Chen Yi witnessed the red flag rising here: memories of the old city hall.

Opposite the hankou road 49 Bus Terminal on the Bund, an old building that has experienced many vicissitudes lies quietly. This four-story building surrounded by Jiangxi Middle Road, Fuzhou Road and hankou road has a classical, baroque and Renaissance style. It may not be particularly prominent in many old buildings such as Capital Hotel, Hamilton Tower and Jianshe Building, but it has a prominent history throughout the history of Shanghai. 1949 On May 27th, Shanghai was liberated, and the Shanghai Military Control Committee of Shanghai People's Liberation Army and China People's Liberation Army was established here. The next day, Chen Yi, the first mayor of Shanghai, walked into the building, completed the handover of the old and new * * * with Zhao Zukang, the acting mayor of the Kuomintang, and then held a solemn and warm ceremony to raise the red flag here-this was the former ministerial building and the old city building that Shanghai people were familiar with.

At the beginning of the last century, with the expansion of the concession, the original office space of the office headquarters of the Ministry of Industry, the highest municipal organ located in Henan Road and Jiangxi Road, could not meet the demand, and the board of directors decided to build a new office building. Construction started with the design of 19 13, the foundation stone was laid on 19 14, and 1922 was completed and opened to the public. On the afternoon of 1922, 165438+ 10, 16, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Building was officially opened. The Director General of the Ministry of Industry made a special speech, introduced the construction, composition and distribution of the building to the invited guests, and arranged the opening and visit of the building. 1945 After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Shanghai moved from LAM Raymond Bridge to the former Ministry of Industry Building. 1949 became the office of Shanghai people. Until 1955, the people of Shanghai * * * moved from the old building of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to the old building of the Bank of Shanghai on the Bund, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology building became the offices of civil affairs, labor, health, gardens, planning, environmental protection, municipal administration and other organs in Shanghai. 1989, the building was announced as an excellent historical building in Shanghai.

One day in the 1980s, I got off the No.64 bus in front of the building, stepped into the main entrance at the corner of hankou road, Jiangxi Middle Road, crossed the hall paved with black and white marble, and went down the stairs to report to the Personnel Department of the Civil Affairs Bureau of the Second Property Market, starting my career as a civil servant for nearly 30 years. Over the past decades, I have personally experienced the continuous development of civil affairs, witnessed the moving of various organs in the building, and participated in many moves of the office scope of the Civil Affairs Bureau, from half floor to first floor and then to several floors. My office is expanding and adjusting, from the bureau office (policy research office) on the second floor to the propaganda department, policy and regulation department in the same building, to the news propaganda department (Shanghai Civil Affairs Magazine) on the third floor, and finally to the social welfare department on the first floor.

Every time I move to the office, I can see shiny teak, eucalyptus floor, intact iron fireplace and colorful floor tiles in the corridor outside the door. Although the copper fire hydrant in the corner can't be used, it is still well preserved. Old English letters are printed on the sanitary ware in the bathroom. Although porcelain has faded, it is still in use. Once, when I was still in the back stairs, I found several boundary markers piled up in the public concession. Everything shows the historical sense of the vicissitudes of this building. However, in this old building with a long history, we are engaged in a brand-new and vigorous new cause of people's livelihood.

When someone asked me, "How did you feel when you first set foot in this magnificent building?" I think it's like walking into a "maze" in tunnel warfare. I went in from the gate of Jiangxi Road, and when I came out, I went down the stairs to the compound full of parked cars in Shi Zhuan, and finally came out from the gate of Fuzhou Road. In fact, this circular building with a history of nearly 100 years, covering an area of15,000 square meters and a building area of more than 30,000 square meters, spanning three roads is indeed an architectural castle.

The former Ministry of Industry building has ten gates, the northeast corner is the main entrance, the main entrance is a concave fan-shaped porch, and the top is a platform, which can be used for viewing and reviewing. This building has 400 offices, which can accommodate thousands of people working at the same time. The building is built on three sides, and there is a three-and-a-half-acre central square in the building, which is used for parking official vehicles and private cars of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and six armored vehicles in the general inspection room are often parked. There are also wind and rain playgrounds and a small shooting range with an area of nearly 2,000 square meters, as well as supporting facilities such as library, reading room, lecture hall and gym.

The interior decoration of the building is also unusual. These materials are all imported from England. Corridors and walls are marble or colored glazed tiles. The main entrance and the stairs leading to the board meeting room are all black and white marble. Offices are generally covered with teak and eucalyptus floors. The low-pressure hot water supply system of the building was designed by British designer Nobbs, who once designed the heating system for London City Hall. The communication equipment was also equipped with the most advanced automatic telephone exchange system at that time. The sanitary equipment, elevators and hot water kiosks used in the building are all imported famous brands, which are valuable. As you can imagine, when the building was completed, its scale, luxurious buildings and advanced facilities were the highest in the Far East, and it became a model of the architectural community at that time.

When I was working in this building castle, the building has passed its heyday, and the luster of that year no longer exists, but the overall grandeur of the granite of the building still describes its past glory.

In the "Old Town Mansion", which is commonly called "Stone House" by the citizens, I have witnessed many firsts in Shanghai's civil administration innovation, such as the establishment of the first national minimum living security system, the first national centralized service for community affairs, the first national pension service incorporated into the * * * practical project for the people, the first sea burial activity in Shanghai, and the promulgation of the * * * regulations for the first foreign-related marriage venue in China. The establishment of the first provincial and municipal social workers association, the first social organization administration, the promulgation of the first local regulations on old-age care services, the first social welfare lottery in Shanghai, the first home-based old-age care service in China, the first improvement of the child welfare mechanism, the first qualification certification of old-age care institutions, and the first formation of a new trinity mechanism of rescue management into communities and street rescue management.

In the last few years of working in the building, the social welfare department on the first floor where I was located was next to Mayor Chen Yi's office. Mayor Chen's office originally planned to restore its original appearance. Later, it is said that the plan was not approved, so it was made into the reception room of the office, and a model of the original appearance of Mayor Chen Yi's office was put in a corner. Where I am, I often meet people in the reception room for meetings. Every time I meet a guest who comes to the building for a meeting for the first time, I always introduce the glorious past of the reception room to the guests and show them the model.

After the Civil Affairs Bureau is expanded from half-floor to multi-floor, the office will contact during the day, so it is not necessary to take the elevator up and down as before. Sometimes I am always on duty at night, patrolling once at night, and walking layer by layer with a flashlight. It will take more than half an hour, and some corners need to be carefully looked at. Accompanied by the "stone house", my hair was black when I entered the office, and now my temples are gray. While eating in the restaurant on the fourth floor, my colleagues and I looked at the platform at the main entrance outside the window and remembered the grand occasion when PLA soldiers raised the first red flag on the platform when the people just accepted the building. I can't help feeling that time flies.

20 12 according to the instructions of the city, all the government offices and units in the old municipal government building were evacuated, and the Civil Affairs Bureau moved to the new office at No.300, Expo Village Road, Pudong. Before moving out, I took a group photo with my colleagues in front of No.215 Jiangxi Middle Road. Later, I specially went to the hall to take a photo in front of the gold-plated stone tablet inscribed by the old mayor, "Shanghai people will build a new Shanghai for the people according to their own will", and I remembered Comrade Chen Yi's teaching that civil affairs should "share the worries for the central authorities and relieve the worries for the people".