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When it comes to the three eastern provinces, they are always associated with labels such as "White Mountain Black Water", "Heavy Industry Base" and "China's Granary", which once fed most of China and became the backbone of China's economy for a while.
After the passage of time, today's northeast has long lost its former glory, and even withered. The entire three eastern provinces are now not only facing economic setbacks, but also constantly suffering the loss of young and strong people, and the future is uncertain.
As the former "eldest son of the Republic", Northeast China was under considerable pressure in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, but he still forged ahead in a difficult situation, and even handed over an "excess answer sheet".
What is happening in this land, and how much economic regression in just a few decades can be so great? And what is the reason for "dragging down" the northeast? Where is the way forward for the three eastern provinces?
The declining "firstborn son of the republic"
I remember that a topic about the Northeast has been discussed on the Internet for a long time, and every year someone will turn it out and revisit it.
Many children from the northeast receive instructions from their parents when they go to school or go out to work, which is nothing more than saying: "Son, don't come back when you go out..."
It can be seen that the economic stagnation and slow development of the northeast have subtly changed the mentality of the local people, and for most northeastern people, it seems that the south is the more appropriate place to go.
This mentality is not unfounded. Since around 2000, all regions of China have developed effectively and rapidly, and even the poor areas of the southwestern frontier have rapidly embarked on the road to rise.
It seems that only the "big brother" of the northeast has fallen into a long-term downturn. According to the China Labor Statistics Yearbook 2005, the northeast accounted for a quarter of the country's laid-off workers between 1998 and 2000, peaking at 500,000 layoffs per year, while the highest value in Jiangsu and Zhejiang during the same period was only 100,000.
Although this data has a lot to do with the wave of layoffs in China in the late 20s and is an inevitable result of the management reform of state-owned enterprises, nearly 10 million of these 30 million laid-off workers came from the northeast, which is really shocking.
Behind all the phenomena, there must be inevitable factors related to it, and the large number of laid-off workers and unemployment in the northeast also reflects the sluggish local economy.
In 1993, the total labor production value of the three eastern provinces was close to 80,000 yuan, and at this time, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Shandong and other places, this value came to 70,000 yuan, that is, the combination of the strength of the three northeastern provinces was worth another province.
As we enter the 21st century, China's economic leap in two decades is staggering, along with the growth rate of individual provinces.
Although the economy is growing rapidly, the magnitude of growth is still very different, and this difference is especially pronounced after 2010.
According to the economic data disclosed by the state, the five provinces with the fastest GDP growth rate in the decade of 10~20 are basically concentrated in the southwest and southeast, especially Guizhou Province, with an increase rate of 248.8%.
The five slowest growing provinces are almost all concentrated in the north, with the three eastern provinces among them. Heilongjiang, the lowest, grew its GDP at just 49.8 percent, less than one-fifth of Guizhou's.
In 2016, the GDP of the three eastern provinces accounted for 7.1% of the country's gross domestic product, and the three provinces of Heijiliao ranked 29, 25 and 31 respectively, and the single growth rate of each province was still lower than the national average.
In 2020, the three eastern provinces improved slightly, and Heijiliao's GDP ranking climbed to 26, 25 and 17 respectively, although there was some improvement, but it is difficult to hide the overall downturn. Because the three eastern provinces seem more like a whole to the outside world, but their combined GDP is no match for a Sichuan, let alone the southern coastal provinces.
When exhaustion is exhausted, it will always remind people of the glory days. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Northeast China was the industrial center of the country, with a strong transportation system, and the "First Five-Year Plan" was launched here, and the Northeast of China's ten largest cities before the reform and opening up always firmly occupied half of the seats. But how did all this suddenly become endless depression and depression?
The shift in the political center and economic center of gravity
After the reform and opening up, China's path in economic construction began to gradually change, and the Northeast, which has a special geographical location, has also seen a very obvious change in economic status.
After entering the modernization development situation, integration with the world has become a more mainstream economic operation mode, and those coastal provinces have natural advantages over the northeast.
The original financial support policy encouragement of the state tilted to the northeast has gradually shifted to the southeast, which is an inevitable change under the impact of the trend of the times and an irresistible "curse" in the northeast.
Throughout the history of countries in the world, no country has been able to maintain sustained high-speed economic growth for a long time like China.
China's economic growth rate has averaged more than 9% for 40 consecutive years, which is not only a miracle in Chinese history, but also a unique feat in world history.
However, the growth of one region often requires a lot of encouragement and care from the state, while other regions are easily overlooked.
For the northeast, its own advantages have also become "disadvantages" after the support and attention have shifted to the southeast coast and other areas.
A series of problems such as "bad climate, backward industry, and transportation not meeting the trade needs of the new era" have emerged. When the "heavy industry" label that Northeast is proud of becomes their "burden", everything seems different.
Reform and opening up is actually a means for China to integrate into the world, and the process of global integration has evolved into a special international relationship that now cooperates closely with each other and maintains competition.
Compared with the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, the three eastern provinces are more difficult to gather logistics circles, and they cannot attract a large amount of foreign capital injection like the coastal areas, coupled with the national policy direction at that time has left the northeast, this black land seems to have lost its own light.
However, a "degraded" northeast does not mean that everything has lost its development possibilities. For most provinces, the initial positioning determines your development path.
The northeast is complex, and in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it needed to undertake half of China's agricultural and industrial construction, almost playing the role of a "blood bank", constantly nourishing China's vast land.
Therefore, after the reform and opening up, the northeast can still make use of its retained advantages in heavy industry and agricultural production to drive regional development. Since this path is already so clear and clear? Why has the Northeast still not shaken off the downturn? Or even go further and further down the road of slump?
Trapped in the solidified mind of the Northeast
As mentioned at the beginning of the first part of the article, the northeast is caught in an "ideological dilemma."
For more northeasterners, "going out" is always greater than "staying", and it is better to go out of the house to seek their own future than to stay in the local area to build their hometown.
This concept has subtly influenced generations over the years, and this influence comes precisely from the sluggish economic development situation in the past few decades, coupled with the fact that as the "eldest son of the Republic", first responded to the call for "family planning", the northeast fell into a serious dilemma of population loss in economic stagnation.
The source of all labor production must be linked to labor, and the number of people determines whether labor is sufficient. The birth rate continues to decline, the number of people going to other provinces is increasing year by year, and the northeasterners who stay in the local area are more and more elderly groups, which leads to fewer and fewer people who can create wealth value, and the northeast has fallen into a vicious circle.
In addition, compared with the economic powerhouse that rose later, the northeast is not rich in industries and economic models. When the original planned economy gradually leaps into a market economy, the original large factories, cooperatives, and organizational models will be banned, but where should the many workers who are subordinate to factories or state-owned enterprises go?
The answer is naturally "self-reliance", but for the workers in the northeast, who are accustomed to heavy industrial production, unified management, and organized construction, it is unrealistic to adapt to the new social development model at once.
Just like the rise of the Internet, no one can understand all its ideas just after touching it, so the vast number of people in the northeast region are a little overwhelmed after leaving the original planned economy era.
The slogan "Iron rice bowl, advance the establishment" seems to be a favorite of the people of the northeast, and from another point of view, it is more like a remembrance of the past years.
The era of collective efforts to build economic development is gone, and the lack of innovation, the richer industrial base, and the overly single economic model have all become obstacles to the economic stagnation of the Northeast.
However, the changes of the times are rapid, and rough estimates can be made. At present, the resource and industrial base advantages of the northeast region still exist, and China is also sparing no effort to connect with other countries in industry, believing that in the near future, "revitalizing the old industrial base in the northeast" is no longer an empty slogan, but a reality that can be seen and touched.
epilogue
We don't know exactly where the roads belonging to the Tohoku are, and no one can predict exactly what will happen in the future. However, a piece of land can carry things that are always beyond people's imagination, and people's yearning for a better future is also an energy that cannot be ignored.
It is hoped that the slogan of "revitalizing the northeast" that has been shouted for more than ten or twenty years will truly become a reality, and the glory will be re-shining on this fertile black land in the near future.
China has crossed the most difficult moment, looking forward to the Northeast, blessing the Northeast, and believing in the Northeast!