The lives of ordinary people are getting richer and richer, and the price level of the whole country has also risen to varying degrees.
In stark contrast, there are more and more household appliances, but the electricity bill in the Spring and Autumn Period has always remained at a relatively stable price.
Why is the mainland's electricity bill so cheap? Is it possible to say that the mainland's wind power, hydropower, and nuclear power are already so developed?
How poor was Shanxi Province in the past? The government didn't have the money to allocate funds to build roads!
In fact, there is no time to be quiet, but someone is moving forward with a load.
For most ordinary people, "resource supply" is a stable electricity and gas bill, and a basically balanced food price. But for the people of Shanxi, it is a highway that needs donations from everyone to build, and it is a hundred "white strips" that increase year by year.
In most people's imagination, Shanxi, as a major coal-producing and heavy industry province, although it is not developed and rich in the southeast coastal area, at least it should be eaten and drunk, after all, people really "have mines" at home.
But what is Shanxi actually like?
In 1993, the Shanxi Provincial Government responded to the national "Eighth Five-Year Plan" call for highway construction and prepared to build a highway between Taiyuan and Jiuguan.
Previously, Shanxi Province only had dilapidated national highways and provincial highways, and the resources of Shanxi Province wanted to go out, and the goods of other provinces and cities could only wait for traffic lights one after another if they wanted to come in.
Conceived by the Shanxi provincial government, the 140.7-kilometre-long Taijiu Expressway will pass through the Loess Plateau and the Taihang Mountains, and will be like a giant dragon passing through the hinterland of Jinzhong, connecting Shanxi Province to the Bohai Rim Economic Zone.
The ideal is very plump, and the reality is very skinny.
People can foresee what kind of benefits the old highway will bring to Shanxi Province, but "it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice", recruiting workers, buying materials, and leasing machinery...... What link doesn't need to be smashed into it with real money?
However, the Shanxi provincial government simply did not have the money.
How much does it cost to build a highway? After some careful calculation, the Shanxi provincial government believes that 3 billion yuan is enough.
Today, 30 years later, 3 billion is not an unattainable figure for a provincial government, but in the eyes of the Shanxi government at that time, it was like a moat.
The spirit and dilemma behind the old highway in Shanxi Province have to be crowdfunded
Hu Fuguo, then secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee, once shouted a slogan: "Even if the provincial party committee office building is sold, the old road must be repaired." ”
Of course, things have not yet developed to the point where it is necessary to sell the provincial party committee building, and in order to raise as much money as possible, 800,000 public officials of the Shanxi provincial government and local and municipal governments have taken the lead in slimming down their wallets.
The 36 party members in Houma took out the 3,600 yuan they had saved by frugality, which was in the 90s of the 20th century, and 3,600 yuan was about the expenses of a family of three for nearly a year.
It's a pity that even this can't plug the hole of 3 billion, so Hu Fuguo made a difficult decision, and the Shanxi provincial government issued a call to the people of the province, hoping that everyone can help their hometown.
In short, the Shanxi provincial government launched a "water drop chip" called the Taijiu Expressway.
"If you want to get rich, first build roads" this principle is understood by most ordinary people, and we may not know what the "old highway" can bring to Shanxi, but we understand that only when this road is successfully completed, can the entire Shanxi Province get rid of poverty and become rich.
So, you can see the Young Pioneers of a village in Yongji City, using their spare time to pick up garbage and collect waste, and they put all the money they got into the donation box.
A disabled girl named Luo Fengzhi donated her only 11.9 yuan with the help of others, for us now, 12 yuan may not even be able to buy a cup of milk tea, but for Luo Fengzhi, who has no arms, this is all she can take.
What is too old spirit?
It is a donation of 1,200 yuan, 10 yuan and 8 yuan, and it is also the feelings of the people of Shanxi Province.
The old highway is a miracle, it is the most special existence in the "Eighth Five-Year Plan" road construction plan, it has built the best quality with the least amount of money and the shortest construction period.
To this day, when you shuttle through the old highway, you can still see eight stone monuments standing silently on the side of the highway, they are the guardians of this road, and they are also the construction workers who gave their lives to this road.
When the old highway was completed, Hu Fuguo, secretary of the provincial party committee, personally dressed up and sang on stage, and he thanked the people of the province in this unique way.
Some people always have a bit of a stereotype about Shanxi, Shanxi is not only only digging coal, it is Shanxi's arms that carry half of China!
Shanxi, which is heavily indebted, has shouldered 1/3 of China!
In 2022, the per capita disposable income of Shanxi Province will be 29,200 yuan, which may only be a fraction of that of some provinces and cities.
Obviously, 1/3 of the country's coal comes from Shanxi, why is the economic situation in Shanxi Province still so embarrassing?
Our Shanxi fellows are really kind and real!
During the period of planned economy, truckloads of high-quality coal were sent to all parts of the country along the road, and most of these coals were used for power supply, ensuring the normal production and life of countless factories and people.
In 1992, the market economy system began to advance nationwide, and money became the main settlement method for the circulation of goods between provinces and cities.
As a result, one problem has become particularly prominent, and some provinces and cities are unable to come up with sufficient financial funds to pay for coal due to their financial constraints.
Without money, there is no coal, without coal there is no electricity, and without electricity there can be no development.
The simple people of Shanxi, who will never watch a factory or a city go into decline, allow companies or the government to sign a white slip to give priority to production, even if the coal industry itself is almost unable to pay wages.
When the global coal price dropped, the coal enterprises in Shanxi Province had to follow the thrift, and the small coal bosses could not bear such consumption and chose to run away early, but the large coal companies always chose to stick to it to ensure the smooth production of the whole country.
Finally boiled until the price of coal rose, Shanxi Province directly signed long-term contracts with 14 provinces and cities, the contract stipulates that Shanxi will guarantee the supply of resources to other cities, and each ton can produce 5,500 kcal of coal, Shanxi Province only sells 570 yuan, and the highest price is 750 yuan.
In the international futures price market, coal of the same specification has exceeded 2,600 yuan.
Is Shanxi Province really the biggest wrongdoer?
As of the beginning of 2023, Jiangsu Province alone has signed a white slip of 6.78 billion yuan in Shanxi.
Shanxi Province has carried China's development path with its modest shoulders, but when it is affected by disasters and sick, it rarely reaches out to the whole country to ask for money.
The older generation of the Northeast Industrial Park, Anhui Province, which is on the flood path every year, and Shanxi, where truckloads of coal outward, are all people who carry the burden of China's development, and they hold up a piece of the sky above the heads of ordinary people.