Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Overview — Opening Up (II)
Section 2: External Exchange. External exchange includes international economic cooperation, international cultural exchange and international labor cooperation. I. International Economic Cooperation. This includes aid to Third World countries and acceptance of multilateral and bilateral international aid — that is, foreign aid and receiving aid. First, foreign aid. As early as the 1960s, Xiangxi...
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 Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.
Section 2 External Exchange
External exchange includes international economic cooperation, international cultural exchange, international labor cooperation, and other content.
I. International Economic Cooperation
International economic cooperation includes aid to Third World countries and acceptance of multilateral and bilateral international aid, namely foreign aid and receiving aid.
First is foreign aid. As early as the 1960s, under unified national arrangements, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture sent highway construction expert Liu Zhikui to assist Nepal in building roads. In the late 1970s, it sent an expert group headed by Hao Ruihua to assist Tanzania in building roads. In January 2004, it selected Song Jinguo, Liang Chaohui, Song Qinghua, and Zhang Guanghe, 4 people, to carry out the China-Bangladesh "South-South Cooperation" project, which lasted 2 years, training a group of agricultural technicians for that country and winning praise from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the people of Bangladesh.
Second is receiving aid. In June 1979, after the "Agreement between the People's Republic of China and the United Nations Development Programme" was signed in New York, China was both an aid-providing country and an aid-receiving country.
WFP China Project 3779. In November 1987, the People's Government of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture began applying for a United Nations food aid project—the "WFP China 3779" project. At the end of that year, the State Council formally approved Huayuan, Baojing, and Yongshun counties as recipient areas of the World Food Programme's "Wuling Mountain Area Comprehensive Agricultural Development Project, Xiangxi Sub-project." On November 15, 1991, the "WFP China Project 3779, Xiangxi Sub-project," funded by gratis aid from the World Food Programme, officially began implementation. For this food aid project, the aid grain was 77,779 tons of wheat, valued at 14 million US dollars; together with matching funds from the Chinese government, the total project investment reached more than 100 million yuan. The project was arranged in the Paiwu Reservoir irrigation area of Huayuan County, the Kazha Reservoir irrigation area of Baojing County, and the Songbai Reservoir irrigation area of Yongshun County, covering a total of 15 townships. The entire project was to be completed in 5 years, with a planned total of 23.92 million workdays. During project implementation, officials and experts from the World Food Programme's Beijing office visited the construction sites many times for inspection and expressed satisfaction with the project quality. On September 25, 1994, the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture food aid project successfully passed its mid-term evaluation. The mid-term evaluation team of 5 members, led by Mr. Terverphilippe, a senior evaluation officer at World Food Programme headquarters, rated the implementation of this project very highly in its "Summary Report on the Mid-term Evaluation of China Project 3779," saying it was "satisfactory," "very good," and "very suitable to local conditions." In 1996, the project was rated by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Forestry, and the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power as an "Outstanding Project among United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Aid-to-China Projects." In March 1999, it passed the completion acceptance organized by WFP. In October 2000, the Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award Review Committee awarded the project the "Hunan Provincial Science and Technology Progress Second Prize." After 7 years of arduous implementation, the 15 townships in the project area increased irrigated area by a total of 132,315 mu, treated 3,300 mu of waterlogged fields, converted 30,855 mu of dry land to paddy fields, converted 37,155 mu of slopes to terraces, built up soil fertility on 74,040 mu, established 36,900 mu of orchards and tea gardens, planted trees and forests on 55,200 mu, built 235 kilometers of new roads, and provided technical training to 32,200 person-times. The project area increased grain output by a cumulative total of 59,642 tons, an average increase of 350 kilograms per capita, and an annual per capita income increase of more than 158 yuan, while forest coverage rose to 34%. Key soil erosion areas were brought under control.
Xiangxi UNDP Aid Project. In March 1998, the United Nations Development Programme's "Xiangxi UNDP Aid Project" was launched and entered the implementation stage. This project was signed by the National Exchange Center under the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation on behalf of the Chinese government with the UNDP Representative Office in China. It was a national-level poverty alleviation project and the first microcredit poverty alleviation project assisted by the United Nations Development Programme in Hunan Province, with total funding of 1 million US dollars. Project contents: first, providing small loans of no more than 2,000 yuan to farming households; second, providing free practical technical training and social development training covering literacy, environmental protection, maternal and child health care, and gender equality education. The poverty alleviation goal was to help 3,100 poor households escape poverty in 7 townships in Longshan, Yongshun, and Fenghuang counties, with an implementation period of 3 years. Through project implementation, the aim was to improve farmers' own development capacity and the capacity of project management personnel, while also promoting and demonstrating microcredit as a new poverty alleviation model. Therefore, the overall goals of the project were poverty alleviation, capacity building, and model promotion. The project management model is currently internationally recognized as one of the most efficient internationally recognized models; it introduced market incentive mechanisms. After borrowing, farmers had to repay loans according to the cycle, paying for use, with an 8% management fee charged, and also required group mutual guarantee (5 households forming a group) and center mutual guarantee (25 households forming a farmer center), helping and supervising one another, with the collective credit of individual farmers, groups, and centers as guarantee. After the project was launched and following 3 months of preparation, microcredit was formally issued to farmers in July 1998. By the end of September 2000, more than 4.5 million yuan in microcredit had been issued cumulatively to 4,123 farming households, and the monthly statistical loan recovery rate reached more than 90%. Among 48 similar projects nationwide, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture's implementation was good and was affirmed by the center and the representative office. The project passed two annual tripartite reviews (the Exchange Center, the Representative Office, and Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture) in 1999 and 2000 respectively, as well as two financial audits by the National Audit Office. In July 2000, foreign experts conducted an inspection and evaluation and concluded that the project already had the basic conditions for sustainable development. In 2001, another 2.8 million yuan in loans was issued to 2,130 farming households. With special approval from the People's Bank of China and the consent of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development, the project sought to explore a new poverty alleviation model capable of sustainable development on its own. The project was carried out in 7 townships in 3 poor counties of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, directly covering and affecting about 50,000 poor people. According to preliminary statistics, with project support, 58% of farming households escaped poverty and embarked on the road to prosperity; 33% of farming households increased their income and began to embark on a path of sound development.
IFAD483/WFP6023 Project. In September 1997, the Foreign Investment and Foreign Aid Office of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture successfully applied for a joint assistance project to Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) (namely the IFAD483/WFP6023 Project), and it officially began implementation in April 1999 and March 2000. This was Hunan Province's first international joint assistance project. The project area covered 37 townships in Longshan, Guzhang, Luxi, and Fenghuang counties, as well as Sangzhi County in Zhangjiajie City. The International Fund for Agricultural Development provided 11.5 million US dollars in long-term interest-free loans, and the World Food Programme provided 15,500 tons of gratis food aid. The project contents involved more than 110 sub-items under 5 major categories: crop production, livestock and aquaculture, economic forests and orchards, infrastructure, and social support. The project implementation period was 5 years, with rolling development over 25 years. The Sino-German Cooperation Project for Promoting the Construction of Rural Financial Systems in Guizhou/Hunan (GTZ) was a technical assistance project provided by the German government to support the IFAD/WFP project then being implemented in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture. The project implementation period was 3 years, with total assistance of 4 million Deutsche marks (including Guizhou and Hunan provinces). Its main contents were organizing rural credit cooperatives and project offices in the IFAD483-CN project area to carry out financial business and technical training and domestic and overseas study visits, while also providing some necessary equipment assistance. Its main purpose was, through business skills training, domestic and overseas study visits, and necessary material assistance, to help rural credit cooperatives strengthen institutional and workforce development, renew knowledge and concepts, and improve management levels, thereby achieving rapid development of the rural economy in poor areas. In the second quarter of 2001, the project officially began implementation. From March 6 to 12, 2003, the WFP6023 Project smoothly passed the World Food Programme's annual inspection. In that year, the project completed a total of 10 drinking water projects for people and livestock, renovated 10 schools, improved toilets at 4 schools, and improved toilets for 1,788 farming households; it carried out various trainings mainly including literacy training, health and sanitation training, and practical technical training, training 486,037 person-times of project farmers, with a training rate of 87%. From April 1 to 9 of the same year, the IFAD483-CN Project smoothly passed the International Fund for Agricultural Development's mid-term evaluation. The mid-term evaluation team for the Wuling Mountain Area Ethnic Minority Regional Agricultural Development Project, headed by credit management expert Mr. Jaap Reijmerink, believed that, overall, poor farming households in the project area effectively used the project inputs, improved their circumstances, and achieved good results.
In 2004-2005, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture also completed the project initiation and application work for foreign aid projects such as the China-Canada Agricultural Sustainable Development Project, the China-Netherlands Hunan Agricultural Demonstration and Training Project, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Emergency Assistance Project, the Japanese Aid Grain Increase Project, and the China-Germany Agricultural Biodiversity Conservation and Utilization Project. All entered the implementation stage, and some have been completed.
II. International Cultural Exchange
The people of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture have had close cultural exchanges with the peoples of various countries around the world. In 1952, heroic sons and daughters from the 10 counties within the prefecture joined the Chinese People's Volunteers and went abroad to fight in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. In October 1953, Long Zaiyu, vice chairman of the Xiangxi Miao Autonomous Region, joined the Chinese People's Condolence Delegation on a visit to Korea. In 1956, Long Cailian, a young woman from Guzhang County, participated in the World Festival of Youth and Students held in Warsaw, Poland, performing the Miao women's solo drum dance, taking Xiangxi Miao dance art to the world for the first time and winning honor for Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture.
Since the reform and opening up, the people of all ethnic groups in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture have once again gone out into the world to develop friendly exchanges.
In 1986, Wu Guanghai, vice governor of the People's Government of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, led the China Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Arts and Crafts Exhibition Delegation to Japan for an exhibition. Arts and crafts such as Tujia brocade, Miao embroidery, tie-dyeing, and batik were deeply loved by people from all walks of life in Japan, promoting friendly cultural exchanges between China and Japan.
In 1992, Long Wenyu, vice governor of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, joined the "Chinese Ethnic Minority Education Inspection Delegation" on a visit to the United States and reached some economic and cultural agreements with relevant American parties. That year, the People's Government of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture successfully held the "Mengdong River International Tourist Rafting Month" event. From then on, international tourism, with the "Number One Rafting in the World" and ethnic customs tourism as its flagship products, continued to develop. By 1995, the number of foreign tourists had already reached 2,829, a 6-fold increase over 1993.
In mid-October 1994, the China Hunan Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Miao Culture Research Conference and Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference was held in Jishou. Miao representatives and relevant experts and scholars from all over the country as well as from the United States, France, and other countries earnestly summarized the results of Miao cultural research. Domestic and overseas merchants conducted extensive economic and trade negotiations in accordance with the principle of mutual benefit and reached some economic and trade agreements, making this Miao culture research conference a conference that carried forward ethnic culture and inspired the ethnic spirit, a conference that promoted the development of the ethnic economy and various undertakings, and a conference that enhanced mutual understanding and friendship among Miao people around the world and among all ethnic groups. It was a beneficial attempt to let Xiangxi go global and let the world know Xiangxi.
From October 25 to November 23, 1998, Jin Shufu, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Committee and secretary-general of the prefecture committee, led the Chenhe Opera Troupe of Luxi County to participate in the '98 Paris Autumn Festival in France and the Barcelona Puppet Theater Arts Festival in Spain, performing 19 tour performances of the Chenhe high-pitched opera "Mulian Rescues His Mother" in Paris and Bordeaux in France and Barcelona in Spain, receiving warm welcome and praise from audiences of various countries. Spain's El País reported: "The performance of the Chenhe opera "Mulian Rescues His Mother" from Luxi County, Hunan, China, in Barcelona has let us understand mysterious China more deeply and made us feel especially close to China."
III. International Labor Cooperation
International labor cooperation is an important part of foreign exchanges. In 2003, the People's Government of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture allocated 400,000 yuan from the western foreign trade development funds to support Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Foreign Trade Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Company in applying upward for foreign economic cooperation rights. The company mobilized and organized 16 laborers to receive training in Changsha, and that year selected and sent 5 people abroad for labor services, marking the beginning of international labor cooperation. In 2005, 102 people were dispatched for labor services, and the destinations for dispatched labor expanded to 18 countries and regions including South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore. Publicity and training for overseas labor export were intensified, and the awareness of enterprises and society to "go global" was noticeably strengthened.