China Archives - Page 93 of 112 - understand-culture

River Chiefs

In May 2007, a large bloom of blue-green algae spread on Lake Tai, and residents of Wuxi rushed to buy bottled water. In August, Wuxi issued trial rules with water quality targets for its rivers and lakes. People’s Daily later reported that this is regarded as the origin of the river chief system (hezhang zhi), which makes the leading Party and government officials of each level responsible for each river.

Changxing County in Zhejiang had already set up river chiefs in 2003. In December 2016, the Central Committee and the State Council ordered the system for the whole country.

Seven Carbon Markets

In October 2011, seven provinces and cities, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangdong, Hubei and Shenzhen, started local pilots for trading carbon emission rights.

On July 16, 2021, national carbon emission trading started at the Shanghai Environment and Energy Exchange.

The First Land Auction

On December 1, 1987, Shenzhen auctioned the right to use a plot of land, the first auction of land use rights in the People’s Republic. The plot measured 8,588 square meters. The right ran for 50 years and sold for 5.25 million yuan.

On April 12, 1988, the National People’s Congress amended the Constitution to say that “the rights to use land can be transferred in accordance with the law.”

Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme

In October 2002, the Central Committee and the State Council decided to strengthen health work in the countryside. In 2003, the provinces began to pilot a new rural cooperative medical scheme, xin nonghe. At first, each member paid 10 yuan and the government added 10.

By 2008, the scheme covered basically the whole countryside.

The Vocabulary of Trials

试点 A trial point. Work done first on a small scale to gain experience before it is spread. Also the place where the trial runs.

以点带面 To let the point lead the surface. A breakthrough at a key point drives progress in the whole.

In 2024, People’s Daily wrote: “A pilot is a test field that grows seedlings into a forest, not a potted plant that looks bright and pretty but is worth nothing when transplanted.” In 2015, it had noted a problem: “Some places are very successful in the pilot, but when it is spread, it meets obstacles and cannot be pushed forward.”

Huoshenshan Hospital

On January 23, 2020, the government of Wuhan announced a new hospital for coronavirus patients, modeled on Beijing’s Xiaotangshan SARS hospital. Work began on January 25. On February 2, Huoshenshan Hospital was handed over to the army, and on February 4 it took its first patients. From planning to completion took ten days.

Millions of people at home watched the building site on a livestream, and “cloud supervisor” (yun jiangong) became a popular term. By 10 p.m. on one evening, the CCTV stream had counted 86.24 million views.

Workers later said that on February 3 only the first of four zones was in operation. Zones 2 to 4 were still in their final stage of construction.

Red Flag Canal

In February 1960, 37,000 cadres and residents of Lin County in Henan went to build a canal along the cliffs of the Taihang Mountains. With simple tools, they cut through rock faces.

The main canal carried water on April 5, 1965. The whole Red Flag Canal was finished in 1969.

Two Bombs, One Satellite

On October 16, 1964, China exploded its first atomic bomb. On April 24, 1970, a Long March 1 rocket put the country’s first satellite, Dongfanghong 1, into orbit.

The Party’s website sums up the program as dali xietong, yonggan dengpan, “great cooperation, daring to climb,” and presents it as an example of the “institutional advantage of concentrating forces to accomplish big things.”

The Battle Against Poverty

In November 2015, the Central Committee and the State Council issued a decision on winning the “battle against poverty” (tuopin gongjian). All poor areas and poor people were to reach a moderately prosperous life by 2020. The country sent 255,000 village work teams and more than 3 million first secretaries and village cadres to the countryside.

On February 25, 2021, Xi Jinping declared “complete victory.” By the current standard, 98.99 million rural poor had left poverty, all 832 poor counties had been removed from the list and all 128,000 poor villages had been lifted out.

The Foolish Old Man

The fable of the Foolish Old Man who removed the mountains, Yugong yi shan, comes from the book Liezi. On June 11, 1945, Mao Zedong closed the Seventh Party Congress with a speech of that title. He used the fable to urge the Party to keep digging until it had removed the two mountains of imperialism and feudalism.

He called on the Party: “Be resolute, fear no sacrifice and overcome every difficulty to win victory.” The speech became one of the “three constantly read articles,” with “Serve the People” and “In Memory of Norman Bethune.”