The Awardee of Medal of the Republic—Shen Jilan

張建

她曾榮獲“全國勞動模范”“全國優秀共產黨員”“全國脫貧攻堅奮進獎”“改革先鋒”等稱號。但她只把榮譽看作一種鞭策。她“勿忘人民、勿忘勞動”的話語，成了自己對人生的一種詮釋。她就是“共和國勛章”獲得者——申紀蘭。

Shen Jilan,who lived a remarkable life,was the only deputy to attend 13 consecutive sessions of the National People’s Congress(NPC) established in 1954.She was a1)pioneerwho encouraged women in her hometown to work instead of staying at home,and her 2)proposalfor3)genderpay equality was written into the first constitution of the People’s Republic of China.

She was born in 1929 in a remote village in PingShun County,Shanxi Province.As soon as she married a man from Xigou Village,she actively participated in labor.

In 1951,the government of Xigou formed a cooperative to boost farming.Shen Jilan was appointed deputy head of the cooperative and started to persuade women to join men in doing agricultural work.However,Shen soon encountered a barrier—pay inequality.Men got 10 work points a day,but women only got a maximum of five points.So,She organized many contests to plant and4)fertilizeseeds to prove that women can do the same work like men.After that,the women in Xigou were given equal pay.

In 60-plus years serving as a NPC deputy,Shen made5)numerousproposals covering education,transportation,the conservation and development of water resources and many others,most of which were closely related to benefiting farmers.

In 1973,she was appointed the head of the provincial women’s federation and moved to the capital,Taiyuan.However,she refused to receive any salary,a house or other benefits for her new position.After serving the provincial women’s federation for 10 years,Shen returned to Xigou Village,where she was given another task—help fellow villagers get rid of poverty.

Shen opened the first collectively owned enterprise,a6)ferroalloyplant,in her village in 1985,and later built a walnut oil factory and a cannery.These projects became the pillars of Xigou’s economic growth.

In 2013,Shen shut down the ferroalloy plant as it failed to meet the country’s standards on environmental protection.Later,she proposed the closures of a number of companies that had high energy consumption,high levels of pollution and excessive emissions,and set up environmentally friendly businesses.

Shen Jilan was awarded the Medal of the Republic in 2019 for her remarkable contributions.She died at the age of 91 in June,2020,after battling a number of illnesses.Up until her final moment,she was still raising suggestions on poverty alleviation and improvements to rural infrastructure.

1) pioneern.先驅；拓荒者

2) proposaln.建議；提議

3) gendern.性別

4) fertilizev.施肥

5) numerousadj.許多的；數量龐大的

6) ferroalloyn.鐵合金

申紀蘭的一生不平凡，自1954 年全國人民代表大會成立以來，她是唯一一位連續13 屆參加會議的代表。她是鼓勵家鄉婦女出去工作而不是待在家里的先驅，她倡導的“男女同工同酬”被寫入中華人民共和國第一部憲法。

1929 年，她出生于山西省平順縣的一個偏遠村莊。一嫁到西溝村，她就積極參加勞動。

1951 年，西溝村成立初級農業生產合作社，以促進農業發展。申紀蘭被任命為合作社副社長，開始勸說婦女和男子一起干農活。然而，她很快就遇到了勞動報酬不平等的問題——男社員干一天活計10 個工分，而女社員只能計5 個。為此，她組織了許多勞動競賽，如播種、施肥，以證明女性可以和男性做同樣的工作。在那之后，西溝村的女性得到了同等的勞動報酬。

在60 多年的人大代表生涯中，申紀蘭提出了許多建議，涉及教育、交通、水資源保護和開發等諸多領域，其中大多數都與造福農民密切相關。

1973 年，她被任命為山西省省婦聯主席，并搬到省會太原工作。然而，她拒絕為她的新職位領取任何工資、房子或其他福利。在省婦聯工作了10 年之后，申紀蘭回到西溝村，在那里她接到了另一項任務——幫助村民脫貧。

1985 年，申紀蘭在西溝村開辦了第一家集體所有制企業——鐵合金廠，后來又建了一家核桃油廠和一家罐頭廠。這些項目成為西溝村經濟增長的支柱。

2013 年，申紀蘭關停了這家鐵合金工廠，因為它沒有達到國家的環保標準。后來，她又建議關停一批高耗能、高污染、高排放的企業，建立環保企業。

2019 年，申紀蘭因為做出的卓越貢獻被授予“共和國勛章”。2020 年6 月她在與多種疾病作斗爭后去世，享年91歲。直到最后一刻，她還在為扶貧和改善農村基礎設施提建議。