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China Daily

97 / 09 / 30 /

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1. Gems of China's relics displayed
2. Township firms develop rapidly
3. Landscape changes to green colour
4. Jiangxi switches on to electricity
5. Red Star rises high from improved red soil
6. [INLINE]
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Gems of China's relics displayed
LEANING on his crutches, 68-year-old Gao Baozhen lumbered through
the exhibition, stopping once in a while to take a close look at
the displays. He walked for nearly two hours without taking a
minute of rest.
"I'm impressed," said Gao, a former engineer, pointing to a
carved-stone Buddhist figure. "That one is the most beautiful
thing I have ever seen in my life."
The Northern Wei (AD 386-534) Buddhist figurine, together with 605
other archaeological treasures, belongs to the exhibition "Gems of
National Archaeological Excavations," now on display at the
National Museum of Chinese History on the east side of Tian'anmen
Square in downtown Beijing. The exhibition continues through
December 31.
Sponsored by the State Bureau of Cultural Relics and Museums, the
show is generally regarded by specialists to be the best in the
recent years. Most of the displays are ranked among the top 10
archaeological discoveries since 1992 and almost all of them have
never been shown in Beijing before.
"We make it a rule that every single object that enters this show
is a top national treasure," said Xin Lixiang, director of the
Archaeology Department of the National Museum of Chinese History,
who has made several trips to provincial museums to choose the
displays.
Realizing the incomparable significance of these artifacts, State
Councillor Li Tieying commented after reviewing the show that they
would never be allowed to be taken abroad to be displayed outside
the Chinese mainland.
The exhibition offers an insight into the essence of China's
civilization, ranging from the Old Stone Age to the Qing Dynasty
(1644-1911).
An ivory dagger produced some 7,000 years ago tells us the climate
has changed much since then. The dagger was unearthed at Hemudu
Ruin in today's Zhejiang Province, where it is now too cool for
elephant to live.
"Bones of elephants were excavated in this region, which explains
why many things with elephant as the motif were unearthed from
this area," said Wang Xiaotian, researcher with the Archaeological
Department of the National Museum of Chinese History.
Conspicuous in the show and held in highest esteem are the bronze
wares. Majestic cauldrons and wine jars and exquisite smaller
vessels were not for daily use, as bronze was precious material
some 3,000 years ago. Most of them were reserved for offerings of
wine and food to the spirits of deceased ancestors, and were only
to be used by the wealthy and powerful.
Comprised of nine ding, eight gui and seven li, a set of bronze
vessels on display belonged to the Duke of Zheng and served as a
proof of how this ruler of a strong state overstepped his
authority.
This set of 24 bronze vessels could only be used by the emperor,
according to the ritual guidelines of the Zhou Dynasty (11
century-256 BC).
The Zhou society was known to be civilized, and order and
hierarchy were highly respected. The way the Duke of Zheng behaved
was clearly an indication that public morals were no longer what
it used to be. Shortly after, the Duke of Zheng openly challenged
the emperor and even shot him in his arm with an arrow during a
clash with royal army. A stormy period marked by warlord
struggles, which was coined as the Warring States (475-221 BC)
period, ensued.
But some bronzes had practical uses. A bronze cooking set
unearthed in Shanxi consisted of a stove, a pot, a vessel and a
four-piece "chimney pipe" for letting the smoke out. The stove was
devised in the shape of a tiger and could be dismantled. It was
convenient for military and nomadic life, but a bit large -- 160
centimetres tall.
"Many knives were gilded with zink and you could still use them to
kill," said Wang Xiaotian.
Perhaps the most important part of the exhibit is the collection
from the Zhou Dynasty. Archaeologists still don't know the
locations of the tombs of the Zhou emperors, and little was
written about the period. But the tombs of Zhou dukes, unearthed
in the last three to four years, tell much about those times.
The largest tombs that were found were those of the Jin Dukedom.
Seventeen tombs containing eight generations of Jin dukes and
their wives were excavated from 1992 to 1994. Many inscriptions
refer to the Jin rulers.
In 1992, robbers blew up one of the tombs and stole 14 pieces of a
set of chime bells. Only two pieces survived the pillage, and the
rest was smuggled to Hong Kong. Fortunately, they were bought back
by the Shanghai Museum. The inscriptions of 355 characters on
these bells tell the story of a war the rulers made at the order
of the emperor.
The exhibition's jade section is as impressive as the bronze. Jade
was the most valued and one of the most favoured materials of
ancient China. Not only because it is rich in colour and
substance, but also because jade is considered the symbol of life.
Despite the difficulties of working on it, the Chinese have shown
enormous creativity in making jade objects. A jade tortoise on
display is an example of harmony, grace and proportion in a very
small dimension. It was made some 5,500 years ago.
The jade ornaments unearthed from the tombs of the Duke of Jin
immediately command attention with their striking size and
sophistication.
One of them was intricately made of several ring-shaped pieces of
jade and joined together with jade tubes and beads. Worn around
the neck, it will reach well below the knees. The nobles in the
Zhou Dynasty fastened jade ornaments to clothes, so that when they
walked the jade would clink and remind them of their station. Jade
wares in such large size were probably for big occasions or
funerals,
"I think these jade wares are enough to change our original belief
that jade wares in Zhou are less bold and imaginative than in the
previous Shang (16-11 century BC)," said Lu Zhaoyin, jade expert
with the Archaeology Department of the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences.
The Jin Dukedom is one of the major states under the Zhou reign.
But if you are already impressed with the rich lifestyles of the
dukes of Jin, just imagine how the Zhou emperors would look.
Contact with cultures outside China gave new energy to China's
decorative arts. This can be seen in the Buddhist sculptures found
in a secret recess used by ancient monks in Shandong. The figures
were certainly influenced by Indian sculpture.
Traces of inter-cultural exchanges are most evident in the Tang
Dynasty (AD 618-907). Statues of equestrian riders, with their
elegance and composure, are obviously foreigners with their high
noses and deep-set eyes.
Two pieces of high relief in marble, each weighing about a ton,
were good examples of the effective realism and vigour of Tang
art. One depicts a 15-person band of the tomb occupant with all
kinds of musical instruments. The female figures are graceful and
elegant and have round faces and complicated coiffures.
"They are the best of its kind ever found so far. I'm not sure
whether another one could be found in the future, so despite the
difficulty of transportation, we decided to bring it to the show,"
said Xin Lixiang.
The total expense of organizing the show cost 1 million yuan
($120,000). It is hard to give an exact assessment of the value of
the exhibits, for each of them is priceless.
As the captions of the exhibits are all written in Chinese,
foreigners may find it difficult to put things into context. An
album, which contains pictures of 151 important exhibits, each
with an introduction in Chinese, English and Japanese, could help.
The album can be bought in the museum.
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_Date: 09/30/97_
_Author: Gong Qian_
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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Township firms develop rapidly
TOWNSHIP enterprises in Jiangxi Province are experiencing a period
of all-round rapid development. Natural endowments are an
important reason, but well-co-ordinated policies contribute more.
Jiangxi is blessed with a moderate climate and fertile land. It is
an important exporter of food and cash crop produce. Bamboo and
timber are abundant here. Nature also favours it with large
mineral deposits of various kinds. Jiangxi boasts 126 of the 150
mineral deposits in the world. Of these, high on the national
ranking are copper, gold and rare-earth metal. The province's
output of tungsten is the biggest in the country.
The national transportation network also favours Jiangxi. Roads
and railroads in the province reach everywhere and long stretches
of waterways are navigable. The new north-south transportation
artery, the Beijing-Kowloon railway runs the whole length of
Jiangxi, about 700 kilometres. Airlines also link the province
with major cities of China.
These big pluses have been cashed in on by industrious Jingxi
rural people who have developed township enterprises of various
forms to an extent hitherto unimagined.
The rate is very fast. Statistics show that during the Eighth
Five-Year Plan period (1991-1995), the annual increase rate in the
gross domestic product (GDP) of provincial township enterprises
was 32.2 per cent. From 1990 to 1995, GDP of township enterprises
in Jiangxi rose from 15.7 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) to 56.0
billion yuan ($6.7 billion) after allowing for inflation.
The economic strength of township enterprises is steadily
increasing. Accumulated financial input into township enterprises
in real assets has reached 18.2 billion yuan ($2.2 billion), 2.7
billion ($324.5 million) of which was invested in 1996. At
present, fixed assets in township enterprises in the province are
worth 21.6 billion yuan ($2.6 billion).
These enterprises are becoming larger. By the end of 1996,
township enterprises with output value more than one million yuan
($120,500), 10 million yuan ($1.2 million), 100 million yuan
($12.1 million) number 6,477, 472 and 14 respectively.
The general population in the province is benefiting more and more
from the flourishing of township enterprises. In 1996, taxes from
this section accounted for 18.46 per cent of the total revenues of
the province. This section employs 19.8 per cent of the rural
labour force in the province. Farmers in Jiangxi derive 21.2 per
cent of their income from township enterprises.
The education and training level of workers in township
enterprises is rising. More than a third of the workers in this
section have high school diplomas. Almost 53 per cent of the
people employed in this section have professional qualification
certificates of various levels.
The smooth development of township enterprises is attributable to
government support as well as the province's favourable natural
environment.
Agriculture is the major source of raw material and labour force
in rural enterprises. A mutually supportive relationship between
them has always been stressed by governments on different levels.
Increasing the science and technology content of township
enterprises' products is also advocated by local governments to
usher the industry into a new era.
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_Date: 09/30/97_
_Author: Zhu Changyong_
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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Landscape changes to green colour
AN aerial view of Jiangxi Province reveals an exciting picture:
red, which is from the notoriously unproductive red soil plaguing
the area since ancient times, is now giving way to an endless lush
green. Everywhere in Jiangxi Province new trees are sprouting and
old trees are well tended. A new drive to "green" Jiangxi is
bearing fruit.
In 1989, the provincial government called for a province wide
initiative to reforest Jiangxi Province. An ambitious goal was set
to plant trees wherever it could be done by 1995. The call was
responded to enthusiastically all over the region. From 1989 to
1994, the reforested area in the province amounted to 2.01 million
hectares. Almost 2 million hectares of mountain area was enclosed
for better growing of existing forests. The planned goal was
achieved in 1994, a year ahead of schedule.
By the end of 1996, the forested area in Jiangxi was enlarged to
8.9 million hectares and the wood reserve in forests hit 276
million cubic metres. During the same period, the province's
forest coverage rate rose at an annual rate of 2.4 per cent,
reaching 50.9 per cent.
The rules of market economy find ready application in the
province's forest industry. Market-oriented, the forest industry
readjusts and optimizes the industry structure with the raising of
efficiency as the dominant need. Well-planned felling and
processing and the final marketing of the products are all
integrated into a government policy aimed at sustainable
development of the forest industry. The output value of the
industry in 1996 reached 14.4 billion yuan ($1.7 billion), a rise
of 2.7 billion yuan ($325.3 million) form the previous year.
The wood processing industry has undergone a regrouping and
conglomeration. Scale economy thus achieved yields surprising
economic returns.
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_Date: 09/30/97_
_Author: _
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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Jiangxi switches on to electricity
IN the past five years, Jiangxi's power industry has achieved a
sharp increase in its generating capacity. Power transmission
capacity has also been enhanced greatly.
Between 1992 and 1996, a total of 7.41 billion yuan($892.7
million) was invested in the power industry. In 1992, Pingxiang
Power Plant put two new 125 MW units into operation. In the same
year, two other 125 MW units began construction at Jingdezhen
Power Plant and were up and running in September 1994 and March
1995 respectively. In 1995 and 1996, the construction of two 200
MW units got underway in Xingyu Power Plant. At the end of 1996,
the first 300 MW unit in Jiangxi Province was completed in
Fengcheng Power Plant. During the past five years, the installed
capacity of the province's power industry increased by 1.77
million kilowatts.
Power transmission facilities were also significantly upgraded.
The whole province is now covered by a power grid, connected by
2613.9 kilometres of 220 KV power line stretching to Jiujiang in
the north, Ganzhou in the south, Jingdezhen in the north and
Pingxiang in the west. It has a transforming capacity of 3.1
million KVA. Newly added power lines for upwards of 35 KV reached
6283.5 kilometres for the five-year period. This is 226.5
kilometres more than was added between 1980 and 1990. In the
provincial capital city of Nangchang, 75.7 million yuan ($9.1
million) was earmarked for the upgrading of the electricity
network in 1996. As a result of that, newly added transforming
capacity reached 160,000 KVA. This move increased the reliability
of power supply dramatically.
At present, of 80 counties in the province, 70 counties have their
own 110KV converting stations. All the towns, 97 per cent of the
villages and 95 per cent of the households in the province now
have electricity. Millions of people have bid farewell to the days
of burning kerosene oil for lighting.
The rapid development of the power industry in Jiangxi directly
benefits the province's agriculture and various industrious
sectors.
The ratio in 1997 between the total GDP of agriculture and
industry and electricity consumption in the province was 11 yuan
per KWH, 1.88 times that in 1991.
The completion of the Beijing-Kowloon railway brings more
opportunities to the power industry of Jiangxi. An industrial belt
is now in the making along this railway. In accordance with this
latest development, a new consternation of thermal power plants is
springing up.
In the Ninth Five-Year Plan Period (1996-2000), Jiangxi Province
is continuing to give top priority to the building-up of the power
industry. Besides hydroelectricity and thermoelectricity, nuclear
power will soon join this "umbilical cord." Raising funds through
different channels is being actively pursued, with special
preference given to foreign investment. With a favourable
environment and preferential government policies, any investment
is assured of healthy returns.
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_Date: 09/30/97_
_Author: Gong Weihong_
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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Red Star rises high from improved red soil
RED soil has been the biggest headache for Jiangxi's farmers since
ancient times. A certain foreign authority on soil science once
predicted that red soil could never be reclaimed and thus was no
better than a red Sahara. Being fully aware of the Herculean task
before them, Jiangxi's people remained undaunted. Knowing the Art
of the Possible, they wanted to make the impossible possible.
Hongxing Farm is situated in Dongxiang County, at 116 degrees east
longitude and 28 degrees north latitude. Its area of 52.8 square
kilometers is mainly covered by red soil. When the farm was
founded, the whole area suffered severely from soil erosion.
Plants were denied even a tenuous life. Red soil experts believed
the area was the most typical example of the plague. The farm's
pioneers had to start their battle against the red soil from
scratch.
Adopting a long-term plan, they tackled the problem in an
all-round manner. An eco-chain was created artificially from the
deteriorating ecosystem. The pioneering farmers' ingenuity had no
better showcase than the so-called "half an acre to a cow"
project: For every half an acre of reclaimed red soil land, a cow
was raised. The grass reaped from the land was used as forage for
the cow. In return the cow's droppings were left to enrich the
soil. Thus a closed cycle was formed: red soil -- grass -- forage
-- dropping -- red soil. Incremental changes wrought in each cycle
resulted in dramatic improvements over time.
The soil's content of organic matter increased considerably,
raising its fertility, and a mode of sustainable development was
achieved.
Water is of vital importance to the treatment of red soil. In
Hongxing, people came up with various ways to retain and use
precipitation. Jiangxi Province is blessed with plentiful rain but
runoff water was not being put to good use until the people called
on a skill perfected by beavers. Hongxing's people built dams
across valleys forming many reservoirs for irrigation.
Irrigation changed the landscape more than any other project. Hill
slopes were covered with verdant grass and became grazing land for
cows. In the reservoirs and on the nearby plains ducks and
chickens were raised, also adding organic elements to the soil.
Hongxing's people were not content with their sporadic mode of
land reclaiming, however. In 1986, Hongxing Farm used loans from
the World Bank to start up household dairy farms. Each farm raised
ten cows while reclaiming two hectares of land. Between 1986 and
1988, 275 dairy farms were opened and 600 hectares of red soil
land were reclaimed. The fresh milk output during this period
amounted to more than 8,000 tons, and the annual net income of
each household dairy farm averaged 10,000 yuan ($1204.8). Quite a
few of these households joined the ranks of well-to-do families
ahead of the timetable set by the farm authority.
China's adoption of a market economy gave Hongxing Farm a new
impetus. Its people raised their eyes from the land to look afar
at the ever-broadening economic horizon. Diversification became a
necessity. Multiple forms of processing local agricultural produce
were set up. As with red soil reclamation, Hongxing's people
embarked on their industrial venture by building an "eco-cycle"--
though this time "eco" meant "economic." A judicious combination
of industrial components was actively sought after by Hongxing's
people, and they succeeded. Their milk processing factory can
handle 40 tons of fresh milk daily. A fodder factory produces
20,000 tons of product annually. A starch factory with an annual
production capacity of 5,000 tons, a fodder processing equipment
factory and a pharmaceutical factory producing 5,000 tons of
glucose and 350 million medicine tablets every year have also
become engines driving the thriving local economy. Concomitant
with these factories, packaging companies, construction companies,
building material companies, water and electricity companies were
set up to complete an economic cycle of optimal efficiency. To
take that cycle a step further, a conglomerate called "Hongxing
Group" was formed to better co-ordinate their activities.
Hongxing's achievements have attracted attention from far and
near. The United Nations sent a group of red soil expert there to
gather information first-hand. Ambassadors from 66 countries,
accompanied by their spouses, have toured Hongxing farm. The soil
science authority mentioned at the beginning of this article
happily ate his words when he saw the big changes that had taken
place at Hongxing Farm.
Indeed, this part of Jiangxi is no longer a "Red Sahara." Instead
Hongxing is living up to its Chinese name and is rising like a red
star.
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_Date: 09/30/97_
_Author: Fu Jianjun and Chen Hehe_
_Copyright© by China Daily_

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[INLINE]
[INLINE]

Updated on September 24, 1997

[INLINE]

[INLINE]

_[1]The 15th Party Congress_

_[2]Sep. 12 - Sep.18, 1997_

[INLINE]

[3][LINK] _[4]General Secretary Jiang Zemin's
Report to the 15th Party Congress_
[5][LINK] _[6]New Party Leadership elected,
Top Leaders' Profiles_
[7][LINK] _[8]Communique of 15th CPC Central
Committee's First Plenum_

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References

1. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/engtg124.html
2. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/engtg124.html
3. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/report.html
4. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/report.html
5. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/engtgb46.html
6. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/engtgb46.html
7. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/engtgb09.html
8. http://www.chinadaily.net/cndy/history/15/engtgb09.html
9. mailto:cd...@chinadaily.net

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