon. Screw Island is a “hidden pearl,” and hopefully, it will shine brightly one day.

Longshan Community: Longshan Community was formed in December 2007 through the merger of the former Longshan Village and Tuanjie Village. It is located in the northern suburbs of Anqing, in the hinterland of Dalong Mountain, backed by mountains and embracing a lake, with pleasant scenery. It is known for its reputation of “layered green mountains and miles of red apricot blossoms.” The community is distributed in a strip along the Anzong West Line. It governs 16 residential groups, 705 households, and 2,143 people. The community Party branch consists of 6 Party groups, with a total of 64 Party members. The community covers an area of over 6,900 mu. The area is rich in both natural and cultural resources. Notable attractions such as Lingshan Stone Forest, Screw Island, the former residence of painter Xiao Qianzhong, and Lingshan Temple are all located here. It is part of the Yixiu tourism… More details about Longshan Community++