1955 was the third year of the "First Five-Year Plan" and an exciting year in the history of New China. This year, the People's Bank of China implemented currency reform and issued a new version of RMB. The new version of RMB will be exchanged with the old version of RMB at a ratio of 1 to 10,000. On April 1, the old RMB will finally cease circulation and withdraw from the stage of history.
This year, on the south side of the Heiyou Mountain in Xinjiang, the No. 1 well drilled by the 1219 Youth Drilling Team began to spray oil. Since then, the Karamay Oilfield has become famous all over the world.
This year, China's grain output reached 189 million tons, and cotton output also achieved high yields, both setting the highest records in history. The agricultural cooperative movement was even more vigorous this year.
This year, the Yellow River Bridge on the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway was completed and opened to traffic. Construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge in Hubei has also begun. Two years later, in 1957, when the first bridge on the Yangtze River was completed and opened to traffic, Mao Zedong lamented that "a bridge flies over the north and south, and a natural chasm becomes a thoroughfare."
In 1955, just six years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, traces of old China were gradually disappearing, and the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea was dissipating. The arrival of the New Year in 1956, the arrival of long-lost peace, and the implementation of the first Five-Year Plan gave every Chinese hope and confidence.
"Socialism" became the theme word of this year, and the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicrafts, and capitalist industry and commerce was carried out simultaneously during this year. In the eyes of people at the time, 1955 was a turning point in China's history. It was a landmark year when New China entered a socialist society from a new democratic society. In order to celebrate the great achievements of the motherland in 1955, the Central News Documentary Film Studio invited people from all walks of life to hold a Spring Festival celebration. Therefore, in 1956, "Spring Festival Gala", a film documentary produced under the background of a specific era, was produced. Since then, we have not continued to shoot this kind of Spring Festival party.