Chapter 31 30. Ups and downs of Zhongying Street

In the 1980s, the most desirable place in Shenzhen was Zhongying Street.This street has been special since Hong Kong was ceded to the United Kingdom.It is located in Shatoujiao Town, Yantian District, Shenzhen City. One side of the street belongs to Shenzhen, and the other side belongs to Hong Kong.Because it is a border, and because it is close to the commercially developed Hong Kong, it was a sensitive place close to capitalism before the reform and opening up, and it was a place of opportunity close to Hong Kong in the 1980s after the reform and opening up. At that time, it also became a street of prosperity.But when the pace of opening up accelerated, the commercial advantages brought by its geographical location gradually lost, and Zhongying Street had to find its new positioning again.

It used to be just a gravel river with a path beside the river.Then the river changed its course, so people changed the low-lying areas of the old river course into paddy fields, and reclaimed the grassy slopes into vegetable fields.Then, someone filled the land on both sides of the old river and built houses.There are also people who do business.This small path converted from an old river has a nice name: "Heron Path". It's all very normal.Its only special feature lies in the fiddling with history. In 1898, the British government and the Qing government signed the "Special Articles on Sino-British Expansion of Hong Kong Boundary Site", which forcibly leased a large area of ​​land south of the Shenzhen River and north of the Kowloon Peninsula and more than 230 nearby islands, covering an area of ​​975.07 square kilometers, collectively referred to as the New Territories. 99 years, to expire in June 1997.When delineating the boundary line of the "New Territories", the boundary line passed through Shatou Town, a small town of 0.6 square kilometers. The boundary marker engraved with "China-British Land Boundary No. X in the 24th Year of Emperor Guangxu" divided the town into two, and also divided the town into two. The street divides in two.Therefore, some people began to call this street about 250 meters long and 3 to 4 meters wide as "Zhongying Street". One side of the street belongs to China, and the other side of the street belongs to Hong Kong under British colonialism.The town that belongs to the British Concession is called Shatoujiao, New Territories, and the town that belongs to Mainland China is called Huajie Shatoujiao, or Shatoujiao Town.From then on, the street began to be different.On both sides of the small street, the sounds of chickens and dogs are heard, and there are many contacts with each other, but the fate of each other seems to start from the same starting point, but the two passers-by who are heading in opposite directions have become more and more dissimilar for a long time .However, this difference has never been as obvious as after the founding of the People's Republic of China. This may be because, after 1949, the country's self-awareness began to become stronger.

A book describing Chung Ying Street said that slowly, people discovered that fewer and fewer girls in Sha Tau Kok, New Territories, married here; while more and more girls in Sha Tau Kok, Chinese Territories married across the street. "At this time, people realized that there was already a big gap between the two sides of Sino-British Street in terms of economic development and people's income and consumption levels." At that time, Premier Zhou Enlai of the State Council once instructed that Zhongying Street should be built as a commercial street, because the special geographical location of this street makes it naturally have the elements of a market.So, at that time, a staff member of Baoan County Commercial Bureau was ordered to build this commercial street.He worked the streets during the day and led the militia on patrol at night.At that time, there was no electricity in Shatoujiao, Huajie, so candles and kerosene lamps could only be used for lighting at night.On the other side of the street, the British Hong Kong government's lighting tools are 48 mercury lamps, shining brightly, which greatly stimulated the overly sensitive self-esteem of the Chinese people.

The market is established.But then an even more ridiculous drama ensues.The farce itself does not make people feel absurd, and the real absurdity often occurs in comparison.After the start of the Cultural Revolution in mainland China, the Shatoujiao side of the Huajie began to hold meetings and parades at every turn.Every few days, Chairman Mao’s latest instructions are issued. Once issued, they are immediately conveyed, and a meeting is held overnight to celebrate the parade.Residents on the other side of Zhongying Street, like all human beings who love to watch the excitement, stand on the street and look over here. "At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, people painted big slogans on the street. The Hong Kong workers, farmers, teachers, and students over there thought it was very fresh. Later, when they saw random arrests and beatings, they became terrified.” A book describing Zhongying Street said.

It is said that an old man in his 60s from the countryside in the New Territories of Hong Kong came to visit this side of the street. He casually asked the cadres here how much they earn a month, and replied that it was more than 60 yuan.He said: It is not enough for us Hong Kong people to buy a chicken.Therefore, the masses, who were extremely vigilant against the destruction of the class enemy, arrested him and had a fight. People asked him: What path are you taking.He replied that I came from the small col over there.Then there was a big laugh.Presumably the people in the play at this time also felt the absurdity of the play.

Then people on the side of Zhongying Street tried to fortify and ran to that side.The allure of material things is only particularly evident when there is a contrast between scarcity and abundance.During the Cultural Revolution, the cross-border farming entrance (because the residents of both sides had land in the other's territory) was regarded as the tiger's mouth of capitalism.As a result, someone said: Hukou, we are not afraid!We want to learn from Wu Song and Yang Zirong, and pull out our teeth.So, all who could run ran away.There are two major migrations recorded in historical records.One was in the early 1960s, called "The Great Hunger Escape."According to an incomplete statistics, 12,144 people ran out that time.Its cause is the scarcity and hunger caused by the Great Leap Forward.The second time was after the Cultural Revolution ended. According to statistics, 17,456 people escaped.Among them, 3,000 people escaped from Shatou Town, which is the population of an entire town.

At that time, the overriding central task of the party and government organs of Bao'an County, which belonged to Shatou Town, was to stop the flight and intercept the fugitives and stowaways.Their methods are: sending armed militiamen to stand guard; displaying the bodies of stowaways bitten by sharks on the beach; playing "Socialism is Good" through loudspeakers; publishing articles in newspapers: "The scenery here is the best!"; Confiscate the means of transportation of stowaways; run classes, write self-criticisms, criticize; fine and detain; for those who escaped, the family members are required to pay several hundred yuan of provident fund every year, and black signs of "smugglers" are pasted on the door panels...

At the end of the 1970s, when the reform and opening up of mainland China just started, the per capita annual income of residents in Sha Tau Kok was only 100 yuan, while the per capita annual income of Hong Kong residents on the other side of the street had reached 70,000 Hong Kong dollars.Since 1979, Shatoujiao Township began to directly transport agricultural and sideline products to the New Territories of Hong Kong for sale; and allowed residents to take advantage of slack farming and spare time to work across borders and collect waste materials. In 1980, the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress approved the establishment of special economic zones in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou and Xiamen.Zhongying Street and Shatou Town, to which Zhongying Street belongs, became a special zone in the special zone.And this street and this small town also began to prosper with the prosperity of Shenzhen.Because of its special geographical location, Zhongying Street has even become a golden street for shopping.

At that time, people from other parts of the mainland had to apply for a border pass when they went to Shenzhen, otherwise they could not enter the customs.And if you go to Shatoujiao Town on the border, you need to apply for a "special" pass for the restricted area of ​​frontier defense, because Shatoujiao Town is classified as a restricted area for border defense.In Shenzhen, there used to be two kinds of people who were considered very capable. One was the person who could help people obtain a license to go to Shatoujiao; people.According to a statistic, in 1984, the average daily number of people entering the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone rose from 35,000 to 136,000, and the number of vehicles entered the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone increased from 6,500 to 19,800.Most of the people who go to Shenzhen want to go to Shatoujiao to have a look, and you have to apply for a special permit when you go to Shatoujiao; Shopping on the street only uses Hong Kong dollars.

The heyday of Zhongying Street was in the 1980s, when there were more than 300 shops of various types on this short street.There are thousands of water customers just to deliver goods to others. In the two villages connected to Zhongying Street, Shalanjia Village and Zhongxing Village, almost every household has a shop. A villager later recalled: "In the 1980s' "10,000 yuan households" are rich people in the mainland, but if they were placed on Zhongying Street at that time, what would this be? There were hundreds of thousands or millions of villagers everywhere at that time." Shopping, payment, and billing are all to line up.People seem to have a strong interest in all the goods on this street, "Video recorders, cameras, gold jewelry, clothes, and even Lux soap are rushing to buy, basically without bargaining prices." More than 10,000 yuan, or even more than 100,000 yuan.The most sought-after items are gold jewelry. The boss doesn't even have time to count the money. The daily turnover of the gold shop is over one million yuan.At that time, Shenzhen and Hong Kong opened dozens of gold shops on Zhongying Street, and the amount of gold sold was calculated by ton. According to a statistics, from May to October 1988, the gold shops on Zhongying Street sold a total of Gold ornaments amounted to 5 tons, with an amount of 650 million Hong Kong dollars. The 'buying gold fever' lasted until 1992 when it reached its climax.The four major state-owned commercial banks and the Shenzhen Development Bank all have business offices on Zhongying Street.Zhongying Street only pays more than 100 million yuan in taxes in one year.

A report on Zhongying Street quoted statistics from Shenzhen and said that from the early 1980s to the end of the 20th century, Zhongying Street had more than 10,000 tourists every day, and the number of tourists on holidays and peak periods exceeded 100,000. The number of tourists in one year reaches more than 15 million. But the advantage of Zhongying Street is only its special location and cheap goods under tax-free conditions. After Hong Kong returned to China in 1997, the number of tourists on Chung Ying Street began to plummet. The number of tourists fell to 8 million in 1998, only 1.28 million in 2002, and then further decreased to about one million.The number of shops has shrunk from more than 300 to more than 100, and more than 90% of the shops in Shalanjia Village and Zhongxing Village have been converted into housing. In 2005, ICBC, the last financial institution still on the street, also withdrew. The media began to cast their eyes on this special street again, but instead of using the tone of admiration and admiration as before, they began to worry about the prospects of this street. March 18, 2008 - March 18 was also the date when the British government and the Chinese government of the Qing Dynasty delineated the land boundary on Zhongying Street. A group of scholars from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau were invited to participate in the seminar and began to discuss Transformation of British Street.The now deserted street is trying to recapture the glory it once had a decade and two ago. A single commercial method has been difficult to maintain the reputation of Chung Ying Street as a golden street in the past; but it has become a trouble to cross Hong Kong and Shenzhen, because tourists need to apply for special permits.Therefore, some people suggested that Zhongying Street should be developed from a single shopping function to a comprehensive tourist area that combines food, housing, travel, entertainment, shopping, etc.; Museum Street.People don't know if Zhongying Street will become an ordinary street in another ten years. The only special thing is that it has a strong historical memory.