A Change in Worlds on the Sino-Tibetan Borderlands by Hayes Jack Patrick;

Author:Hayes, Jack Patrick;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1584873
Publisher: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic

RESOURCE SURVEYS, ROADS, AND THE NEW SOCIALIST ECONOMY

In addition to the census surveys and household registration that helped redefine local populations and ethnic relations, a large number of natural resources surveys took place throughout the 1950s. In 1953, the Third Brigade of the Peoples Forestry Survey Team surveyed the forests of Songpan and soon-to-be-created neighboring counties. More importantly for state-led developments in the 1960s, the first development survey of the forests of western China targeted the Songpan region as one of the primary forestry resource locations for the Southwestern Region of China that included the provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Guangxi. In contrast to other major forest products regions of southwestern China, the Songpan area was fully surveyed by 1953-1954. The first minority region forestry bureau in China was created in 1954 in Aba Prefecture and started to deliver timber from the Huanglong area in Songpan County (among other Tibetan counties to the south and west) to wider China in 1955.49 Thus, provincial and national forces moved quickly to both target and begin to exploit the natural resources of the region. In addition to forests, other survey groups in the 1950s examined animal husbandry and an army corps studied the geology and mining potential of the region.50 These natural resource surveys not only targeted local resources for exploitation, but also sought to determine, in conjunction with the land reform initiatives and minorities studies, which individuals laid claim to what resources in rural Songpan.

Prior to the 1950s, roads in and out of the Songpan region were almost entirely unpaved dirt tracks and trails up major watercourses and over high altitude passes. In order to reduce the isolation of the region to an unprecedented degree, one of the first priorities of the new government was to construct a better road into the region along the Min and Baishui Rivers.51 The major road construction project from the prefecture capital into the heart of the region, the Baqen-Songpan Road, was constructed between 1955 and 1958. This road connected Songpan County to Hongyuan County, with its major road following the Baihe River and connecting to the Ma’erkang to the southwest. Another road up the Baishui River (Jiuzhaigou County) was started in 1953 and reached Songpan County over Gong’an Pass in 1962. The Songpan-Mao County road along the Min River was initially surveyed and major portions were constructed by People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops between 1958 and 1959. This road, however, was not fully completed until 1964.52 Roads into the back country along other water courses were surveyed but not built until the 1960s, usually to reach significant stands of timber. These roads were largely welcomed as they allowed for more movement of animals and goods into and out of the more remote parts of the region. [See Map 4.1.]

In addition to conducting the surveys and road infrastructure, state authorities helped local Tibetans, Han, and Hui create their first elementary cooperatives (chujishe) between 1955 and 1957. These cooperatives were instigated and helped along by the state in order to help fill the void of the slowly dispersing opium regime.

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