Overview of Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture—Urban and Rural Construction (Part 1)
Chapter 12 Urban and Rural Construction. Urban and rural construction in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture can be traced back over two thousand years. Archaeological excavations at Liye show that as early as the pre-Qin period, Liye was already a military stronghold. In the Han Dynasty, Youyang County was established, with its seat at present-day Wangcun Town; Qianling County (present-day Baojing) was also established, leaving behind the Sifang City ruins. During the Tianfu era of the Later Jin, after the Battle of Xizhou ended and the chieftain system was established...
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 Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Chapter Twelve: Urban and Rural Construction
The urban and rural construction within the territory of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture can be traced back more than two thousand years. Archaeological excavations at Liye show that as early as the pre-Qin period, Liye was an important military town. In the Han Dynasty, Youyang County was established, with its seat at present-day Wangcun Town; Qianling County (present-day Baojing) was also established, leaving behind the Sifang City ruins. During the Tianfu era of the Later Jin, after the Battle of Xizhou ended, the Tusi system was established, and the Old Tusi City was built in present-day Yongshun County. During the Kangxi era of the Qing Dynasty, the Bian-Yuan Grand Coordinator Zhao Shenqiao moved his garrison from Zhijiang to Fenghuang, leaving behind the Chen-Yuan-Yong-Jing Military Defense Circuit City. During the Yongzheng era, with the "replacing hereditary local rulers with appointed officials" policy, the construction of ting cities began in the four Miao frontier ting of Fenghuang, Qiancheng (present-day Jishou), Yongsui (present-day Huayuan), and Guzhang, and the new construction and expansion of county seats began in the four counties of Longshan, Yongshun, Baojing, and Luxi. During the Republic of China period, when the Japanese invaders occupied half of China, people from the occupied areas poured into Xiangxi, and the urban and rural construction of Xiangxi developed somewhat.
After the founding of New China, the Party and the people's government led the people of all ethnic groups in the prefecture to quickly heal the wounds of war and begin urban and rural construction. By 1977, the 20th anniversary of the founding of the prefecture, the urban and rural appearance of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture had already taken on a completely new look. Since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC in 1978, the urban and rural construction of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, riding the spring breeze of reform and opening up, has soared and flourished. The prefectural seat Jishou Mountain City has undergone tremendous changes, the ancient city of Fenghuang has taken on a new appearance, Huayuan Border Town is as beautiful as a poem or painting, Baisha New City is resplendent with gold and color, and the towns of Longshan Min'an, Baojing Qianling, Yongshun Lingxi, and Guzhang Guyang all display a gratifying scene of vigorous growth. It is no exaggeration to say that the achievements in urban and rural construction over the past 30 years have far exceeded the sum total of urban and rural construction over the more than two thousand years since the pre-Qin period.
Section One: Urban Infrastructure Construction
Urban planning. In all things, preparation brings success and lack of preparation brings failure. The urban construction of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture has benefited from urban planning. In 1979, the compilation of the overall plan for the Jishou area began; in 1982, after being submitted by the prefectural people's government and approved by the Hunan Provincial People's Government, the first overall urban plan of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture was officially issued. From 1983 to 1988, the overall plans for the county seats of the seven counties of Longshan, Yongshun, Baojing, Fenghuang, Huayuan, Guzhang, and Luxi were successively completed. The urban overall plans compiled this time had distinctive features. The prefectural seat Jishou had local, ethnic, and contemporary characteristics in functional zoning, urban roads, civil buildings, and landscaping. The planning layout of the new construction area of the ancient city of Fenghuang emphasized the protection of buildings in the ancient city area, and residents building houses in the old city area were required to maintain the traditional residential style. Other county seat plans also made great efforts to preserve local and ethnic characteristics.
In 1989, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture organized 70 experts to carry out urban planning revision work, which was fully completed by 1993. Subsequently, the compilation of detailed plans was carried out one after another. By 1995, the eight counties and cities of the prefecture had completed a total of 1,300 hectares of detailed plans, with a detailed plan coverage rate of 51.7% of the urban built-up area.
During the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, urban planning continued to be adjusted and improved; the prefecture completed 2,900 hectares of urban detailed plans, with a detailed plan coverage rate of 95% of the built-up area. During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, urban planning entered the stage of expansion and quality improvement, and the eight counties and cities of the prefecture successively completed the task of compiling the outline of the second round of overall plans. With the formulation and improvement of urban planning, urban construction developed rapidly forward.
Urban Roads. In urban construction, roads come first. During the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period, the streets of towns in the region were narrow and muddy, crowded with people and livestock. After the founding of New China, people's governments at all levels within the prefecture set about building and upgrading urban roads. Jishou, the prefectural seat, first built Tuanjie Road, and later Wuling Road. In the early 1970s, seizing the opportunity of the "Third Front" construction, work began on Renmin Road and Huancheng Road. Since the reform and opening up, urban road construction in all counties and cities of the prefecture developed rapidly. By the end of 1988, urban roads in the prefecture totaled 135.9 kilometers, an increase of 31.2% over 1978; the total area of urban roads was 1.283 million square meters, up 47.6% year on year. During the "Eighth Five-Year Plan" period, urban road construction developed even faster. By the end of 1995, urban roads reached 231.4 kilometers and 2.544 million square meters, increases of 70.3% and 98.3% respectively over 1988. During the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, 29 urban road construction projects were implemented, adding 1.437 million square meters of urban road area and 20 new urban bridges, effectively solving the problem of difficult travel in towns. During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, urban road construction across the prefecture advanced at high speed. Jishou City opened up the Qianzhou New District Avenue and completed the "one vertical, four horizontal" road project in Qianzhou New District. Longshan County completed the Xiang'e Road and Changsha South Road projects. Fenghuang County completed the Nanhua Road renovation project. By the end of 2005, urban roads in the prefecture reached 368.08 kilometers with 122 bridges, a 30.9% increase in road length over 2000, with markedly improved standards.
Urban Water Supply and Drainage. This is an important part of urban infrastructure construction. In the 1950s, urban water use in the prefecture relied entirely on carrying river water on shoulder poles and drawing well water by hand; a few units used gas engines to pump water for production and daily life. In the 1960s, some counties and cities began building waterworks. Since the reform and opening up, people's governments at all levels in the prefecture placed urban water supply on their agendas and stepped up construction of water supply projects. By 1988, all 8 counties and cities in the prefecture had built waterworks, with a daily production capacity of 80,600 tons, an annual water supply of 26 million tons, a water supply pipeline length of 119.2 kilometers, and a water quality compliance rate of 91.8%. Over the past 20 years, water supply projects developed even faster, and urban water supply conditions further improved. By the end of 2005, the prefecture's comprehensive tap water production capacity reached 272,000 cubic meters per day, with a total water supply pipeline length of 663.24 kilometers, per capita domestic water use of 244.76 liters per day, and a water use popularization rate of 92.21%.
Drainage. Historically, when counties and sub-prefectural seats built cities and streets, they all constructed open ditches and covered drains for drainage; the ditches were narrow and shallow and prone to silting. After the founding of New China, people's governments of all counties in the prefecture began renovating and building drainage facilities. In the 1950s, the prefectural seat Jishou first built two stone-box culvert main drainage pipes along Tuanjie Road with a total length of 1,250 meters, and two stone-box culvert branch drainage pipes with a total length of 2,050 meters, opening the prelude to urban drainage engineering construction. From then on, counties in the prefecture successively launched urban drainage projects. Since the reform and opening up, urban drainage engineering construction made even greater progress. By the end of 1995, the total length of urban sewers in the 8 counties and cities of the prefecture was 121.4 kilometers, with a daily sewage discharge of 116,300 tons, increases of 131.6% and 62.4% respectively over 1978. During the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" and "Tenth Five-Year Plan" periods, urban drainage engineering construction advanced rapidly. By the end of 2005, the total length of sewers reached 206.2 kilometers, a further increase of 69.9% over 1995.
Urban Gas Supply. Gas supply started late but developed quickly. Before 1980, all 8 county seats in the prefecture relied on old-style boilers and coal stoves for coal-fired heating. In the 1980s, briquettes began to be promoted. During the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" period, some urban residents began using liquefied gas as an energy source. By the end of the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, gas enterprises in the 8 counties and cities of the prefecture had grown to 10, with a gas supply capacity of 730 tons per day, 550 cubic meters of newly added gas storage capacity, 44 new sales outlets, 75,000 gas users, and a gas popularization rate of 61%, 13.5% higher than at the end of the "Eighth Five-Year Plan." During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, gas supply developed even faster. By the end of 2005, the prefecture's total gas supply reached 5,562 tons, of which household consumption was 4,502 tons, and the gas popularization rate reached 80.34%.
Urban Greening. Urban greening proceeded in step with urban construction. In the 1950s, people's governments at all levels in the prefecture regularly organized citizens to plant trees and afforest the cities. Since the reform and opening up, tree planting and urban greening campaigns became larger in scale and more effective. In 1982, Yongshun County vigorously developed the Buer Men Scenic Area south of the county seat, planting over 400 mu of scenic forest, gradually forming a beautiful landscape of "historic sites adorned with new beauty, green trees encircling the county town." From 1987 onward, the 8 counties and cities of the prefecture vigorously pursued courtyard greening. By 1995, the urban landscape greening area reached 1,233 hectares, and the urban greening coverage rate reached 53.9%. During the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, all counties and cities in the prefecture, in accordance with the requirement of "flowers in spring, shade in summer, fruit in autumn, greenery in winter," deeply mobilized the masses to plant trees, grow grass, and cultivate flowers, and to create garden-style units. Over the five years, the prefecture planted 6.43 million trees, grew 40,600 square meters of grass, cultivated 485,000 pots of flowers, and created 428 garden-style units. During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, in accordance with the goals and requirements of building ecological garden towns put forward by the prefectural Party committee and prefectural government, landscape greening construction developed rapidly. In 2001, Premier Zhu Rongji made an inspection tour of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture and left behind the verse "Lush greenery unseen, the dream is hard to fulfill," which further inspired the enthusiasm of all ethnic groups for afforestation and greening. That year, 430,000 people in the prefecture participated in urban greening and afforestation activities, planting over 700,000 trees. By the end of 2005, the 8 counties and cities of the prefecture had built a total of 10 greening plazas with a plaza green area of 9.06 hectares; 9 city parks with a park green area of 94.15 hectares; and urban street green area of 40.64 hectares. The prefecture's urban public green area reached 2.8741 million square meters, with a per capita public green area of 5.95 square meters.
Urban Flood Control. Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture also proceeded from actual conditions to do a good job in urban flood control. With the completion of the Wuqiangxi Power Station for water storage and power generation, most of Wuxi Town, the county seat of Luxi County, was submerged; the county seat was relocated and rebuilt as Baisha New Town, while the old town was correspondingly renovated. Pushi Town built embankments for flood control. With the construction of the Wanmipo Hydropower Station, Liye Town in Longshan County correspondingly built embankments for flood control. Yongshun County town was often stricken by flash floods; during the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, the Gaojiaba Flood Control Reservoir was built. At the same time, urban levee projects in Jishou, Huayuan, Guzhang and other counties and cities were also fully launched. The gradual improvement of urban infrastructure laid a solid foundation for economic and social development.