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Chongqing News

First parachute tower in Asia located in Lianglukou

2019-08-15 14:31:23

Reinforced concrete cylindrical tower

A photo of parachuting (from Cultural Yuzhong)

An old photo of the parachute tower (from Cultural Yuzhong)

Parachute License of Xiang Dilan

A monument of the parachute tower

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Chongqing Administration of Sports and Chongqing Datianwan National Fitness Center jointly launched the collection activity of “Memories of Datianwan”. Datianwan Stadium is the first class A stadium built in China, and still in service though it has been built for over 60 years. The parachute tower by the stadium is even elder, which has been built for over 70 years.

Parachutists and citizens who had parachute licenses and old photos were interviewed before. These parachutists who were young when they practiced around the tower are now white-haired. Let’s listen to their stories.

A special concrete pillar provided an important pilots training place for the Anti-Japanese War 

The tall concrete pillar near Datianwan can be seen when you take the bus from Lianglukou to Daping. Young Chongqing people and foreigners may be curious about the pillar standing in the center of this business district; while for elder Chongqing people, arms and circle objects stretching from the top of the pillar seem to greet them.

According to the data of Yuzhong Cultural Relics Management Office, this parachute tower was designed by the master of architecture Yang Tingbao and built in 1942. “It is the first parachute tower in China and even in Asia.” The person in charge of Yuzhong Cultural Relics Management Office introduced that on October 4, 1938, Japanese military aircrafts started air raids on Chongqing. The National Government actively managed to rebuilt air force to defend against Japanese bombing attacks.

It was under this situation that Chongqing started to build Jiulongpo Airport and Baishiyi Airport successively. In addition, it is imperative to train pilots, which made the parachuting as a training program. The construction of this parachute tower was began in October 1941 and completed in 1942, which provided an important pilots training place for the Anti-Japanese War.

To be selected into the parachute team was the best thing

At that time, the parachute tower was available to professional parachuting people and other ordinary people. The public could have training here from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. every day. The person in charge of Yuzhong Cultural Relics Management Office introduced that Chongqing held the first parachute competition on August 14, 1942, reported by Dagong Evening Post and then parachuting became popular.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, relevant departments carried out many maintenance work for the tower and trained many excellent parachutists. Song Daibi who lives at Qipaifang Community, Daping, was a female parachutist.

Gray-haired Song Daibi is 1.75m, quite tall. She said that she was selected into the parachute team when she was in junior high school. And then, she had intensive training around the parachute tower every summer and winter vacation from 1960 to 1961.

“I still remember a physical examination item. We sat on a revolving chair and identified the direction when it stopped suddenly. It’s kind of like a physical fitness test for pilots now.” She smiled and said that many people would vomit after this item, but she was okay and selected as the only student to participate the intensive training.

“I was very happy and proud to join the parachute training team. It was said that we were trained as the seedlings of Sichuan Team, so we had a sense of superiority and we had enough food to eat.” She exclaimed that it was the best thing to have enough food to eat in that age short of goods.

Various landing positions examined to obtained the license

Bi Keqin, a photographer for the interview, has similar memories with Song Daibi, whose mother is 4 years older than Song Daibi. The Parachute License of 1958 and a photograph with the tower of his mother Xiang Dilan in 1960 are collected.

“My mother is about 1.6m tall. She loved sports when she was young and obtained a certificate equivalent to the 2nd level athlete.” He said that his mother also loved parachuting activities and she specially went to the parachute tower to take a photograph in 1960.

The red cover of the license said “National Defense Association of China” and the holder’s occupation, age, resume and a black-and-white photo were displayed in it. Landing position examination and the seal of the officer in charge of the evaluation were included. The remarks also said that this license was available in every parachute tower in China.

During the 1980s to 1990s, parachuting activities was on the wane. Three sets of arms and circle objects were disassembled. Luckily, with the concerted efforts of the preservationists and the whole society, the tower was repaired and strengthened at the original site afterwards.

In 2000, this parachute tower was selected as a municipal cultural relics protection unit, and several years later, it got reparation. (Translated by Mao Qiao, Fathom Language Limited)

Editor:Jiang Yiwei