Chapter 54 53. Alxa: Merchants and Sand

The establishment of Alxa SEE Ecological Association on June 5, 2004 made Alxa a place that appeared frequently in the media. It represented the attempt of China's emerging entrepreneurial class to undertake social responsibility.Alxa League is located in the westernmost part of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It governs Alxa Left Banner, Alxa Right Banner, and Ejina Banner. There are 23 Sumu (towns) and 190 Gacha (villages). It is the largest autonomous region with the largest population. The fewest league cities.With the deterioration of the environment, Alxa has almost become the dominion of the desert.The famous Badain Jaran, Tengger, Ulan Bu and the three major deserts traverse the whole territory, covering an area of ​​about 78,000 square kilometers, accounting for 29% of the total area of ​​the Union, ranking fourth in the world and second in China.It is also one of the birthplaces of the infamous "Sandstorm".A group of China's best-known entrepreneurs set up a non-governmental organization in Alxa to try to control the desert and deteriorating environment, making Alxa a symbol of entrepreneurial social responsibility.

Before 2004, probably only when sandstorms blew on the faces of people in a hurry in the capital, some people in the huge Beijing city would think of Alxa.I don't know when it started, every spring, Beijing city will spend more than ten days in the yellow sand all over the sky.The strong spring winds blow sand from nowhere, covering skyscrapers and motor vehicles with a layer of sand.If pedestrians on the road do not have time to avoid the sand and dust, grains of yellow sand will get into their hair and clothes, and they can only take a shower and change clothes after returning home.As a result, most people choose not to go out in possible sandy days, or take masks, hats and sand towels with them when they go out.This kind of bad weather, which used to appear in cities in Northwest China, made the residents of Beijing very annoyed.But they should be thankful that they have not been subjected to greater disasters brought about by sandstorms.

Gray skies, the hassle of re-washing cars and the bad mood of city dwellers are less serious than the gray skies, hassle of re-washing cars and bad moods of city dwellers that can be brought down by sandstorms that can blow down trees and utility poles, and even overturn cars, causing power outages and traffic jams . On April 19, 1998, a powerful sandstorm caused 6 deaths, 44 missing and 256 injuries in northern Xinjiang. On March 27, 200, when a sandstorm hit the city of Beijing, the instantaneous wind force in some areas reached magnitude 8 to 9. At this time, seven workers who were working on the roof of a two-story building in Beijing's Anxiangli Community were blown down by the strong wind. He was killed instantly; some billboards were knocked down by strong winds, injuring pedestrians and damaging vehicles.The sandstorm also forced several trains into Xinjiang to stop halfway.One of the most famous examples is that at around 7pm on April 9, 2006, when the T70 train from Urumqi to Beijing was halfway, a sandstorm rolled in with rocks, and all the glass on the left window was broken. And the passengers took the quilts, sheets, and wooden boards from the sleeping car to block the windows.When it finally arrived at Lanzhou Station, the train was already 32 hours late.Reporters rushed to interview those passengers who were still in shock, and found out that due to the sandstorm, the T54 train from Urumqi to Shanghai was suspended, and among the trains to other places, 9 trains arrived at Lanzhou Railway Station late at 20:00. hours or more.

In comparison, the troubles encountered in Beijing City are relatively minor.But Beijing's special status and its status as the host city of the 2008 Olympic Games make controlling sandstorms an important study.At this time, the residents of Beijing began to hear and see the name on TV and newspapers: Alxa.They suddenly realized that the dust that filled the sky in Beijing in spring had all been blown from the desert area.Experts began to analyze that the path of sand and dust weather is divided into northwest path, west path and north path. Just like the Mongolian cavalry of Genghis Khan in the past, the sand and dust from far away from Mongolia also marched into the inland in three ways, of which three About two-thirds of the dust originated from Mongolia outside the country, but were supplemented by dust when passing through desertified areas in China; and the other third was linked to the name "Alashan".The dust from outside the country cannot be controlled by the Chinese, so they can only plant trees and afforestation around Beijing to build a protective zone; while the dust from the inside needs to find ways to control it.Later, when Alxa was mentioned, people began to have their first reaction to this tongue-twisting name: Oh, the birthplace of sandstorms!Journalists began to travel frequently to this place, trying to uncover why this place had a bad reputation as the birthplace of sandstorms. They found a tragic story of how environmental degradation turned a beautiful place into a barren land.

The reporters dug up the records of their predecessors, and saw that Fan Changjiang described Bayanhot Town, Alxa Left Banner in the masterpiece "Northwest Corner of China" as "in the grassland dozens of miles outside the city...horses, camels, sheep... ...all over the mountains and plains, black and white and then moving like clouds in the green grass"; in 1994, Dong Zhengjun, an agricultural and forestry expert, described the two sides of Ruoshui in Ejina Banner and Juyanhai seashore under the jurisdiction of Alxa League as "covered with natural forests". , "Red willows are as high as more than ten feet, densely populated, people can't enter, and there is no end to the horizon." The Long March to the Gobi is suffering."

But now the scene has changed.Alxa means colorful in Mongolian: the green Helan Mountain forest, the yellow Bajidan Forest Desert, the blue desert lake, the red wind-eroded sandstone, the white salt lake, the purple agate, the golden autumn Populus euphratica forest, Now the desert is windy and sandy, leaving only a piece of yellow sand and dust sweeping over your head and face.Juyan Sea is about to dry up, forests are disappearing, salt lakes are covered by deserts, Populus euphratica forests are withered, and agates are nowhere to be found, while camels, horses, and sheep are all wandering in the sparsely vegetated desert.In the 1950s, there was an 800-kilometer-long Haloxylon forest belt in Alxa, which was so dense that even camels could not pass through it, and the trees were so dense that camels could not pass through it, and now they are all swallowed up by the desert.

Liu Xiaoguang was among those who bothered about the sandstorm and noticed Alxa as its origin.The most widely known identity of this middle-aged man is the general manager of Beijing Capital Group and a real estate tycoon in Beijing.Later, because he initiated the establishment of an entrepreneurial desertification control organization, Alxa SEE Ecological Association, he became a candidate for the CCTV Annual Economic Figure Social Welfare Award.The introduction to the candidates said: "One day in October 2003, Liu Xiaoguang happened to be trapped in the Alxa League of Inner Mongolia. When he heard that this was one of the sources of sandstorms, he knelt down in the vast sand sea in Tengger, with a breath A strong sense of responsibility goes straight to the heart.”

Another theory is that Song Jun, a Chinese private entrepreneur, has a tourist base in Moon Lake, Alxa. After the Yabuli Entrepreneur Forum in 2004, Song Jun organized a gathering of 11 interested entrepreneurs from the west, including Liu Xiaoguang, Wang Shi, and Zhang Chaoyang.The desert, the source of the sandstorm, is advancing toward Beijing at a speed of 1,000 square kilometers and 20 meters per year. While feeling emotional, these businessmen thought, why can't they organize a group of business people to control this desert?Everyone cheered loudly.Liu Xiaoguang is the most serious one among them.Later, among the 102 entrepreneurs who joined the Alxa SEE Ecological Association, many said they were drawn in by Liu Xiaoguang’s phone call: 100,000 yuan per year for sand control is not too much, and Liu Xiaoguang’s face is not only worth so much money——Articles of Association It is stipulated in the law: Any natural person, legal person or other organization that agrees with and abides by the SEE constitution and pays a membership fee of more than 100,000 yuan in cash to SEE can obtain the qualification of a council member for one year; Yuan Yuan can become a lifetime council member.

On June 5, 2004, hundreds of Chinese entrepreneurs jointly established the Alxa SEE Ecological Association in the Tengger Desert. It claims to be the first in China to take social responsibility as its own responsibility and take entrepreneurs (Entrepreneurs) as the main body. , an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) public welfare organization with the goal of protecting the earth's ecology (Ecology). Among the 80 promoters are the most active businessmen in China at present, such as Liu Xiaoguang, Tian Suning, Chen Dongsheng, Wang Shi, Feng Jun, Feng Lun, Guo Guangchang, Li Ning, Pan Shiyi, Ma Weihua.These 80 promoters promised to "invest 100,000 yuan per year for ten consecutive years, starting from the mitigation of sandstorms in Alxa, to protect China's ecological environment, to promote the harmony between man and nature, and to promote the harmony between man and society." , to promote harmony among people."

The reporters are more interested in whether these businessmen, who are usually the bosses in their companies, can sit down and negotiate a matter on an equal footing.As a result, all sorts of interesting descriptions of the organization have emerged.The "small money" of 100,000 yuan per person per year is to make entrepreneurs equal at the beginning, "You Liu Xiaoguang has 200 companies under his umbrella, but do you have as much money as Zhang Chaoyang?" Regardless of the amount of personal wealth, negotiate and negotiate on an equal footing, and jointly combat desertification.

When the election of the Executive Council began, the host took out a list of 15 candidates discussed by the preparatory group, and defaulted the first president as Liu Xiaoguang, and asked the entrepreneurs to vote by show of hands. The tycoon Feng Lun stood up and scolded: "You are engaging in state-owned enterprises again!" The other two real estate tycoons Ren Zhiqiang and Zhang Baoquan also expressed their dissatisfaction.Later, Liu Xiaoguang recalled that he wanted to point at Feng Lun and shout: Feng Lun, what on earth are you trying to do.But after all, it is not the first meeting, but to suppress the anger.As a result, the final solution can only be to re-elect candidates. When the 15 executive directors were elected and the chairman Liu Xiaoguang was also elected, the host asked the chairman to give a speech. Seeing Liu Xiaoguang took out the speech script from his pocket, the entrepreneurs roared with laughter, while Liu Xiaoguang was sweating profusely.The matter is not over, he just said, "I will lead everyone to work..." Ma Weihua, the president of China Merchants Bank, who is a supervisor of the association, immediately responded: "You are mistaken, even Ma Weihua is leading, how can you lead The board of supervisors, we are supervising you." Once Liu Xiaoguang presided over the executive council, but he forgot that he was not the first to hold the meeting, and that he was not the decision maker but the moderator, and began to say in a leadership tone: "This is how it is done."As a result, Wu Kegang, the chairman of Yunnanhong, stood up and said loudly, "You fucking think I'm the manager of your branch! Do you know how to hold meetings?" Later, after the term of office expired in 2007, the first chairman Liu Xiaoguang resigned, and the director Wang Shi found that the strong Liu Xiaoguang had become a "smiling face" to others, "everything is good, right, right." Wang Shi's gloating did not last. After a while, he was immediately elected as the second chairman. The story of the businessman and Sha made Alxa the darling of the media.Alxa SEE Ecological Association is also regarded by the media as a model NGO.Because of the special identities of its participants, the Alxa SEE Ecological Association operates in a situation of democratic participation, election, and discussion. The charter and leaders are the product of democratic discussion and election, and there is an extremely independent Oversight agency.This may allow those businessmen who already have a certain influence in China to learn democratic methods, and whether this can become a prototype of the Chinese society that will grow in the future, media reporters are discussing enthusiastically.This is not just a story about sand control.