Qu Pin San, originally named Qu Ji Zheng, was born in the winter of 1883 in Gao Ming Village, Tingshuangwan, Miaonan Township, Tongjiang County (now part of Gao Ming New District). He was an only child. His parents feared they could not afford to raise him and gave him the name “Tie Wa Zi,” meaning “Iron Kid.” Despite this, he was very intelligent and could read a book of the “Three-Character Classic” in just three days. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, he took the scholar examination and wrote his answer as “Danzhus unworthy son.” He then wrote, “Heaven bestows virtue upon the virtuous, Heaven bestows children upon the children,” but due to the urgency of the exam, he mistakenly wrote “children” as “completed” instead of “son.”
At the beginning of the Republic, he was long engaged in rural education. In 1942, he taught Chinese at the junior high school in Tongjiang County, and in 1945, he taught at the Tongjiang Normal School. He was upright and fearless against violence. In the winter of 1949, as Tongjiang was about to be liberated, local evil forces organized reactionary secret societies to resist. Qu Yi, a member of the Miao Nan County Council, established a Holy Edict Altar in Tingfang Bay to promote the doctrine of cause and effect, intimidating the audience and attempting to numb the farmers ideologically without exposing their crimes. Qu Jilins sister had just become a widow; while listening to the Holy Edict, she was found wearing out her shoe sole. Yi punished her for defying the holy teachings, ordering his brother Qu Jilin to cut her walnut branch and his sister-in-law Qu Jixun to beat her. It seemed that this disaster would soon befall the widow. As the head of the clan, no one dared to disobey their orders. At this moment, Qu Bingsan stepped forward and said, “A widow is not capable of understanding these matters and does not need severe punishment; it would be enough to leave her in the care of those in the courtyard.” He was Yis first teacher, and although Yi was the head of the clan, he had to listen to his teachers words. His righteous and outspoken words saved the woman from disaster.
In the early days of national liberation, Qu taught at a private school, earning only 150 pounds of rice per month, barely enough to cover his familys expenses. Yet, he still spared no effort to help impoverished children. A student from Baituping Primary School was crying on his way home because he couldnt afford tuition fees. Qu asked what was wrong, and the child replied, “I cant afford the tuition, so the teacher wont let me into the classroom.” He smiled slightly and said, “Laugh, laugh, yellow dog urinating!” The child cried even harder, but then he said, “If you dont cry, you dont cry. Look! What is this?” He took out ten thousand yuan from his pocket and gave it to the child to pay the tuition. The child burst into laughter and skipped happily to school.
In 1952, he was dismissed from his teaching position. Qu did not pass the examination for xiucai and went to Nanchong to study, where he became a teacher to Mr.Zhang Lan. When Zhang served as vice President of the Peoples Republic of China, he wrote to Zhang Lan about his dismissal.
The higher authorities referred the investigation, and it was found to be true. The situation was quickly corrected, and work resumed soon after, with him teaching at Xiaoguanliang in the west of Tongjiang County. In December 1956, the CPPCC of Bazhong County was established, and he was elected as a member, serving on the Standing Committee of the first session. At that time, the road from Bazhong to Tongjiang had not been completed. Although the road was eventually opened, no bus service was available, so attending meetings required walking. To ensure timely attendance, he often traveled early in the morning and returned late at night.
Emphasizing the role of CPPCC members, in September 1957, he attended the seventh standing committee meeting of the first session of the Bazhong County CPPCC, implementing the guidelines on grain procurement and sales propaganda from the Daxian Regional Committee. Upon returning to the countryside, he used township meetings to explain the significant importance of the unified grain procurement and sales policy and its positive role in economic development, while also reflecting on the issues present in rural areas. That autumn, due to drought, rice production decreased, and farmers had little grain left after paying their public taxes, leading to potential hunger. He truthfully reported the problems existing in rural areas at that time. However, the leaders of the time preferred flattery and grand achievements, and were reluctant to address the issues in rural areas, treating them as if they were hidden illnesses. As a result, his opinions were ignored like a clay ox sinking into the sea.
The problem of food shortage in rural areas became more and more serious. In the spring of 1959, a serious famine occurred. Qu Pinan was struggling on the brink of death. In order to fill his stomach, he had to send his grandson to buy some sweet potato noodles from the state-run canteen in the city. However, a little sweet potato noodles could not help the fire of widespread food shortage. He died in February of that year at the age of 78.