Yujiang Schistosomiasis Control Memorial Hall (Farewell to the God of Plague Memorial Hall)

Yujiang Schistosomiasis Control Memorial Hall (Farewell to the God of Plague Memorial Hall)

The Yujiang Schistosomiasis Control Memorial Hall (Farewell to the God of Plague Memorial Hall) is a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangxi Province and a patriotic education base.

The Yujiang Schistosomiasis Control Memorial Hall was established in October 1978 by the Yujiang County Committee and County Government, housing a large collection of precious historical materials.

A banner of China's schistosomiasis control efforts — the Yujiang Schistosomiasis Control Memorial Hall. According to the *Yujiang County Schistosomiasis Control Chronicle*, “Schistosomiasis may have been prevalent in Yujiang for three to four hundred years, with severe harm occurring for one to two hundred years. In just the 30 years before liberation, the disease claimed the lives of 29,000 people in the affected areas and wiped out 42 villages.” After the founding of New China, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the people of Yujiang launched a massive snail eradication campaign. After more than a decade of arduous struggle, they achieved a great victory in the fight against schistosomiasis in 1958. Yujiang County raised the first red flag in the national schistosomiasis control campaign — it was the first to eradicate the disease, adding a new chapter to the scientific history of schistosomiasis in China. Scientists regarded this as an unprecedented achievement. On June 30, 1958, Chairman Mao Zedong read in the People’s Daily that Yujiang County had eliminated schistosomiasis. Lost in thought and unable to sleep, he was inspired to write the poem *Farewell to the God of Plague (Two Poems)*, which included the immortal lines “Spring wind on willows, thousands of tendrils sway; / Six hundred million we, all as sage as Yao and Shun.” In October 1978, the Yujiang County Committee and County Government built the Yujiang County “Schistosomiasis Control Memorial Hall.” The hall uses a wealth of precious historical materials to present a panoramic view of the complete process by which the people of Yujiang, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, overcame numerous difficulties to eliminate schistosomiasis and consolidate the results of the control efforts.

In September 2019, it was named a “National Patriotic Education Demonstration Base” by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Further reading:

· Sixth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Jiangxi Province