Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Overview — Agriculture (Part 5)
Section 5 Water Conservancy. Before the founding of New China, agricultural production in the region was backward and grain yields very low, largely because of a lack of irrigation works and the inability to withstand severe drought. In 1949 the region had only scattered small hill ponds and crude stream weirs, and most rice fields were "thunder-god fields" that failed two years out of three. Whenever drought struck...
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 Some administrative divisions, population, socioeconomic data, and policy information may be outdated and are for reference only; for the latest situation, please refer to official releases by the local government and scenic areas.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 5 Water Conservancy
Before the founding of New China, agricultural production in the region was backward and grain output was very low. One important reason was the lack of farmland water conservancy facilities and the inability to resist the intrusion of severe droughts. In 1949, the region had only some small, scattered mountain ponds and simple small dams on streams and rivers, and the vast majority of rice fields were "thunder god fields" that failed to yield in two out of every three years. Whenever drought struck, ponds dried up, streams stopped flowing, and grain harvests were poor or nonexistent.
After the founding of New China, under the leadership of the Party and the government, the people of all ethnic groups in the region vigorously carried out basic farmland construction, relied on collective strength, built water conservancy facilities, and developed small hydropower. Through decades of arduous struggle, they achieved remarkable results.
In the construction of water storage projects, in 1950 the Xiangxi Administrative Office required all special districts and counties to combine the elimination of bandits, the struggle against local tyrants, and land reform with mobilizing the masses to restore existing ponds and dams and build new standard ponds, while the state supported pond and dam construction in the form of loans.
In 1952, after land reform in the region was completed, farmers of all ethnic groups actively demanded the construction of ponds and dams. They joined together, reasonably shared the burden of labor and fundraising, and pushed the construction of pond and dam projects to a climax. In the winter of that year, construction began on the first batch of reservoirs in the prefecture, namely Paiwu Reservoir in Huayuan County and Xiniu Reservoir in Baojing County. By 1957, the prefecture had built 86 small reservoirs.
In the early 1960s, due to the impact of three consecutive years of natural disasters, the country experienced temporary difficulties, and a small number of communes and teams abolished ponds to reclaim fields in order to expand cultivated land, so the number of ponds and dams declined for a time. In the mid-to-late 1960s, in order to resist major disasters, small reservoirs were again restored and built, and construction began on some medium-sized reservoirs.
In the construction of reservoir projects, people of all ethnic groups fully demonstrated their intelligence and talent, building one ingeniously designed, high-quality small reservoir after another. For example, Niuyan Reservoir in Fenghuang County is located in Niuyan Village, Luochaojing Township, a Miao ethnic settlement. Construction began in November 1956 and was completed in the spring of 1958. Its actual storage capacity was 2.6 million cubic meters, with an effective irrigation area of 12,300 mu. After subsequent continuous improvement and supporting facilities, the total water storage of the irrigation district increased to 4 million cubic meters, and the effective irrigation area expanded to 16,000 mu. To this day, the reservoir operates well and has successively won awards from the Hunan Provincial People's Government and the State Council.
In the construction of many reservoirs, songs of ethnic unity and progress were played. For example, Longtanghe Medium-sized Reservoir in Fenghuang County is located at the junction of Baoguo, Wugang, and Tongyan villages in Luochaojing Township, 38 kilometers from Fenghuang County town. On the northwest side, the reservoir is adjacent to Bianqiang and Disaoping villages of Songtao Miao Autonomous County in Guizhou Province. The hub project of the reservoir is located upstream of Longtanghe in Baoguo Village. The project started in October 1974, and in February 1975 a major dam battle was organized, lasting 95 days. From beginning to end, construction adhered to the participation of secretaries at four levels, with 400 cadres on the front and 30,000 laborers taking part. During construction, Nan County by the shores of Dongting Lake sent tractors and bulldozers to support the effort, and the Tongren Prefecture of Guizhou Province and the People's Liberation Army stationed in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture sent technical personnel with road rollers to support the effort. In particular, the Miao compatriots of Bianqiang Village, Zhengda Township, Songtao Miao Autonomous County in Guizhou Province, adjacent to the reservoir, not only warmly received more than 16,000 migrant workers from Fenghuang County for meals and lodging, and donated more than 200,000 jin of rice straw for bedding, and allocated more than 20 hilltops as firewood bases for the migrant workers, but village party branch secretary Xu Xiancai also led more than 300 Miao and Han men and women to participate in the dam project battle. From 1975 to 1980, the project was organized and implemented for 6 consecutive years by combining winter shock campaigns with year-round construction, with 20,000 laborers mobilized each year, camping in linked battalions and fighting without stop. It was basically completed in the spring of 1980.
Because medium-sized reservoir projects were difficult and had long construction cycles, some had dams built in the 1960s but were still being equipped with supporting facilities in the 1980s. After 1989, continued efforts were made on continued construction, supporting facilities, and seepage control treatment of canals. From 1991 to 1995, the World Food Programme included supporting funds for the irrigation districts of Xiaopaiwu Reservoir in Huayuan County, Kapeng Reservoir in Baojing County, and Songbai Reservoir in Yongshun County in the implementation of the "WFP3779" project.
In the construction of water diversion projects, cadres and masses of all ethnic groups also demonstrated the spirit of arduous struggle, fearing no hardship and persevering. In 1959, Yang Shenggui, head of Yaqiao Commune in Huayuan County, led a thousand Miao migrant workers, lodged at Wulongchong, hung ropes on cliffs that even apes found hard to climb, tied people to them, drilled holes and set off explosives, overcame the "five dangerous passes," and opened a canal 9.34 kilometers long.
In the spring of 1964, Prefecture Head Shi Bangzhi and Deputy Prefecture Head Shi Yuanji personally went to the Xiongdi River site in Huayuan County for field survey and decided to build the Xiongdi River medium-sized water diversion project. Construction began that year and was completed in December 1965, cutting through a 1,100-meter tunnel, diverting water to irrigate 1,633 hectares, and also solving the problems of domestic water and power generation water for Huayuan County town. In the winter of 1964, Huang Yong, deputy secretary of the CPC Fenghuang County Committee, crossed mountains and rivers, climbed vines and clung to creepers, went deep into Chuandong Cave, surveyed the cave water, and proposed a plan to develop it. The following year, a thousand people were mobilized to camp on the mountain, conquer natural dangers, cut a 120-meter stone tunnel inside the cave, open a 1,100-meter stone canal on steep cliffs, lead out the cave water, and irrigate 120 hectares of farmland. The Huayuan Flame Cave and Baojing Laochang water diversion projects were successful examples of building dams inside caves and cutting tunnels to divert water. In February 1992, construction began on the Jielong Canal in Guzhang County, and by the end of 1995 the main projects were completed, capable of irrigating 752 hectares and solving drinking water problems for more than 6,000 people and more than 5,000 livestock.
Cadres and masses of all ethnic groups in the prefecture also vigorously grasped water conservancy construction projects such as drainage, lift irrigation, and drinking water for people and livestock, all achieving relatively great results. By 1995, the prefecture's farmland water conservancy facilities were as follows: 9 medium-sized reservoirs, 104 small type (I) reservoirs, 497 small type (II) reservoirs, 63,861 ponds and dams, 809 electric lift irrigation units with 21,522 kilowatts, 6,513 mechanical lift irrigation units with 55,494 horsepower, and 205 water turbine pump stations with 452 units; total water storage, diversion, and lifting amounted to 975 million cubic meters, with an effective irrigation area of 1.132 million mu, of which 773,100 mu were guaranteed yields despite drought or excessive rain.
During the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" period, relying on the implementation of 7 major water conservancy areas, the prefecture made 12 canals key funding investment projects. A total of 20,208 water conservancy projects of various types were started and completed, and 5,880 flood-damaged projects were restored. Completed earth and stone work amounted to 18.67 million cubic meters, with 22.24 million labor workdays, and 119 million yuan was invested in water conservancy projects. Newly added irrigation area was 41,600 mu, restored irrigation area was 90,700 mu, newly added drought- and flood-guaranteed area was 39,000 mu, improved irrigation area was 109,600 mu, newly added area of soil erosion control was 121,600 mu, and newly added water storage, diversion, and lifting volume was 38.67 million cubic meters, and drinking water difficulties were solved for 37,900 people and 20,700 livestock. After strict and meticulous evaluation and inspection, in 1999 Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture won an award in Hunan Province's "Furong Cup" water conservancy construction competition, and Huayuan County was listed as one of the top 14 counties in the province for water conservancy construction.
During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, the prefecture's water conservancy work closely centered on the water governance policy of the CPC Central Committee, implemented the "infrastructure construction" driving strategy determined by the CPC Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Committee, seized the historic opportunity of the large-scale development of the western region, adjusted water governance thinking, innovated service concepts, broke conventions, overcame difficulties, forged ahead, and accelerated development. Historic breakthroughs were made in all aspects of water conservancy work, opening a new chapter in water conservancy construction. Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture won the "Furong Cup" award in the province-wide water conservancy construction competition issued by the Hunan Provincial People's Government for 3 consecutive years. In the 5 years, cumulative project investment completed was 844.92 million yuan; 102,071 water conservancy projects of various types were completed, with 87.97 million cubic meters of earth and stone work and 117.8 million workdays; 287 dangerous reservoirs were treated, 534 ponds and dams were repaired and expanded, 166 kilometers of river channels were regulated, 7.7 kilometers of high-standard flood control dikes were newly built, 732 kilometers of high-standard seepage-control canals were newly built and repaired, newly added irrigation area was 204,800 mu, restored irrigation area was 230,700 mu, improved irrigation area was 366,000 mu, newly added drought- and flood-guaranteed area was 84,800 mu, soil erosion control area was 200.85 square kilometers, 305 rural drinking water projects were built, and drinking water difficulties were solved for 256,000 rural people; water conservancy economic income was 1.42441 billion yuan, with 115.85 million yuan turned over in profits and taxes; the highest annual total small hydropower generation (2004) reached 800 million kilowatt-hours. In 2005, due to severe drought, total power generation fell to 630 million kilowatt-hours.
The water conservancy construction work and results during the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period were specifically manifested in the following aspects:
1. Water Conservancy Construction
2001 was the opening year of the "Tenth Five-Year Plan." That year, investment in water conservancy and hydropower funds was 105.89 million yuan, breaking the 100 million yuan mark for the first time. That year, the formulation of the overall plan for reinforcing dangerous reservoirs in the prefecture was completed, and a relatively high-quality water conservancy and hydropower engineering construction project bank with Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture characteristics was initially established. The model of clustered construction of small reservoirs continued to be promoted, a high tide of winter water conservancy repair was raised, and 18 key projects were mainly grasped, all achieving very good benefits.
In 2002, treatment was completed on 47 dangerous small reservoirs. The continued construction and water-saving transformation project of the Wushui Irrigation District was formally included in the national plan, thus ending the history of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture having no large irrigation district.
In 2003, two heavy rainstorms, "6.24" and "7.8," occurred successively in the prefecture, causing mountain torrents to break out and rivers to overflow. In 192 townships across 8 counties and cities, 1.7824 million people were affected or repeatedly affected, 37 people died, and direct economic losses reached 3.1944 billion yuan. From mid-July to late August, rare sunny, hot, and high-temperature weather appeared in the prefecture, and direct economic losses due to drought reached 550 million yuan. That year, reinforcement projects for 14 medium-sized dangerous reservoirs in the prefecture were fully launched, most were completed or basically completed, and normal water storage capacity was restored.
In 2004, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture suffered six consecutive disasters from strong winds, hail, and rainstorms and floods, with direct economic losses reaching 1.7338 billion yuan. After the disasters occurred, the CPC Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Committee and the Prefecture Government attached great importance to them. Prefecture Party Secretary Tong Mingqian organized relevant prefecture-level departments to go deep into the disaster areas to investigate and verify disasters, help fight the disasters, and personally went to the scene in Pushi Town, Luxi County, to command flood control and emergency rescue. Armed police officers and soldiers and public security police fought on the front lines of disaster relief. In the six disaster relief and rescue efforts, a total of 4,800 military and police personnel and 3,100 militia emergency detachment and pontoon bridge detachment personnel were dispatched, nearly 80 million yuan in property was rescued and transferred, and 31,000 people trapped by floods were rescued. Because flood control and disaster relief preparations were sufficient and measures were effective, all reservoirs, mountains, and ponds in the prefecture passed the flood season safely. That year, 87 dangerous reservoirs were treated in the prefecture. The Wushui Irrigation District continued construction and supporting facilities project, officially started in November 2003, was declared completed in July 2004.
In 2005, prefecture leaders Tong Mingqian, Wang Chengrong, Hu Zhangsheng, and others successively went deep into reservoirs such as Longtanghe, Changtangang, Ma'anshan, and Huangshidong, as well as Liye and Pushi flood control dikes, to inspect water conservancy construction and flood control preparations, further increasing the intensity of flood control work and promoting the implementation of all flood control tasks. That year, the prefecture completed the treatment and reinforcement of 7 medium-sized, 6 small type (I), and 98 small type (II) dangerous reservoirs.
2. Rural Hydropower Projects
Before the founding of New China, the surging river waters flowed east in vain. People in both urban and rural areas of the prefecture mainly used tung oil and kerosene for lighting, while farmers in mountainous areas relied on pine resin. After the founding of New China, rural hydropower in Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture grew from nothing and from small to large, going through an initial period focused on building stations with installed capacity below 50 kilowatts, a development period focused on building stations with single-unit capacity above 500 kilowatts, and a flourishing period focused on building stations with single-unit capacity above 1,000 kilowatts. By the end of 2005, the entire prefecture had 224 rural hydropower stations, with an installed capacity of 265,100 kilowatts and an annual power generation capacity of 928 million kilowatt-hours.
The prefecture is rich in hydropower resources, with a total water resource volume of 13.28 billion cubic meters, a theoretical hydropower reserve of 1.79 million kilowatts, and a technically developable capacity of 1.37 million kilowatts. At present, 880,000 kilowatts have been developed, and more than 400,000 kilowatts remain to be developed. For specific development details, see Section 2, Chapter 5 of this book, "Energy Production."
3. Water Conservancy Economy
The Party Leadership Group of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Water Conservancy Bureau has always attached great importance to the development of the water conservancy economy, experiencing both glory and troughs. Since entering the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, it has paid even greater attention to the development of the water conservancy economy, treating it as a prominent position crucial to the overall situation of water conservancy undertakings, carefully studying and comprehensively deploying water conservancy economic work, developing the water conservancy economy with an open concept, and elevating the development of the water conservancy economy to the height of supporting sustainable water conservancy development and realizing a people-oriented approach. During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, the entire prefecture achieved a total water conservancy economic income of 1.3 billion yuan.
The water conservancy economy has shown an encouraging development momentum. Income from small hydropower ranks first in the water conservancy economy. For example, in 2001, the total water conservancy economic income of the entire prefecture was 285 million yuan, of which income from small hydropower generation and supply was 276 million yuan, accounting for 96.8% of the total income. Urban water supply has broad prospects. The Prefecture Party Committee and Prefecture Government listed the Qianzhou Water Supply Project of Jishou City as a key construction project of the Jifeng Economic Development Zone and the Qianzhou Development Zone of Jishou City. The project has a total investment of 155 million yuan, a daily water supply capacity of 100,000 tons, a water supply area of 25 square kilometers, and a water supply population of 250,000 to 300,000 people. The first phase of the project, which has already been implemented, supplies 50,000 tons of water per day. Township water supply shows good development momentum. In 2005, the entire prefecture had 7 water supply projects under the water conservancy system, with an annual water supply capacity of 20 million tons, and 2 water supply projects under planning and new construction or expansion, with a designed annual water supply capacity of 63.5 million tons. Water conservancy tourism is showing promising momentum. By 2005, the entire prefecture had 1 national-level water conservancy tourism scenic area and 3 provincial-level tourism scenic areas. The August Lake Scenic Area in Jishou has invested a cumulative total of more than 5 million yuan, solving employment for 28 workers, and the scenic area has taken on a completely new look. The Changtangang Reservoir Resort in Fenghuang County has carried out vacation and leisure projects, solving employment for more than 40 surplus workers from the power station. The Shanmuhe Reservoir Area Management Office in Yongshun County expanded its water park, purchased kayaks and human-powered pleasure boats, and the annual number of tourists exceeded 40,000, with considerable economic income. Fish farming in reservoir waters has promising prospects. The entire prefecture has a total of 8,027 reservoirs, mountain ponds, and fish-farmable river embankments, with 638,000 mu of water surface, of which 297,400 mu is fish-farmable water surface. At present, the actual fish-farming water surface area is 143,400 mu, with an annual output of 26,000 tons of fresh fish.
In addition, the prefecture's water conservancy construction work in soil and water conservation, human and livestock drinking water, water conservancy science and technology, water law enforcement, and poverty alleviation and organizational development has all achieved outstanding results.