With a land area of more than 20 square kilometers and a sea area of about 2 million square kilometers, Sansha City is the southernmost prefecture-level city in China, with the largest area, the smallest land area and the smallest population in China, with a permanent population of more than 2,300 people (excluding garrisons) and 100% of the urban population by the end of 2021.
Location map of the west, south and Zhongsha Islands of Sansha City
In today's globalization, Sansha has three strategic values for China, one is the shipping value, most of China's overseas trade and energy transportation have to pass through the Sansha sea area, so Sansha has the reputation of "the world's third golden waterway".
The second is military value, with Sansha, China's navy and air force can travel more than 2,000 kilometers, and the construction of Sansha means that China has thousands of kilometers more strategic buffer zone.
The third is economic value, Sansha not only contains more than 50 billion tons of oil and gas resources and various precious metals, but also has immeasurable fishery resources and tourism resources that are not inferior to the Maldives.
The Paracel Islands with blue sea and blue sky
Complete the greening of the West Sandbank
Sansha is a young prefecture-level city established in 2012, and used to refer to the three major islands of the West, South and Zhongsha Islands and the Dongsha Islands, among which China was the first to develop and build the Xisha Islands.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to better manage Xisha and safeguard sovereignty, the state established Hainan Bird Fertilizer Company in Haikou in November 1955 and sent people to Xisha to mine bird fertilizer resources.
In other words, at that time, China's visionaries had recognized the strategic value of the Paracel Islands in terms of shipping, military and economy, and took the development of millions of tons of bird fertilizer resources in the Paracels as a breakthrough to safeguard sovereignty in the South China Sea.
As we all know, during the Japanese occupation of Xisha has stolen a large number of bird fertilizer resources, these precious resources were transported to Japan by ship by boat, to support the development of high-end agriculture, it can be said that the Japanese know more about the distribution of bird fertilizer in Xisha than China, we need to make up for the shortcomings.
In order to find out where the Xisha bird fertilizer resources are distributed and what the reserves are, in 1955, a mysterious survey team composed of 13 people set foot on the Xisha Islands, which lasted 21 days and explored 13 islands, opening the prelude to the development of Xisha in New China.
This is the first time in the history of the People's Republic of China to conduct a more comprehensive investigation and investigation of the resources of the Paracel Islands, the exploration activities directly led to the birth of the Bird Fertilizer Company, it can be said that these 13 people are the pioneers of China's development of the Paracel Islands, and now we follow the memories of the surveyors Yun Lin and Meng Wenhuan to understand this little-known story.
In 1955, Meng Wenhuan, a member of the Xisha Survey Team
In 1955, Yunlin, a member of the Xisha survey team
Meng Wenhuan said: "It is the instruction of the Party Central Committee to go to Xisha to conduct resource survey. ”
After the liberation of Hainan Island in 1950, the Xisha Islands, which were under the jurisdiction of the Hainan Administrative Region, were still occupied and controlled by the South Vietnamese authorities, who, in addition to regularly detaining mainland fishing boats and fishermen who went to the Xisha Islands to fish, also collaborated with the United States to invade the airspace of the South China Sea to carry out reconnaissance activities.
In view of this, the CPC Central Committee instructed the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and the Hainan District Party Committee to seize the opportunity to take action to safeguard national sovereignty, and at the same time to carry out resource exploration and prepare for resettlement for development and construction.
The guano soil, guano fossils and other minerals piled up on some islands of the Xisha Islands are a kind of high-quality phosphate fertilizer containing phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium and organic matter, which has a good effect on increasing crop yield.
As we all know, most of the islands in Xisha are corals growing upwards and exposing the sea surface to be interrupted by the waves, first forming sand islands on the atoll or platform reef, the sand island area can be stored in fresh water and begin to produce plants, the islands with plants attract a large number of seabirds to inhabit, and the guano accumulation finally forms bird fertilizer, this process often takes tens of thousands of years, which shows the preciousness of bird fertilizer resources.
Coral reef evolutionary processes
The Pacific island country of Nauru once relied on the mining and export of phosphate to maintain a high income of residents, with an average annual income of up to 8,500 US dollars, but then the country soon fell into trouble after the phosphate rock was exhausted, and the phosphate mine in Nauru is the same mineral as the bird fertilizer resources in the Xisha Islands, which shows that the value of this mineral is extremely high, and it is very important to China's agriculture without chemical fertilizers, but this kind of ore formed by bird fertilizer is only superficial, and the reserves are limited.
In accordance with the instructions of the superiors, in 1955, the Hainan District Party Committee and Government decided to settle in the Xisha Islands to mine guano, Meng Wenhuan and 12 other outstanding political and technical cadres were transferred from various provincial and regional organs and units to form a survey team to go to the Xisha Islands to conduct resource reconnaissance and enemy reconnaissance, and Meng Wenhuan, who was 20 years old at the time, worked in the Hainan Office of the Supply and Marketing Cooperative, responsible for preparing ships, preparing food and water, and handling sailing procedures and other logistical work.
Meng Wenhuan said:
Because the Xisha Islands had just been recovered, they were still very dangerous, and what was even more dangerous was that there were still garrisons of the South Vietnamese authorities on the coral islands of the Xisha Islands at that time, and most of the main islands surveyed were located in the Vinh Lok Atoll, where the coral islands were located.
Map of the location of the coral island on the Yongle Atoll
Meng Wenhuan, who was in charge of logistics work, went to the leaders of the Public Security Bureau of the Hainan Administration to discuss and ask for some guns and ammunition.
The director of the public security bureau rejected the proposal at the time and asked rhetorically:
The director of the public security bureau of the Hainan Administration suggested that the expedition team disguise themselves as ordinary people, and that if any conflict occurs, the government can also resolve it through diplomatic channels.
Later, Meng Wenhuan went to the Industrial and Commercial Bureau of the Hainan Administration to apply for a private business license, the name of the company is "Hainan Bird Fertilizer Company", the captain Deng Longfei is the manager of the company, and the identity of the other team members is a businessman who buys bird droppings.
On the morning of May 19, 1955, 13 team members and 5 crew members set sail from Xiuying Port in Haikou, the first destination was Woody Island, according to previous experience, if the fishermen's wooden sailing boat was smooth, it could generally be reached in two days and two nights, but this voyage did not reach Woody Island for three days, and the ship was lost!
Meng Wenhuan said: "The team members did not have the experience of going to the sea, and they were still a little nervous at that time. ”
But such a problem is difficult for the Tanmen fishermen who have been farming in the ancestral sea of the South China Sea for generations. With years of sailing experience, the veteran shipwright observed the direction of the flock of boobies flying over the South China Sea, found the right course, and sailed smoothly to Woody Island.
Yun Lin, a member of the expedition, later described his feelings when he first landed on Woody Island in an article entitled "Exploring the Treasure of Xisha", he wrote:
Woody Island, which has been transformed into a modern new city
The investigation did not take place for a few days, and the greater difficulty came, the Public Security Bureau of the Hainan Administration gave them a warning with a special military radio, and soon there will be a 10-level typhoon coming, and they are investigating at sea, the typhoon is coming, such a small boat will be more auspicious, after collective discussion, the survey team decided to go to the nearby islands to take shelter, and the captain and crew stayed on the ship to guard.
Because there was no windproof equipment on the research ship, and there was no suitable shelter to stop, it could only anchor on the coral reef, and the people who stuck to the research ship persevered for a day and a night to get through the risk, but fortunately the ship was not interrupted.
The most dangerous was the survey of Ganquan Island, which was very close to the coral island where the South Vietnamese authorities were stationed, and the survey team was also harassed by the enemy. Yunlin Says:
Location map of Ganquan Island and Coral Island
Xisha Ganquan Island
Yun Lin said with a smile: "Every time we go to an island, we will work hard after setting up our tents, there is no road to open the road, there is no well water to drink rainwater, take a sea bath, eat pickles, work under the sun, all of them are tanned, my toothbrush is lost, and I went to the beach to pick one up, disinfect and then use." ”
On June 14, 1955, the survey team completed the inspection mission, and after data collation and laboratory analysis, the relevant departments concluded that about 500,000 tons of guano can be mined in the Xisha Islands, and the phosphorus content is very high, which is very valuable for mining.
In November 1955, Hainan Bird Fertilizer Company was formally established, and the following month, 91 cadres and employees of the company went to Xisha to carry out preliminary preparations.
In March 1956, 250 people went to Xisha to mine bird fertilizer resources, and they became the pioneers of New China's development of Xisha.
In March 1956, about 250 people went to Xisha to mine guano resources.
According to later statistics, from 1956 to 1960, the bird fertilizer company mined more than 100,000 tons of bird fertilizer in Xisha, creating an output value of more than 910 yuan and a profit of 1.8 million yuan.
Moreover, at the opportunity of Xisha development, the central government also allocated a large amount of money to the People's Bank of China, and provided interest-free loans to Hainan fishermen to purchase motor boats to develop production, changing the history of Hainan fishermen without motor boats.
In the current view, the economic value generated by these production activities is negligible, or these bird fats are more conducive to the construction of islands and reefs left on the island, and the greatest value is that they have opened the curtain on the development of Xisha and safeguarded the territorial integrity of the motherland, this value is priceless, thanks to these pioneers for their sacrifices and contributions to the country.
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