Wildness and Antiquity
Since 1949 China has experienced two waves of rapid economic growth. The first took place in the 1950s and early 1960s under Mao when, in spite of numerous missteps and fault starts, China¡¯s economic development made much headway. The second surge came after the 1970s when Deng Xiaoping¡¯s policies of economic liberalization led to a great boom that is still raging on today.
While the two cases of China¡¯s dramatic economic expansion took place under very different circumstances, they have one thing in common: not much attention was paid to conservation, either of nature or of the country¡¯s rich past.
Now the trend seems to be changing. In the past few years there has been a notable increase in the nation¡¯s environmental awareness, and it seems to be having some impact on the government¡¯s decision-making process.
One example is what is happening in China¡¯s northeastern province Heilongjiang, in the region known as Beidahuang - ¡°the great northern wildness.¡± Located where three major rivers flow and converge, the expansive lowland used to be exactly what its name suggests - vast, wild, virtually untainted by human inhabitation.
Starting in the 1950s, however, the Chinese government, in its zeal to drive up the country¡¯s grain output, decided to open the area for agriculture and turn the ¡°great northern wildness¡± into a ¡°great northern breadbasket.¡± In the coming decades, over half a million men and women, some of them army veterans, most of them young Red Guards from China¡¯s major cities, marched onto the untamed land and set up large state-farms.
Insofar as grain production is concerned, the venture has been relatively successful, turning out 7 million tons of grain every year.
The environmental cost, however, has been very high. The ecosystem of what used to be one of the world¡¯s major wetlands suffered tremendously, resulting in drastic reduction of wild life in the area as well as soil erosion.
Recognizing the problem, the Chinese government made a decision three years ago to gradually decrease farming activity in Beidahuang, in a hope to restore the old ecosystem in the region. Farmers have been paid not to till their land and they have been encouraged to plant trees and grass instead. So far 30,000 hectares of farmland has been returned to wildness, and the goal is the restoration of 300,000 hectares more by 2010.
In the meantime, in the nation¡¯s capital Beijing, local officials have been busily formulating a plan to preserve old sections of the ancient city. As those who know Beijing decades ago and Beijing today can very well testify, the city has changed a great deal. Houses, streets and other aged architectural structures are disappearing by the day, giving way to high-rises that tower over the city¡¯s traditional low, horizontal layout. The rapid increase in the number of automobiles has made it necessary to constantly widen the roads, destroying the Hutong, old lanes, which were at the heart of life in old Beijing.
The conservation plan, made public recently, marks out 40 protected zones, which together account for about 21% of the old town. The biggest of these zones is the one surrounding the Imperial Forbidden City. In the area, no new buildings higher than three stories can be built, and any other new constructions within the zone must not disrupt the traditional appearance of the neighborhood.
How well will these efforts of conservation hold up over time? Will they successfully withstand the pressure to seek ever greater profit? All this remains to be seen. Conservation in a country where one-fifth of the world¡¯s total population resides is not an easy task, but it must be done somehow.
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