2001 — Positioning Our City (Part 1)
Positioning Our City. Comrade Jiang Zemin pointed out: "A scientific master plan is itself wealth." For a long time, whether in urban construction or tourism development, our city has lacked timely regional, regulatory, and construction detailed plans, resulting in an imperfect master plan, unsystematic specialized plans, and rampant unauthorized construction in urban development
This article has been compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · City Overview section). Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Positioning our city
Comrade Jiang Zemin pointed out: "A scientific overall plan is itself wealth." For a long time, whether in urban construction or the development of the tourism industry, because our city did not promptly formulate regional, regulatory, and construction detailed plans, the overall plan was imperfect, the specialized plans were unsystematic, the phenomenon of arbitrary occupation and indiscriminate construction in urban construction was prominent, and the tendency toward urbanization in the core scenic area was serious, so the role of "planning is wealth" was not released.
—Excerpted from the speech by Liu Liwei, Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Third Municipal Party Committee on July 27, 2001
Our city's... planning and management are still at a low level, far from the standard of an international tourism city and a modern civilized city, and not worthy of the name of a tourist destination renowned at home and abroad, and have not yet broken out of the framework of the former small county town. We are a world natural heritage site, and we must further clarify our urban positioning, and must consider urban planning and management at a larger scope and higher level, must be high-standard and strict, and must match internationally and domestically renowned tourist destinations.
—Excerpted from the speech by Mayor Lu Pingyi at the citywide urban management work conference on April 11, 2001
1. Examining our city.
(1) On the definition of "city."
The city is a great achievement of human civilization.
Urbanization is an inevitable process in the social development of all countries.
As early as 5,000 years ago, in Egypt's Nile River valley and the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys of the Mesopotamian plain, the first cities in human history had already appeared. The Industrial Revolution in the mid-18th century ushered in a new era of urban development. After the Second World War, Western Europe, Northern Europe, North America, and Australia successively became highly urbanized regions; Eastern Europe, Japan, and the vast number of developing countries were in a period of industrialization-driven urbanization.
According to the definition in the "Urban Planning Law of the People's Republic of China," a city refers to municipalities directly under the Central Government, cities, and towns established by the state according to administrative organizational systems, and it distinguishes between the concept of a city's administrative area and that of a city's planning area, the latter referring to the urban districts, near suburbs, and areas within the city's administrative region where planning control is implemented due to the needs of urban construction and development. The "city" referred to in this article falls within the latter category, namely the urban area with six clusters as the main body: Yongding (the old urban district), Nanzhuangping, Guanliping, Xixiping, Qiezhugang, and Zhenzhuyu.
(2) I love our city.
Three years ago, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the city's establishment, our city produced a large-scale television documentary, "Revitalizing the City through Tourism and Drawing a Grand Blueprint." As the scriptwriter, the author wrote with great passion in the film: Zhangjiajie has stood on this land in the posture of a "city" for more than 2,100 years. When history entered the 1980s and 1990s, tourism rose like a radiant morning sun, making the glow of urban civilization a particularly brilliant scene at the turn of the century! Lingering on the bustling Zi Wu Avenue, standing in the revolving restaurant on the 22nd floor of the Postal Building, watching modern buildings rising one after another, constantly increasing the height of this new tourism city; watching Boeing passenger planes taking off and landing at Hehua Airport, from time to time casting lingering echoes and beautiful arcs over the urban sky; watching tourists of different skin colors entering and leaving four-star hotels and busy streets; watching the builders of the "Three Bridges and Two Roads" working day and night, sweating profusely...
One year later, taking advantage of hosting the "'99 Forest Protection Festival," our city's urban roads were thoroughly renovated and the city's appearance greatly improved. The author again wrote an article titled "A Grand Festival," sincerely praising every change, whether subtle or noticeable, such as: street lamps blooming like magnolias in the cool autumn night, the central avenue so clean it was almost free of dust, newly laid lawns and grass plots, and so on. Then the article recounted the poetic language used by the mayor at a meeting when describing urban greening, lighting, and beautification: wash away the dust, wash away fatigue, wash away vulgarity, wash away bad habits...
As a citizen who works and lives in this city, this feeling of mine is very simple and very real. I always hope our city will become better and better, and I will be happy even over a tiny change. Therefore, whenever I come into contact with topics related to urban planning, construction, and management, sometimes I cannot help but become impassioned, either clapping or lamenting, often unable to contain myself. It is only because I deeply love this city in which I live!
(3) The current state of our city.
So, how should we objectively assess the current state of our city? In June 1999, the editorial department of this publication (that is, the Zhangjiajie Daily Tourism Weekend editorial department; at that time the author of this book was in charge of the Tourism Weekend editorial department at the newspaper office) planned a symposium themed on the current state of and countermeasures for urban functions in the city proper. Yang Liufang, Chairman of the Municipal CPPCC, who attended, believed that since the city's establishment, the development of our city has been obvious to all, and compared with the past, great changes have taken place in the city's appearance, the quality of its people, and the construction of infrastructure. However, the speed of our urban construction is not coordinated with the rapid increase in fame; the city we live in is not coordinated with a high-grade scenic area; and the status of a tourism center city is not coordinated with lagging urban planning, urban construction, and low-quality urban management.
It should be said that Chairman Yang Liufang's view is quite representative. If our city were placed merely among the urban districts of ordinary prefecture-level cities, then, whether compared vertically or horizontally, its development could be said to be very good. The key to the problem is that Zhangjiajie is a world-class scenic area, and Zhangjiajie wants to be built into a tourist destination renowned at home and abroad. The mission shouldered by this central city, which serves as the support for the core scenic area, is therefore especially important and special. In this sense, there is a great gap between the current state of our city and the objective requirements.
It is precisely on this basis that Premier Zhu Rongji, when inspecting our city in April this year, said: "Zhangjiajie's fame outside, to be honest, is a bit greater than what I saw yesterday. People thought Zhangjiajie was built very well; this time when I looked, it did not seem so vigorous and flourishing, and I could not see craftsmanship in all aspects; it is somewhat unworthy of its name. I do not mean the scenery is unworthy of its name—the natural scenery is still very beautiful—the main thing is that urban construction and management have not kept up. When I got off the plane, I did not feel that I had arrived at a beautiful tourist scenic area; I did not have that feeling. Especially after entering the city, what I saw was dilapidated and poorly matched, with garbage everywhere." The deeper the love, the stricter the reproach. The Premier is the Premier in style, sharp-eyed and to the point: the main thing is that urban construction and management have not kept up; one cannot see craftsmanship in all aspects.
(4) Our city lacks a clear positioning.
The reasons for the obvious gap in urban construction and management are many. At the Fifth Plenary Session of the Third Municipal Party Committee, Secretary Liu Liwei put forward clear requirements regarding the need to change the situation of weak urban planning and management, the serious lag in regulatory detailed plans and residential area construction detailed plans, the resulting imperfect overall plan, unsystematic specialized plans, and the prominent phenomenon of arbitrary occupation and indiscriminate construction in urban construction. According to my understanding, "imperfect overall plan" includes the lack of a clear urban positioning. Coincidentally, Mayor Lu Pingyi also unequivocally pointed out at the citywide urban management work conference that "we must further clarify our urban positioning." It can be seen that lagging positioning is one of the cruxes of the problem.