Building Blocks
Text by Liu Qian
Known as Wangjian and located in Yangyuhe Town, Shangzhou District of Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province, the village lies six kilometers southwest of Shangzhou (a county-level city), an economic, political, and cultural center. It is a representative of comparatively well-developed villages in western China and a window showcasing the changes of the country over the last few years.
Hu Biliang, professor of economics at Beijing Normal University, started his field investigation of the village back in 1993 with in-depth analysis of a wide range of factors from history and culture to enterprises and economic development. In 2012 and 2016 respectively, Professor Hu returned to Wangjian with his research team.
Since China’s implementation of economic reform and openingup policies, rural areas have experienced dramatic changes in many respects thanks to the rapid development of township enterprises, a good example of which can be witnessed at Wangjian’s brickyards.
Wangjian’s first brickyard, Liming (Dawn) Bricks and Tiles Plant was established back in 1959. By 1993, the number of such factories reached five, of various sizes. During this period, they experienced various management changes from collective ownership and collective operation to a household contract responsibility system with remuneration linked to output. In 1999, Yu Xueli took the office of local Party secretary, and the plants began to use a joint stock cooperative system featuring a collectively-raised fund contract and operation led by village cadres, linking the benefit goals and destiny of everyone in the village.
The village transformed its advantageous natural resources such as heaps of hills, mountains, and earth into the economic strength of brick production. It also provided villagers with measures to help them adapt to local conditions. According to Professor Hu’s 1993 investigation statistics, in 1970, 19.1 percent of the village’s revenue came from bricks, and in 1986, that number passed 50 percent and in 1993, 86.8 percent.
Brick production became a major force driving the village’s development. Since 2000, brick plants have contributed average annual revenues of 180,000 yuan to the village, making up over 90 percent of its total earnings.
The plants created plenty of jobs for the labor surplus in the area and filled the wallets of most villagers. Professor Hu’s investigation shows that by 1993, the net income of Wangjian residents had jumped by 70 percent thanks to brick production. Top earners took home about 5,000 yuan annually.
1993: Wangjian Village from a distance. by Dong Faliang
During the 1990s, brick production served as a major economic force driving the village’s development.
As China accelerated its energy transformation, the village began facing new issues such as harmful gas, sulfur dioxide, and dust discharged from brick plants utilizing simple equipment and fuels – mainly coal, which made a large impact on the local ecoenvironment, people’s health, and nearby crops.
The local environmental protection authority shut down the brick plants in 2013.
In the summer of 2012, I found the chance to travel with Professor Hu and saw the neatly-lined-up workshops of brick plants with my own eyes. Four years later, however, they were gone when we returned. According to village cadres, the workshop zone was designated to become a water park after an entrepreneur from Anhui Province purchased it. Nobody is sure of the overall economic plan.
In July 2014, the local government promulgated decisions to accelerate urban construction: A city-level demonstration community will be built on a planned area of 8.5 square kilometers, including all of Wangjian Village.
A year later, the district government of Shangzhou launched a comprehensive reform of its townships and villages, consolidating 416 village communities into 284 and making Wangjian part of Xieyuan Community.
Such rural communities are an outcome of China’s urbanization. Wangjian’s name is fading with the passage of time.
The construction of Nanqin New District is considered a turning point for Wangjian, which will be repositioned as part of a new urban district featuring automobile trade, logistics, leisure activities, retirement services, and modern TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) industry. Part of the game is to expand Shangzhou into a central city.
Summer 2012: A brickyard with simple production line.by Liu Qian
2016: With the brick workshop completely removed, its area has been designated to become a water park after an entrepreneur from Anhui Province purchased it. by Liu Qian
The author, with a doctorate in economics, works as an assistant to the dean of the Emerging Markets Institute of Beijing Normal University.