Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Overview — Industry (Part 4)
Section 4 Traditional Ethnic Industry. 1. Ethnic Goods Industry. Ethnic goods production in Xiangxi has a long history: as early as the High Tang, local people could dye printed cloth with the native plant dye indigo. In the Five Dynasties period, local brocade was presented to the imperial court as tribute. Yet in the nearly hundred years before the founding of New China, owing to imperialist and feudal forces...
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 Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.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 4 Ethnic Traditional Industry
I. Ethnic Goods Industry
Ethnic goods production in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture has a long history. As early as the High Tang period, the people here could use the local plant dye indigo to print and dye patterned cloth. During the Five Dynasties, the brocade here was once presented to the imperial court as tribute. However, in the nearly hundred years before the founding of New China, due to the cruel oppression and exploitation of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat-capitalism, ethnic goods production was on the verge of extinction.
After the founding of New China, the Party and the people's government attached great importance to the ethnic goods industry, incorporated it into the national plan, supplied raw materials, trained technical personnel, and organized production. By the 1980s, the 10 counties within the prefecture already had 24 factories producing ethnic goods, and products increased from the original dozen or so types to 140 types, basically meeting the needs of the people of all ethnic groups.
Since reform and opening up, under the conditions of the socialist market economy, the ethnic goods industry, through reform, restructuring, transformation, and reorganization, has gradually optimized its enterprise organizational structure, industrial structure, and product structure, and ethnic goods production has achieved new development.
Ethnic hardware products are necessities in the production and daily life of people of all ethnic groups. Jishou, Fenghuang, Longshan, Guzhang, and other counties and cities successively established five ethnic hardware production enterprises, producing tripods, cauldrons, farm-style teapots, plowshares, gold and silver jewelry, and other products. The Jishou City Ethnic Hardware Factory is a factory specializing in producing jewelry for ethnic minority women. In order to meet the needs of women of all ethnic minorities, the state supplies more than 10,000 taels of silver annually to make silver ornaments such as neck rings, bracelets, and earrings. When Tujia and Miao women buy satisfactory silver ornaments, they all beam with joy and smile broadly. In the mid-1990s, with the care and support of Wang Maolin, Secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee, the Jishou City Ethnic Hardware Factory also established production lines for gold and silver jewelry and wine and tableware series products, adding an output value of 5.6 million yuan and realizing profits and taxes of 300,000 yuan.
In order to meet the clothing needs of people of all ethnic groups, in the 1970s and 1980s, the 10 counties within the prefecture established six ethnic handicraft factories and three ethnic clothing factories, specializing in producing flower belts, lace, headscarves, waist wraps, silk fabrics, ethnic clothing, and other items needed by Tujia and Miao people. The Fenghuang County Ethnic Handicraft Factory is a key factory established with state support. Its ethnic silk scarves, interwoven quilt covers, assorted quilt covers, soft satin quilt covers, and silk fabrics not only met the needs of the people of all ethnic groups in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, but were also sold to ethnic minority areas in Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and other provinces. The backpacks designed by the famous Tujia painter Huang Yongyu and produced by the Fenghuang County Ethnic Handicraft Factory have strong ethnic and local characteristics and are welcomed by people of all ethnic groups and overseas Chinese. The Yongshun County Ethnic Handicraft Factory tapped traditional stone-dyeing techniques, employed folk skilled craftsmen, and resumed production of traditional Tujia products such as printed cloth, printed curtains, printed quilt covers, printed tablecloths, printed scarves, and printed bed valances and mosquito net valances. At the Autumn Canton Fair in 1979, the printed tablecloths exhibited by this factory were praised by international friends.
Brocade is a traditional craft product of the ethnic minorities in Xiangxi. In the Miao language, Miao brocade is called "Shouse Shousa"; in the Tujia language, Tujia brocade is called "Xilankapu." In Tujia-inhabited areas such as Miaoshi Township in Longshan County, brocade bedcovers are quite commonly used. A brocade bedcover can last for generations without fading. Ye Yucui, a Tujia artisan and member of the China Artists Association and the Hunan Provincial Artists Association, can weave nearly a hundred patterns. In 1957, the "Xilankapu" she wove was exhibited at the London International Exposition, where it won the admiration of international friends. After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC, as ethnic policies were further implemented, some arts and crafts personnel from the province and the prefecture went deep into Tujia villages and Miao townships to investigate and study, collect brocade specimens and pattern materials, and help the Huayuan County Ethnic Crafts Factory organize production. In 1982, at the provincial arts and crafts exhibition, these unearthed ethnic brocade products attracted domestic and foreign visitors and won first prize.
To develop ethnic products, in February 2003, the Prefecture Ethnic Affairs Commission founded the Prefecture Biguo Ethnic Costume Research and Development Center. "Biguo" is taken from the first syllables of the Tujia self-designation "Bizika" and the Miao self-designation "Guoxiong," respectively. The center specializes in the research, design, production, and marketing of ethnic costumes, ethnic handicrafts, stage art costumes, and Chinese classical costumes. In October 2005, it obtained registration of the "Jin Biguo" trademark from the State Trademark Office. By the end of 2005, the center had produced more than 30,000 sets of ethnic clothing and other items, sold not only within the prefecture but also in the border areas of the four provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, and Guizhou, as well as in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Changsha, Xiamen, and other places.
Under the conditions of deepening reform, expanding opening up, and developing the socialist market economy, great changes have taken place in the corporate organizational structure, industrial structure, and product structure of the ethnic products industry, and ethnic products production has continued to flourish. Especially in hot spots for domestic and international tourism, such as Fenghuang Ancient City, the Southern Great Wall, Dehang Village in Jishou, Furong Town (Wangcun) in Yongshun, and Liye Town in Longshan, ethnic products such as gold and silver ornaments, ethnic costumes, Tujia brocade, Miao floral bands, tie-dyeing, and batik are dazzling to the eye; tourists praise them endlessly and compete to buy them.
I. Light and Textile Industry
People of all ethnic groups in the territory of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture have long had traditions of brewing wine, boiling sugar, making paper, hulling rice, spinning yarn, and weaving cloth, but before the founding of New China there was only traditional handicraft industry, not modern light industry. After the founding of New China, factories were established one after another, developing light and textile industries such as cigarettes, brewing, papermaking, sugar refining, textiles, plastics, leather making, matches, soap, food, and medicine. With economic and social development, scientific and technological progress, and industrial restructuring, some light and textile industries declined, while others took off. Eliminating inferior light and textile industries and developing advantageous ones conforms to natural and economic laws and is the inevitable result of implementing scientific development.
The textile industry was the earliest established and relatively fast-growing industry here. As early as 1952, the Yuanda Weaving Factory was established in Dayong County in a cotton-producing area, and in 1958 a textile factory with 5,000 spindles was established in Yongshun County. In 1982, the 10 counties in the prefecture had 15 textile enterprises, all cotton textile enterprises. Under the conditions of the socialist market economy, these traditional textile enterprises lacked competitiveness and stopped production and closed one after another.
The cigarette industry was once a financial source industry for the prefecture. Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture is suitable for tobacco cultivation, with Fenghuang air-cured tobacco especially famous. In the early 1970s, the Longshan Cigarette Factory was completed and put into operation, with very good economic benefits. In the early 1980s, the Fenghuang Cigar Factory was completed and put into operation, immediately removing the county's label as a county with fiscal deficits and making it one of Hunan Province's five counties with fiscal revenue of 100 million yuan. Sangzhi, Yongshun, and Jishou built cigarette factories in succession, and Luxi also converted a ceramics factory to cigarette production. Smoking is harmful to health, and restricting smoking is imperative. The state strengthened macro-control, and cigarette factories closed one after another. In 2005, the entire prefecture had only the Jishou threshing and redrying factory processing raw tobacco.
Glass, ceramics, papermaking, and artificial board industries also once formed a certain scale. The glass factories in Fenghuang, Jishou, and Yongshun counties stopped production and closed soon after going into operation. The Jishou Paper Mill was forced to stop production due to serious black liquor pollution. Earthenware and earthen porcelain had become a sunset industry and could no longer be maintained. Although the Longshan Purple Clay Pottery Factory has stopped production and closed, the purple clay pottery resources remain and still have development prospects. Mountain areas are rich in forest resources. The three-board industry, mainly fiberboard, particleboard, and blockboard, once established factories in some counties and cities, but due to blind and duplicated construction, failed to achieve good benefits and stopped production one after another. Traditional light and textile industries have closed one after another, while emerging light and textile industries are rising.
III. Chemical Industry
People in the mountain areas have long had traditions of refining sulfur, boiling saltpeter, making gunpowder, and hunting to eliminate pests. The Sangzhi Shaba Sulfur Mine established in 1952 was the earliest chemical plant in the prefecture. Because of its hard struggle and diligence and thrift in running the mine, it was repeatedly rated as an advanced enterprise in the prefecture.
In the late 1950s, the tung oil, dye, sulfuric acid, and phosphate fertilizer industries began to develop. Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture is relatively rich in phosphate rock and pyrite resources with relatively high grades. Relying on advantageous resources, the Luxi Pushi Chemical General Factory and the Prefecture Xixi Phosphate Mine established plants to produce phosphate chemical products such as phosphate ore, sulfuric acid, superphosphate, calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer, yellow phosphorus, and phosphoric acid, sold domestically throughout the country and exported worldwide. With their remarkable performance, they repeatedly won awards from the Ministry of Chemical Industry. Now, due to resource depletion and aging equipment, they are in the predicament of shutdown and bankruptcy. In 1979, construction of the Longshan Nitrogen Fertilizer Plant began, subsequently setting off a high tide of "building a nitrogen fertilizer plant in every county." In the 1970s, 9 nitrogen fertilizer plants were built in the prefecture's 10 counties. Because they violated natural and economic laws, some were abandoned halfway and became discontinued projects; some stopped production as soon as they went into operation and became decorative projects; some suffered long-term losses and became heavy burdens, and finally all were shut down. After entering the new century, the Luxi Pushi Fertilizer Plant opened a new path, adopting new technology to produce new products such as calcium hydrogen phosphate, becoming a rising star in the chemical industry. Fine chemical industries such as biopharmaceuticals, spices, and essences are showing a momentum of vigorous development.
IV. Metallurgical, Machinery, and Electronic Industry
The 10 counties in the prefecture originally had traditions of charcoal iron smelting and producing farm tools and furniture. The Sangzhi Limixi Iron Works and the Yongshun Longjiazhai Ironware Factory, established in 1952, marked the beginning of the development of the metallurgical and machinery industry here.
In the metallurgical industry, ferrous metallurgy ranks first. The prefecture has relatively abundant iron ore resources, but their grades are not high. The Damijie iron ore in Dayong has a relatively high grade, but its reserves are not large. Small-scale charcoal iron smelting can produce high-quality iron and high-quality farm tools, which sell well throughout northwestern Hunan.
In 1958, during the great steelmaking campaign, the prefecture's 10 counties mobilized 370,000 laborers and 16,000 cadres. In less than half a year, 190 ironworks and 2,500 small blast furnaces were built. With no refractory bricks, clay bricks were used to build furnaces; with no high-grade iron ore, iron-bearing sandstone was used as a substitute; with no low-sulfur metallurgical coke, forests were destroyed to burn charcoal for iron smelting; with no automobile transport, people relied on carrying on shoulders and backs; with no blowers, hand-pulled bellows were used; when tasks could not be completed, they launched steel "satellites." By the end of the year, 1,857 tons of pig iron and 1,540 tons of steel were completed. Of course, these were some useless scrap iron and "invisible satellites." In 1960, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council put forward the eight-character policy of "adjustment, consolidation, filling out, and raising standards." The steel industry bore the brunt, and even the long-famous Limixi Iron Works was closed as well.
In the 1970s, the steel industry was launched again. Three small ironworks were established successively in Sangzhi, Yongshun, and Longshan counties, and funds were also raised to build a "small steel complex." In 5 years, 7,338 tons of pig iron were produced, 1.74 million cubic meters of hard miscellaneous charcoal were burned, the forestry losses were incalculable, and the ironworks directly lost 8.62 million yuan. In the end, all were discontinued.
With the rapid development of the market economy, and based on the lessons from several major ups and downs in developing the metallurgical industry of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture mainly through the great steelmaking campaigns, in the 1980s, marked by the establishment of the Huayuan Manganese Mine and the expansion and conversion of the Fenghuang and Longshan lead-zinc mines, the focus shifted to the development and utilization of manganese, lead-zinc, and aluminum to develop the prefecture's metallurgical industry. It began first with electrolytic manganese metal at the Huayuan Manganese Mine, making it a flagship export product for foreign exchange earnings in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture and also making it an important national production base for electrolytic manganese metal. Then the prefecture's lead-zinc industry also received support from the National Nonferrous Metals Administration in 1984 and created nearly 10 years of good benefits. Third, the bauxite mines of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture were verified to have reserves ranking first in Hunan. In the late 1980s, the Luxi Aluminum Plant was built and received poverty-alleviation support from relevant higher-level departments and the National Nonferrous Metals Corporation, enabling the electrolytic aluminum project from construction to completion to finish an investment of 10.855 million yuan and go into operation successfully in one attempt on October 1, 1989, presenting a generous gift for the 40th anniversary of National Day, filling the gap in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture's aluminum industry, and at the same time enabling the Luxi Aluminum Plant to be among the first to enter Hunan Province's top 100 enterprises. In the mid-1990s, the plant became a key enterprise in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture with output value exceeding 100 million yuan and tax payments exceeding 10 million yuan, and its comprehensive capacity reached the standard of a national medium-sized first-class enterprise.
During the "Eighth Five-Year Plan" period, driven by vigorous efforts to develop and utilize the prefecture's advantageous mineral resources and accelerate the pace of poverty alleviation and prosperity, and driven by market mechanisms and the role of benefits, all trades and professions across the prefecture became involved in the metallurgical industry and developed metallurgical products, bringing an unprecedented manganese fever, lead-zinc fever, and aluminum-magnesium fever, causing the prefecture's metallurgical industry to develop by leaps and bounds. This development momentum is still growing and is displaying the majestic posture of the metallurgical industry as a pillar industry in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture.
The machinery industry is the equipment department of the national economy and has always received attention from Party committees and governments at all levels. In 1954, the private Qixin and Dazhong Machinery Plants in Changsha moved west to Jishou, bringing some machinery and equipment and skilled workers. On this basis, the Jidao General Machinery Plant was established, producing lathes, planers, drilling machines, and gas engines, referred to as "three machines and one engine," to equip the machinery industry of the prefecture's 10 counties. Afterward, agricultural machinery plants were established successively in all counties of the prefecture. In the 1960s, the machinery plants mainly produced rice threshers, water pumps, and horizontal hydraulic oil presses. In the 1970s, the Prefecture Machine Tool Plant developed and produced ultra-precision hydraulic components such as variable pumps, particleboard hot presses, and pulse dust collectors, and the degree of generalization and standardization of products continued to increase. The single-suction multistage segmented centrifugal pump produced by the Jishou Agricultural Machinery Plant was small in size, light in weight, high in lift, attractive in appearance, simple in structure, and convenient to use, and was important equipment for fighting drought and securing a bumper harvest in mountainous areas. The 400-1 three-separation rice mill produced by the Luxi County Agricultural Machinery Plant had good performance and a low price and sold well in 24 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across the country. At this time, "small agricultural machinery" blossomed everywhere. In 1982, the prefecture's 10 counties had 173 machinery plants.
Under the conditions of the socialist market economy, the machinery manufacturing industry here lacked competitiveness. After a 50-year course, the Jishou Machine Tool Plant also declared bankruptcy according to law in 2004. Of course, some small agricultural machinery and tools are still being produced. On the contrary, automobile repair, agricultural machinery repair, and home appliance repair industries have mushroomed and developed vigorously.
The electronics industry once developed here to some extent. In the 1970s, two radio factories were established successively in Jishou and Yongshun, capable of producing dozens of electronic products and components. The Prefecture Radio Factory worked closely with the Beijing Mining and Metallurgy Research Institute of the Ministry of Metallurgy, the Wuhan Safety Technology Research Institute of the Ministry of Metallurgy, and other units to trial-produce electronic instruments such as ten-stage shock wave testers and ten-stage detonation velocity meters. Product quality all reached the domestic advanced level, among which the ten-stage detonation velocity meter won a scientific and technological achievement award from the Fourth Ministry of Machine Building. These products were widely used in mining, geology, hydrology, meteorology, and other departments and were well received by users. The rectifier diodes produced by the Yongshun Radio Factory in 6 varieties and 175 specifications all reached ministry-issued standards in seven technical quality indicators and were commended by the Fourth Ministry of Machine Building. In the 1990s, competition in the electronic products market became fiercer and upgrading faster. Products of the Yongshun Radio Factory were unsalable, and the enterprise suffered losses for 3 consecutive years and was forced to stop production entirely. The Prefecture Radio Factory obtained a production license for low-voltage switchgear in 1991 and in 1995 also obtained a production license for high-voltage switchgear jointly issued by the State Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Machine Building and Electronics. At the end of the 20th century, the state carried out rectification and transformation of urban and rural power grids. Through the efforts of all employees, the high- and low-voltage switchgear of the Prefecture Radio Factory was included in the Recommended Catalog of Equipment Products and Production Enterprises Needed for National Urban and Rural Power Grid Construction and Transformation issued by the State Economic and Trade Commission in 2000. In 2000, it produced 5,319 electrical products and achieved relatively good results. After entering the new century, however, it was defeated in fierce market competition. In September 2003, because there was no hope of turning losses around, it declared bankruptcy according to law.
V. Building Materials Industry
The building materials industry is closely linked to the development of urban and rural capital construction. After the founding of New China, capital construction in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture developed vigorously, thereby driving the development of the building materials industry.
Before the founding of New China, the prefecture's 10 counties were still in the era of "Qin bricks and Han tiles." In 1952, the Xiangxi Miao Autonomous Region was established, with its capital at Suoli in Jishou County (present-day Jishou). This was originally a small town with fewer than a thousand people. Once it became a regional capital, urban construction had to keep up. The Jishou Brick and Tile Factory emerged as the times required, built and put into operation in the same year, basically meeting the city's construction needs for bricks, tiles, and lime. The factory became the first building materials factory in the prefecture's 10 counties. Later, brick and tile factories were established successively in all counties. In 1961, output of blue bricks was 25.11 million pieces and output of blue tiles was 18.93 million pieces.
In 1978, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture successfully developed small hollow concrete blocks and officially put them into use, thereby replacing the "Qin bricks and Han tiles" of thousands of years and becoming the main material for building houses. Clay brick production plants were gradually eliminated, achieving better economic benefits than clay bricks, and at the same time achieving greater social benefits in environmental protection and energy conservation. They were comprehensively promoted and used in the prefecture's construction market.
In 1969, the Longshan County Cement Plant was completed and put into operation, producing 1,014 tons of cement that year, ending the history of the prefecture's 10 counties having no "foreign ash." In the 1970s, all counties vigorously established "small cement" plants, and every county had a cement plant. In 1980, 137,232 tons of cement were produced, and cement output increased 137-fold in 10 years. Later, cement plants strengthened technological transformation, converting vertical shaft kilns into mechanical vertical kilns or rotary kilns and small mills into large mills, multiplying output and significantly improving quality. The Guzhang Cement Plant produced 44,000 tons of cement annually and was once ranked first among county cement plants. In 1998, the Huayuan County Cement Plant raised 4.8 million yuan to transform its production line, completed and put into operation in 1999. Its production scale increased from the original 44,000 tons to 88,000 tons, and it won the title of one of the "Top 50 Cement Enterprises in Quality in Hunan." In 2005, the prefecture's 8 counties and cities had 15 cement production and cement product processing enterprises, cement output exceeded 500,000 tons, and at the same time 82,000 tons of bulk cement were promoted, with the bulk cement rate reaching 15.3%. Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture is rich in calcium carbonate ore reserves with high grades, has a broad cement sales market, and has great cement production potential.
VI. Forest Industry
The prefecture's 8 counties and cities are rich in forest resources, and the forest industry has a long history. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, logging nanmu became the main vehicle for tribute below and bestowal above at that time. During the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period, logging and rafting became important means of livelihood for people in forest areas.
After the founding of New China, the forest industry once occupied an important position. In December 1955, the People's Committee of Xiangxi Miao Autonomous Prefecture established the Jishou Branch of the Forest Industry Bureau, specifically responsible for the forest industry. During the "First Five-Year Plan" period, timber output rose year by year. In 1952, the prefecture
In 1950, the timber output of the 10 counties was 7,345 cubic meters; by 1953 it had increased to 10,514 cubic meters, and by 1957 to 134,903 cubic meters, a 17.4-fold increase over 1952, and from then on it remained high. The 1960s and 1970s were the peak period of forest harvesting. From 1961 to 1980, the 10 counties within the prefecture produced a total of 3.068 million cubic meters of timber, with the lowest being 55,977 cubic meters in 1961 and the highest 188,829 cubic meters in 1978, averaging 153,800 cubic meters per year. Some counties, cities, townships, villages, and groups relied entirely on timber-felling income to organize production and maintain livelihoods, a practice known as "timber finance." The development of the forest industry led to astonishing resource waste. During forest harvesting, only pine and fir construction timber was wanted, and many precious miscellaneous woods were discarded; when cutting into logs, the stumps, tops, branches, and forks were sawed off; when rough-processing into planks and squared timber, the broken ends and tips were removed; when fine-processing into wooden products, shavings and sawdust became garbage, and the timber utilization rate was only about 25%. In the 1980s and 1990s, timber operations in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture were mainly based on primary logs, and even the simplest sawing and processing was rare, resulting in extremely low added value of timber products, which could not withstand market shocks.
Longshan and Guzhang once established three artificial board factories, Baojing County once established a rosin factory, the Jishou area once established a tannin extract factory, and Jishou and Yongshun had forestry transport fleets. These enterprises made considerable contributions to the economic development of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture at the time, but later, due to national policies such as "grasping the large and letting go the small" and the influence of the broader climate at home and abroad, these enterprises successively suffered losses and even went bankrupt and closed down. After the 21st century, private processing enterprises developed rapidly. By the end of 2005, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture had 2 rosin factories, 2 blockboard factories, 1 formwork factory, 1 bamboo and wood crafts factory, 2 wooden flooring factories, and several forest food, essence, spice, and vegetable oil processing factories. Large amounts of processing residues and small-diameter fuelwood were comprehensively utilized; for example, shavings and sawdust were mostly used to make charcoal, and the comprehensive utilization rate and added value of timber continued to rise. National construction needs timber, and timber forests in forest areas also need harvesting; after appropriate recuperation, the forest industry will certainly continue to develop. The forest industry and ecological forestry have become the "one bird, two wings" of modern forestry. A developed forest industry can effectively promote the healthy development of forestry, and modern forestry cannot do without a developed forest industry. The development of the forest industry is not at the cost of sacrificing resources, but is based on "high technology and high added value," focusing on the comprehensive utilization of timber; the only absolute requirement is that the harvest volume must not exceed the growth volume, so that the green mountains endure and can be used sustainably. Making full use of forest harvesting residues and timber processing residues to develop the "three-board" industry and the alcohol industry will raise the timber utilization rate; making full use of forest by-products to develop the forest chemical industry will raise the comprehensive benefits of forestry. The forest industry has potential to tap and has prospects for development.