Chapter 44 from the swamp

Wenzhou again. How many times have we been shocked and moved by that land. Every time we travel hundreds of miles to get there, our breath becomes clearer and fresher.On the barren and narrow yellow land in the southeast corner of the narrow belt, those peasants who are not good at expressing and speaking difficult dialects have brought glory to China's reform time and time again—the earliest Private industry, the first batch of professional markets, joint-stock cooperative enterprises that are neither donkeys nor horses... What kind of land is this, and what kind of people are cultivated.

When we call great and outstanding people, we are used to adding the word "big": Great politicians, great economists, great military strategists, and barristers. If possible, we would like to add a word "big" before Wenzhou farmers: "Big Farmer". In any sense, they are worthy of this title. Now, they surprisingly built China's first peasant city. What's even more amazing is that they chose a swamp as the location for their new legend. Even in Wenzhou, it is a little-known remote fishing village.However, it has a loud and auspicious place name: Longgang.

This is Longgang?Where is the dragon and where is the port? Standing in front of his "territory" with rolled trouser legs, one high and one low, Chen Dingmo couldn't help feeling a little nervous. In front of me is an old street called Fangyan, with twists and turns, potholes, and a length of two hundred meters. It was built in the third year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty.There are dozens of mud farmhouses on both sides, crooked and lifeless.Looking further ahead, there is a large beach, full of knee-high reeds and weeds, and occasionally one or two wild ducks quack. A Aojiang River gurgles by, without even looking at this land that has been barren for a hundred years.

"Under Fangyan, there is only water flowing, but no one is left behind. A folk song is faintly sung in the sky. It was a day in June 1984. Chen Dingmo, secretary of the Longgang Town Party Committee who had just been appointed for three days, shook hands with his land for the first time. Behind him stood seven cadres who volunteered to follow him.In his pocket, there was a start-up fee of 3,000 yuan. Chen Dingmo asked himself softly, just here, build a peasant city, Chen Dingmo, can you make it? At this time, Chen Dingmo has already passed his forties. He is no longer the kind of young man who is easily overwhelmed by fantasy. He has always been a very practical person.

The son of a farmer in Wenzhou, he has been dealing with the land since he was a child, and there is no farm work he can't do. Later, he had the opportunity to be sent to school to study Marxism-Leninism, economics, and think about the problems in rural China.Then he worked as a theoretical cadre in the Wenzhou Municipal Party Committee Office for several years. Two years ago, he was sent down to train and became the secretary of the District Party Committee of Cangnan Qianku District, the most active private economy in Wenzhou.This time, the county originally wanted to transfer him to work in the county party committee, but when he heard that a new city was to be built in Longgang, he immediately recommended himself.

"What is more joyful in this life than doing something unprecedented?" Chen Dingmo has a great sense of excitement that "heaven will send a great responsibility to the people". However, the joy is the joy, but where did the city start, where did the work start, and where did the peasants who built the city find it? "If you don't have diamonds, how dare you do porcelain work." If it is said that Chen Dingmo has no idea at all, then it is definitely impossible.So, what is Chen Dingmo's diamond? A few years later, a reporter interviewed Chen Dingmo. When asked about this, Old Chen smiled. He slowly opened the drawer and took out a crumpled blueprint, with a small smoke hole burned in one place.He unfolded it carefully.This is Chen Dingmo's diamond drill.

Although there was still an old tidal flat street in front of him at that time, he had already sketched out such a scene in his mind. Where were the streets, where were the buildings, where were the markets, where were the kindergartens, schools and hospitals, all of which were in place. Well-shaped, the streets and alleys are vertical and horizontal, which is clear at a glance. To build a city in Longgang, it will cost at least 5 million yuan to build roads, water supply, and sewage. Chen Dingmo is relying on this blueprint. In July, a "Decision to Open Longgang to the Outside World" was published in a local newspaper, next to the planning map drawn by Chen Dingmo.There are eight preferential policies announced, proposing that "there is no distinction between the east and the west, and the people are not divided into the north and the south, whoever invests will benefit, and whoever pays will build houses.

Encourage the city to enter the city and jointly develop the slogan. At the same time, the plots on the drawings are divided into several grades, and different public facility fees are collected. Chen Dingmo also divided the seven cadres and his own eight people into four propaganda teams, and went to various places to promote and promote Longgang. A picture comes out and the world moves. The news that "Longgang is going to build a city" seems to have grown wings and flew all over the Wentai Basin. On the tenth day after the "Decision" was issued, 2,200 peasant households had applied to enter the city, and by the 30th day, 5,000 peasant households in seven counties and twelve districts and townships had signed up.

For the complete convenience of farmers, Chen Dingmo specially set up a "Welcome Farmers to the City Office".According to regulations, farmers have to go to eight departments and get eight seals when they enter the city. Chen Dingmo reported to the county party committee and gave up all the approval rights. Work efficiency is greatly improved. On December 31, 1984, the last day of payment for the first batch of registration and construction of houses, the gate of the humble Longgang town government was surrounded with water. Packs of banknotes and bundles of hopes were piled up in front of Chen Dingmo impatiently.

Recalling the situation in the future, the "chief designer" of Longgang was still deeply moved: "I didn't expect that the magic power of building a city would be so great." According to statistics, a total of 800 million yuan was invested in municipal construction in Longgang City, 98% of which was paid by farmers who went to the city.