China's Dying Villages and the Problem of Land Use

by fulltimestudent 10 Replies latest social current

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  fulltimestudent

  The Chinese newspaper, The People's Daily (English, Web, edition) has images of a dying 800 year old village, that illustrates some trends and problems in modern China. It is not typical of all the problems causing urbanisation in China, but does illustrate some.

  The village is Dacan ancient village, located in Yuxian, in north China's Shanxi Province. It is surrounded by mountains. And the first image I've selected illustrates the access to the village:

  

  This is typical of the landscape and its where the Chinese Communist Party took refuge (at the end of the fabled 'Long March.'), after being driven out of south China by Jiang Jie-shi (Chiang Kai-shek), after the death of Sun Yat-sen, who had brought the then small CPC into his larget Guomendang (KMT).

  After the 1937 invasion of China by Japan, this is the area where the communists were able to fight a guerilla war against the Japanese. A struggle that was likely more passionate and successful than the anti-japanese war fought by Jiang Jie-shi, and his Guomendang. American General, Joe Stillwell, who was the American C.O. in East Asia called Jiang a 'peanut' and accused him of being afraid to fight the Japanese, and in contrast ultimately praising the Communist war effort.

  But you can see (from this pik) why the Japanese found it difficult to penetrate the mountainous terrain in which the communists took refuge.

  But that was then. Now such villages are dying. The PD article states:

  Eight years ago, there were 85 households and more than 320 villagers, but now there are only 11 households and 17 residents, with the oldest being 90 years old and the youngest 50 years old.
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  fulltimestudent

  Let's explore the village. What did people do here for a living. The PD does not discuss the problem, but if its like hundreds of other similar villages, the villagers would have scratched out a living on small plots of land in the surrounding valleys and gullys. We can imagine the difficulty in helping these villagers achieve a better standard of living. Which brings up the reason why the population is dropping. People would prefer to earn more money as migrant workers in the larger eastern cities. Their kids stay behind, cared for by the granparents. Not a desirable social circumstance. Villages like this cannot organise better schools either. That's why in another thread it shows a trend to area schools caring for kids from the small neighbouring villages.

  But let's explore this village:

  

  This wide angle lens view allows us to 'feel' what it's like to live here. On the right hand side we note some terraces, that may still be used as gardens. On the left hand side a large concrete apron that some enterprising official has had built. There is a large metal pole that may serve both as a flag pole for national celebrations, with a probable loud speaker and a floodlight. A few vehicles, a semblance of prosperity does reach the villages, or perhaps the cars belong to visitors or to the village government. The village council is elected by the registered residents of the villages.

  The houses look substantial as they are built from stone. As we can see from a closesr look.

  

  
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  fulltimestudent

  We have some idea of personal life from this view:

  

  Whereever possible, the entry will be through a courtyard with the living areas grouped around that feature. Often the outside area is the centre of family life.
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  fulltimestudent

  If you lived here, everything would be carried by hand, as this women who seems to be carrying drums of water:

  

  In a typical village there is unlikely to be any reticulated services. That is no electricity or water or sewerage services.

  I would also imagine that its a constant battle to maintain some semblance of neatness:

  
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  fulltimestudent

  As families move to cities, and their former homes are abandoned they start to deteriorate:

  

  
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  fulltimestudent

  But some still live here, with their lives not to different from 800 years ago, when the first people began to form the village.

  Grinding grain (though maybe these two women have been roped in to demonstrate how they used to grind grain)

  

  or, caring for live stock.

  
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  fulltimestudent

  We can understand better the problem of poor dying villages in China with the aid of this map (from Wikipedia)

  Its color coded to indicate population densities.

  

  English: SVG Map of China's population densities by province. No Labels.

  Cant paste the color code, but it runs from the deepest color at the top indicating a population density of 900 pus people to the square km down to the palest pink at the bottom of the chart indicated a population density of 50 or less per sq. km.

  Go to the Wikipedia page if you want to check clearly. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:China_Pop_Density.svg ) Its easy to understand the population problems. Some parts under-populated and some parts (along the coast) over-crowded.

  Summed up - East China has most of the population and west China doesn't have many people or opportunities. - a side point while we're thinking about the population distribution.

  At the end of the Korean war, with the threats by Douglas MacArthur (to nuke the entire border between NK and China) fresh in mind, the Chinese government set out to devise a strategy that could deal with the main coastal cities being wiped out by nuclear bombs (which the USA could easily have achieved from bases in Taiwan). With the lessons of the Japanese war (from 1937 to 1945) in mind, they devised what was called, the 'third line strategy.'

  This was a third industrial area located in the wilds of south-west China, intended to provide an alternative production area in case of invasion by the USA. The author of the Wikipedia entry describes it in these words ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Front_(China) ):

  The Third Front ( Chinese : 三线 ; pinyin : Sānxiàn ) was a massive development of industry by China in its south-western interior, where it would be strategically secure in the event of a war . By 1980, the programme had created a railway grid linking previously isolated parts of south-western and western China, in addition to a galaxy of power, aviation and electronic plants, said Zhang Yunchuan , minister of the Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense . ( People's Daily Online [1] ).

  That rail network, can only be described as amazing. Western rail engineers called in to advise, often said it could not be done.

  The expertise built then still informs China in its development of a high speed (250kph to 350 kph) rail network. Vast new factories were also constructed inside mountains, safe from aerial attack. Information is difficult to obtain, but it surely has provided some economic advancement for the rural population of S.W. China.
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  sarahsmile

  I enjoy very much your pictures and sharing this information!
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  problemaddict

  Well done. I do not beliee there is any way to save these villages. Perhaps if they exist as tourist attractions, or are taken on by the state as heritage sites. Beyond that however, people need to make a living. Same is happening in the USA, albeit to a lesser extent.
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  fulltimestudent

  I agree, problemaddict. The question has to be asked, are they worth saving. The city government of Beijing is often criticised because it has torn down lots of hutongs, that many westerners, living in China, think should be preserved.

  I've walked through some parts - and out of fellow feeling for those who lived there I could not take my camera out to photograph. Dilapidated, not water, no sewerage, what's the point to preserve it. (Note: the better classed stuff is being preserved)