The Three Gorges Province is the only province that was formally established after the founding of the People's Republic of China, but was suddenly abolished in the end. Today, this term, like the province that had difficulty in childbirth, has been obliterated in the dust of history and has almost been completely forgotten. But only forty years have passed. The nouns that have been obliterated by history, like the homes of the immigrants who were flooded by the rivers, have never been known to the bottom of the water. However, this term that has become a thing of the past is tied to the sad and joyful fate of millions of Three Gorges migrants. What kind of little-known high-level game is behind the high-profile launch of the Three Gorges Province and its sudden death? Why did the Three Gorges Project go on a grand scale, but the Three Gorges Province, which was used to appease millions of migrants, quietly disappeared into the depths of history?
I. In order to properly resettle millions of migrants in the reservoir area, the central authorities decided to establish the "Three Gorges Province"
(1) Deng Xiaoping: It is not good to rashly deny the Three Gorges
In July 1980, when Deng Xiaoping talked about the Three Gorges issue with Hu Yaobang, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and Yao Yilin, vice premier, at the East Lake Hotel in Wuhan, he expressed his attitude toward the project that had been debated for half a century: It is not good to rashly deny the Three Gorges! Since then, the Three Gorges issue has suddenly heated up, and the relevant research and demonstration process has been significantly accelerated.
At the same time, another, crucial, and even more pressing issue is before the top decision-makers—what kind of administrative body to organize the problem of millions of migrants in the reservoir areas, which are as difficult and complex as the project itself.
(2) Li Peng: Consideration may be given to the establishment of the Three Gorges Special Zone
On February 17, 1984, the Central Financial and Economic Leading Group held a meeting in Zhongnanhai to study the Three Gorges Project. The meeting decided that the project was ready to start and that construction would be officially started in 1986. At the same time, the meeting decided to set up a leading group for the preparation of the Three Gorges Project of the State Council and to prepare for the establishment of the Three Gorges Special Administrative Region and the Three Gorges Development Corporation. The leading group was headed by Li Peng, then vice premier of the State Council, and Headed by Song Ping, Du Xingyuan, and Qian Zhengying. 27 days later, the "Report on Several Issues Concerning the Preparation of the Three Gorges Project" was issued, in which Li Peng pointed out: (The issue of resettlement is the key to the success or failure of the Three Gorges Project) We must make great efforts and make great efforts to properly handle it. Consideration may be given to establishing a three-gorges special economic zone system, establishing a special economic zone people's government, directly under the State Council, and enjoying the treatment of provincial, municipal (district) governments.
The report also put forward its own opinions on the administrative division of the Three Gorges Special Administrative Region: two plans on the jurisdiction of the Special Administrative Region. A smaller plan is that the counties and cities in the flooded areas along the reservoirs on both sides of the Yangtze River from Yichang City to Fuling City will come in, and the SAR government will uniformly manage future immigration matters and industrial and agricultural production. The other is that the scope of the special zone is even larger, and some relatively wealthy areas are included, so that the special zone has a relatively large room for maneuver in the economy. Some comrades of the State Planning Commission disagreed with the establishment of special administrative zones and suggested that only immigration bureaus should be set up, and that Sichuan and Hubei provinces should be responsible for the work of immigration. The advantages of this plan are that the migration bureau has a single task and clear responsibilities, and the disadvantage is that the immigration office is not authoritative enough, it is difficult to resolve the relationship between the two provinces, and there may be insurmountable contradictions between the immigration bureau and the local government.
(3) Naming disputes: from the Three Gorges Special Administrative Region to the Three Gorges Province
On July 31, 1984, the 147th meeting of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee presided over by Hu Yaobang adopted a proposal on changing the Three Gorges Special Administrative Region into the Three Gorges Special Administrative Region, which was reported by the Party Group of the Ministry of Water Resources to the Party Central Committee and the State Council. The "Minutes" of the meeting said: In order to speed up the construction of the Three Gorges power station and properly solve the problem of resettlement in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, it has been decided to establish a Three Gorges Special Zone, which is directly under the leadership of the State Council; all areas with migrants in Sichuan and Hubei Provinces are under the jurisdiction of the Three Gorges Special Administrative Region Government. Subsequently, at the executive meeting of the State Council, some people raised objections to the name of the Three Gorges Special Economic Zone, holding that the nature of the Three Gorges Special Economic Zone is different from that of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone, the Hainan Special Economic Zone, and other coastal special economic zones, and that it is easy to cause confusion by naming the Three Gorges Special Economic Zone as the name of the special zone. The central leader who presided over the meeting immediately proposed: If this name does not work, do I think it will be called the Three Gorges Administrative Region?
This proposal was endorsed by the majority of participants. However, after the meeting, some people questioned the Three Gorges Administrative Region on the grounds that there was no provision in the Constitution for the establishment of an administrative region at the provincial level. Considering that as a provincial-level establishment, there are only provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, in the end, the central government decided to change the Three Gorges Administrative Region into the Three Gorges Province.
II. Overview of the "Three Gorges Province": Hubei did not want the rich counties to be taken away; the poverty in the mountainous areas shocked the central government to spend a year to build the Three Gorges Province, and the provincial capital chose Yichang
On February 8, 1985, the Preparatory Group of the Three Gorges Province, which has attracted much attention at home and abroad, was announced. Li Peng said: It is planned that we will have almost a year to carry out preparatory work. According to this progress, the Three Gorges Province will be formally established in the spring of 1986. At that time, the Preparatory Group of the Three Gorges Province was responsible for five major tasks. This includes studying and formulating economic and social development plans after the establishment of the province, forming a provincial-level leadership team, and coordinating with relevant departments. The most important thing is to formulate an immigration plan and do a good job in the pilot work of an immigrant.
The central authorities also decided that the capital of the Three Gorges Province would be in Yichang City, Hubei Province.
(1) Overview of the Three Gorges Province
It can be seen from the "Three Gorges Provincial Map" drawn by the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping that the administrative divisions of the Three Gorges Province are three places, one city, and 30 counties (cities), which are: Fuling City, Nanchuan, Matjiang, Fengdu, Wulong County, Xiushan, Youyang, Qianjiang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, Pengshui Miao Tujia Autonomous County, and Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County in the Fuling Area of Sichuan (now Chongqing Municipality); Wanxian City, Wanxian County, KaiXian, Liangping, ZhongXian County, Yunyang, Fengjie, Wushan, Wuxi, and Chengkou in the Wanxian District of Sichuan (now Wanzhou District of Chongqing). Yichang, Yidu, Zhijiang, Danyang, Yuan'an, Xingshan, Zigui, Changyang Tujia Autonomous County and Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County in Yichang District (now Yichang City), Hubei Province, Yichang City (which has been merged with Yichang District to form Yichang City), Badong County of Hubei West Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. There are 30 counties (cities), under the jurisdiction of 340 districts (towns), 1825 townships (towns). The total area is 84,093 square kilometers, and the cultivated land is 19.08 million mu, which is only 1.08 mu per capita. The total population is 17.6 million, and the agricultural population is as high as 15.83 million. In 1984, the total output value of industry and agriculture was 8.982 billion yuan, 511 yuan per capita, 50.2% lower than the 1,026 yuan in the same period of the country, ranking 28th, only higher than Guizhou and Tibet. In other words, the Three Gorges Province is not only a small province, but also a solid and poor province. Hubei Province is reluctant to classify four wealthy counties into the Three Gorges Province
Li Boning, who later became the head of the preparatory group for the Three Gorges Province, was initially reluctant to take over this heavy responsibility. One of the important reasons is to consider that the 30 counties and cities under the jurisdiction of the Three Gorges Province are mostly well-known poor counties in the central and provincial governments. In the process of finalizing the zoning, Hubei Province has always tried its best to retain the four counties and cities with relatively good economic conditions in Dangyang, Zhijiang, Yidu, and Wufeng, so that the remaining 26 counties and cities in the Three Gorges Province are almost all poor counties that eat financial subsidies.
In view of this, before accepting this appointment, Li Boning put forward a clear demand on Qian Zhengying, then deputy head of the State Council's Leading Group for the Preparation of the Three Gorges Project: These four counties in Hubei must be assigned to the Three Gorges Province in the future. This request was agreed to by Li Peng, and the State Council immediately sent Qian Zhengying to Hubei and Sichuan to convey the decision on the regional division and personnel of the Three Gorges Province. Sichuan had no opinion on the decision, and the Hubei Provincial Party Committee expressed its disagreement with the transfer of the four counties of Danyang and Zhijiang to the Three Gorges Province, on the grounds that it had cut off the Enshi region and Hubei Province and turned them into enclaves. Qian Zhengying returned from Hubei to persuade Li Boning to change his mind, and Li Boning later recalled that he and Qian Zhengying had a big fight over it. Li Boning then wrote a letter to the central leadership, saying that if the previous decision on the division of the Three Gorges Province was changed, he would hang up the crown and leave. In the end, after Li Peng personally went out, he persuaded the Hubei Provincial Party Committee and promised to give Hubei a road to the Enshi area.
(2) Television films exposed the poverty of the people of the Three Gorges Province and shocked the central authorities
The original intention of the establishment of the Three Gorges Province was to resettle millions of migrants from the reservoir area. Naturally, the living conditions of the migrants in the reservoir area have naturally become the most important task in the work of the Preparatory Group of the Three Gorges Province. Soon after taking office, Li Boning organized the filming of a television film that truly reflected the situation of the people in the Three Gorges region suffering from poverty and illness, "Poor Mountains Are Appealing." According to Li Boning's recollection, at that time, there were still 5 million to 6 million people in the Three Gorges Province who could not solve the problem of food and clothing, even water could not drink, and there were endemic diseases, a chronic fluorosis reached more than 800,000 people, the light ones were full of teeth loss, joint stiffness, waist hunchback, loss of labor. The heavy are bedridden, crippled for life, and unable to take care of themselves. At the Central Primary School in Lin'e Township, more than 40 students in a class were all infected with dental fluorosis. If these children are not treated in time, they continue to be infected, and they will lose their teeth and lose their labor before they reach adulthood...
However, when the documentary was test-screened inside the Three Gorges Provincial Preparatory Group, it was questioned, believing that it was smearing the current excellent situation in the countryside. Li Boning brought the film back to Beijing and was turned away by a deputy secretary general of the State Council on the grounds that such a film could not be shown to the leaders of the State Council, and not long ago Anhui sent a television film reflecting the poverty situation in mountainous areas, which was criticized. Your film is much more serious than the Anhui film, and the leaders must be criticized when they see you.
Thanks to Li Boning's efforts, the television film finally caused a sensation at the rural work conference held by the central government in 1985. The provincial party secretaries and governors attending the meeting were all viewed by collective organizations, and more than 80 copies were sent to the desks of central leaders and a group of ministers. Vice President Wang Zhenguan was shocked, covered his face and wept, and sighed: 36 years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, I can't imagine that this place is still so poor!
Third, in order to smoothly demonstrate the feasibility of the Three Gorges Project, the "Three Gorges Province" was aborted on the eve of the basin
(1) Chongqing Municipality proposed that the water storage in the Three Gorges be increased to 180 meters, and the number of migrants increased sharply by more than 700,000
Thanks to the efforts of Li Boning and the Three Gorges Preparatory Group, institutions have been set up, leadership has been put in place, funds have been settled, and the rudiments of the Three Gorges Province have basically taken shape. However, the wind direction changed sharply, and whether the Three Gorges Province could produce smoothly suddenly became an unknown. The first variable is that Chongqing Municipality proposed to the central government to raise the water storage level to 180 meters, on the grounds that at the existing 150-meter water storage level, the 10,000-ton steamship could not drive to Chongqing. On January 23, 1985, when Discussing economic issues with the leaders of the State Council, Deng Xiaoping made it clear that the 10,000-ton ferry could not fly in Chongqing, and this would not solve the problem. This also means that the number of migrants in the Three Gorges Province that needs to solve the problem of Anzhu has increased sharply by more than 700,000. For the poor Three Gorges Province, it is undoubtedly an unbearable burden.
At the Third Session of the Sixth CPPCC National Committee in 1985, many experts and scholars opposed the Three Gorges Project, and the future of the Three Gorges Province was uncertain. Wave after wave, wave after wave. Since Chongqing proposed the 180-meter water storage level plan, the argument and debate around the height of the reservoir storage has continued.
In the spring of 1985, the Third Session of the Sixth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Out of the spirit of being highly responsible to the Chinese nation and the masses, a group of CPPCC members raised objections to the Three Gorges Project. One of the most representative is the large
The 38th issue of the Express, compiled and printed by the briefing group on April 2, reflects the CPPCC National Committee, the CPPCC National Committee, and the Economic Construction Group
Changsun Yueqi has many views and opinions on the Three Gorges Project.
From the 1950s onwards, Li Rui, who resolutely opposed the Three Gorges, also wrote to the Central Committee again at this time, proposing that the Three Gorges Project be temporarily suspended
Slow construction. Some of the opposing opinions were particularly sharp and fierce, even saying: Qin Shi Huang built the Great Wall, Sui Dynasty
The imperial repair of the canal has no good end: now the leaders want to repair the Three Gorges, and there will be no good end...
Whether the Three Gorges Project is feasible or not immediately became the focus of public opinion at home and abroad. On March 31, 1986, Deng Xiaoping made a cautious statement when meeting with Mr. Bo Zhaoshu, chairman of the board of directors of the US "China Daily": Everything the Chinese Government does is for the people, and it will certainly give careful consideration to such a major event as the construction of the Three Gorges Project, which has a bearing on thousands of generations. When there is a plan with the greatest benefits and the least harm, it is decided to start construction, and it is never hasty to act. This means that the demonstration process of the Three Gorges Project has not ended; the Three Gorges Province, which is attached to it, has suddenly become uncertain.
Li Boning's opinion: Considering the development of this region and solving the problem of food and clothing, it is still very necessary to abolish the news of the early establishment of the province, which is undoubtedly a thunderbolt on a sunny day for Li Boning, and when making a work report to the Central Three Gorges Inspection Delegation, he focused on his own opinion: From the perspective of work, from the perspective of the development of this region and the solution of the problem of food and clothing, it is still very necessary to establish a province as soon as possible. Li Boning also highlighted several reasons for opposing the abolition of the Three Gorges Province:
First, the Central Committee issued Document No. 4, and the leaders of the State Council gave many instructions and speeches, which were known to both Chinese and foreign countries. If someone is the opposite
It will be easy to change, which will affect the prestige of the central government and the State Council.
Second, the cadres of the Preparatory Group of the Three Gorges Province were all transferred by the Organization Department and various prefectural committees, and if they were to retire, how would these more than 400 cadres and preparatory organs be dealt with? If these people are transferred back to their original organs, their original posts will no longer exist, which will inevitably cause ideological fluctuations.
The third is immigration work, even if the project is postponed for several years, but the immigration should still be advanced. Move a year early, it will be reduced by 20,000 or 30,000
People, save hundreds of millions of dollars. Early development, immigrants can embark on the road to prosperity early. If it is a small agency to do the transfer
People, it is also very difficult to do.
Fourth, the serious problem is the production and living problems of 30 counties and cities in the two provinces, why is the Three Gorges reservoir area more impoverished and sick? This is mainly the evil result of the long-term delay of the Three Gorges Project. The flood line of the reservoir is uncertain, who dares to do projects here? This 'three places and one city' is most afraid of dragging it down like this, not going up and down, not going up and down, not dying and not living... The abortive production of the Three Gorges Province, according to Li Peng's Diary of the Three Gorges: There is a great harm to the successful completion of the Three Gorges Project
On May 8, 1986, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council issued the "Notice on Transforming the Preparatory Group of the Three Gorges Province into the Economic Development Office of the Three Gorges Region (Three Economic Development Offices)", and the Preparatory Group of the Three Gorges Province was abolished, and most of the personnel still returned from where they came from. Li Boning was appointed as the director of the Three Economic Affairs Office, responsible for guiding and assisting Sichuan and Hubei Provinces in carrying out the economic development of the Three Gorges Region and the pilot work of resettlement in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area.
(2) The Three Gorges Province officially declared abortion
As for the reasons for the revocation of the Three Gorges Province, Li Peng has a paragraph in the "Diary of the Three Gorges", which should be said to objectively reflect the real ideas of the top level at that time. The original text is as follows: Since the demonstration will take two years, the Three Gorges Province is not suitable for construction, the preparatory group cannot become an administrative entity, and the construction preparation cannot be carried out. Because doing so is only a small benefit to the project itself, it is a big harm to the smooth completion of the Three Gorges Project. (Diary dated 27 April 1986). In the diary of the previous day, there was a similar discussion: It seems that the thing I am most worried about, that is, the problem of not engaging in the Three Gorges Province, has basically been solved. At present, the Three Gorges Province will not be able to explain to the people's congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and it will be detrimental to the Three Gorges Project. The central authorities should issue a document on the abolition of the Preparatory Group for the Three Gorges Province. We agreed that even if we were determined to carry out the Three Gorges Project, we would not necessarily want to carry out the Three Gorges Province. On December 14, 1994, the Three Gorges Project officially started. It had been exactly 10 years since the decision to prepare for the Three Gorges Project in 1984. As early as the autumn of that year, the central authorities set up a special investigation team to discuss the possibility of establishing a municipality directly under the central government of Chongqing, and in order to avoid a recurrence of the incident in the Three Gorges Province, the investigation was carried out completely in secret.
In today's Chongqing Municipality, the shadow of the Three Gorges Province can still be glimpsed in the division of the city.