In the 1940s, disaster struck upriver from Tongguan. A massive flood tore through the town of P’ing Men. Thousands of lives were lost. Fifty thousand acres of farmland were destroyed. Textile looms and spinning wheels were washed away. Even the city wall collapsed.⁣ ⁣ George Hogg wrote of what he saw:⁣ “Help from the cooperatives has arrived en masse, including 1,000 female domestic spinners and weavers. A six-year-old boy, Ho Qui Quin, tells me his mother and father were washed away but he clung to the tail of an ox and survived. There are many such tales. The people are actually infinitely more heroic, in an ordinary sort of way, than I or anyone else could ever make them out to be.”⁣ ⁣ The Chinese Industrial Cooperatives — known as the Gung Ho movement — had been created during the war to rebuild industries and sustain communities under siege. In moments like this, they became lifelines, bringing both skills and hope.⁣ ⁣ Ordinary people showed extraordinary strength. And in their re...