Chapter 14 3. Empress Dowager Land: The Exploited Land

"Zuo Zhuan" records: Duke Wen of Jin, one of the Five Overlords in the Spring and Autumn Period, was in exile to the state of Wei when he was not in power.Begging for food from people in the countryside at a place called "Wulu".The countryman gave him a piece of soil.Jin Wengong was very angry at first, and wanted to whip this ignorant countryman, but his ministers kowtowed their heads to express their thanks, took the piece of soil respectfully, and put it on the cart.Later, he finally returned to his hometown and became the overlord among the princes. What is the relationship between giving a piece of soil and obtaining the throne and the country is unknown, but we can see the attachment and respect of the ancient people for the land.

"Without the sky, there is no land; without land, there is no you; without you, there is no me..." Although this is a Taiwanese school song, we can understand the relationship between land and people. Land is the place where human beings live. Without land, there would be no agriculture, and there would be no shelter for all things. Although China has a land area of ​​9.6 million square kilometers, it ranks third in the world after the former Soviet Union and Canada.However, the Chinese ignore that in the seemingly vast land, arable land only accounts for 10%, and the per capita arable land is only more than 1 mu, which is less than half of the world's per capita arable land.The per capita arable land in 666 counties across the country is below the warning line of 0.8 mu set by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.Hunan Province is a major grain-producing province in my country. According to recent statistics, five years ago, the per capita arable land area in this province was still 0.82 mu, but now it has dropped to 0.76 mu.The per capita arable land area in Fujian Province has even dropped to 0.57 mu, while in Sichuan Province, which is also a major grain-producing province in China, the per capita arable land area has also dropped to 0.8 mu, which is the international warning line.As the saying goes, it's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice. How much grain can we expect to produce with just this few fields?

No wonder our country's farmers have a heavy burden, no wonder our country's agricultural development is slow. But we are still killing chickens to extract eggs, we are still drinking poison to quench our thirst, and we are still losing a lot of limited land. The reduction of arable land is the most basic and important factor affecting China's grain production potential and future grain supply capacity.Historically, China's arable land area has shown a trend of net reduction since 1957, and this trend has been intensified during the rapid economic growth that began in the early 1980s.

According to statistics, in the 15 years from 1978 to 1993, China’s net reduction of cultivated land totaled 64.32 million mu, equivalent to the loss of the entire cultivated land area of ​​Sichuan Province, a large agricultural province, with an average of 4.3 million mu per year. In 1985, cultivated land decreased by 23 million mu; in 1986, it decreased by 16 million mu; in 1987, when the Land Management Law was implemented, it still decreased by 12 million mu; after 1988, although the momentum of cultivated land reduction has been curbed to a certain extent, it has It has not been able to completely stop the continuous decrease of cultivated land every year, especially after entering the 1990s, with the boom in development zones and real estate, the rate of decrease in cultivated land has increased rapidly, and the area has become larger and larger.

In 1992, the national development zone was hot, and 25 million mu was lost in one year; in 1993, the net decrease was 4.85 million mu; in 1994, the net decrease was 6.57 million mu; in 1995, the net decrease was 5.83 million mu. Over the past 40 years, my country's cumulative reduction of cultivated land is equivalent to 1 France, or 2 Britains, and 4 Japans. In 1949, the per capita arable land in my country was 2.7 mu. By 1997, the per capita arable land was only 1.14 mu. In 1949, the per capita cultivated land was reduced by more than half. The reduction of cultivated land is not only a quantitative concept, but also has a qualitative meaning, because most of the reduced cultivated land is good farmland with high productivity.If the average annual output of the reduced cultivated land is 500 kilograms per mu, under the current situation of reduced cultivated land, China will reduce its annual grain production capacity by nearly 2.5 billion kilograms, which is equivalent to the annual ration consumption of 10 million people. To make up for the loss of grain production capacity due to the reduction of cultivated land, it is necessary to increase the yield of retained cultivated land by 2 kilograms per mu annually.

Liu Xunhao, a professor at Beijing Agricultural University, in his paper "The Land of China Without Plowing and Farming in Two Hundred Years'', warned the Chinese people with concern: after 200 years, Chinese farmers will have no land to grow. He pointed out that since the founding of the People's Republic of China, China's cultivated land has been reduced by an average of 7 million mu per year, which is equivalent to a Beijing city.From 1952 to 1986, per capita arable land was halved. After 1983, the average annual reduction of cultivated land in the country was 11.35 million mu, which is equivalent to an increase of 8 million people in terms of 1.4 mu per capita.In the past two years, the actual annual net population growth is about 10 million.In other words, the reduced amount of cultivated land is equivalent to nearly doubling the rate of population growth.Therefore, it is equally important to control the decrease of cultivated land and control the population growth.

Professor Liu Xunhao pointed out in the article that if calculated at this rate, 50 years later, China's per capita arable land will only be 0.7 mu, which is the same as the current per capita arable land area in Japan.Two-thirds of Japan's grain is imported. That is to say, China is a large agricultural country, but 50 years from now, the problem of food will be the same as Japan's, relying on imports to maintain its livelihood.Professor Liu further said that after 200 years, the cultivated land will decrease by 2 billion mu, that is, all the cultivated land will be taken up. It is by no means sensational that Chinese farmers will have no land to grow.If the brakes are not stopped immediately, more than one billion Chinese people will face the embarrassment of starvation.

Former State President Li Xiannian pointed out during his inspection of Hubei: more than 1,000 catties of grain can be harvested per mu of cultivated land, which can feed three people.Occupying one mu of land is equivalent to depriving two or three people of their jobs.In this sense, random occupation of cultivated land is tantamount to killing people. The last words are still there, but the decree no longer exists. Farmers need to occupy land to build houses; national infrastructure needs to occupy land; , and sell land in large chunks. The "Constitution" stipulates: "The right to use land can be transferred in accordance with the provisions of the law." Some local governments seem to have found a secret recipe for making money from it: We used to be begging for food with golden rice bowls, and the finances had no money. Construction required money, so why didn't we sell it? Lose a few acres of land?

Mayors and county magistrates became the natural "landlords".With their land use certificates in hand, they examine the land under their feet and calculate how much they are worth.As a result, many places violated national laws and regulations, and large tracts of land were enclosed for development zones, and large tracts of land were auctioned off at low prices. In the first half of 1992, Sichuan Province had established more than 600 development zones and markets of various types.From Deyang to Leshan, on both sides of the 200-kilometer road, the land has basically been requisitioned, and it is estimated to cover an area of ​​hundreds of thousands of mu.Among them, a small county with a population of 274,000 actually developed a "development zone" of 5,000 mu.What's more serious is that in order to attract foreign investment, many places donate large tracts of land to foreign businessmen at low or even no price, not only losing billions of state-owned assets, but also sacrificing the land on which we depend for survival.

The construction of a development zone was originally a measure to attract foreign investment, develop the tertiary industry, and promote local economic construction. At the end of 1983, Li Ruihuan, the mayor of Tianjin at that time, proposed to the leading comrades of the central government to build a new type of development area by taking advantage of the superior conditions of the Tianjin port area.Comrade Deng Xiaoping attached great importance to this and immediately said: "This is a good thing."He also pointed out that in addition to the current Special Zones, several coastal areas can be opened up. These areas are not called Special Zones, but certain policies of the Special Zones can be implemented.This is the origin of the development zone.

Beginning in 1984, the State Council officially issued a document to open up 14 economic development zones in 12 coastal cities including Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, and Yantai, which were vividly called "small special zones". But in 1992, some people had a one-sided understanding of the meaning of the development zone, thinking that attracting investment meant building a development zone, and building a development zone meant selling land.As a result, this economic development zone, which was previously limited to coastal cities, suddenly sprang up all over the country like mushrooms after rain.Provincial offices, county offices, township offices, and even some remote mountain villages have been listed as development zones, setting off an unprecedented "development zone craze".It was supposed to be a good book for economic development, but it was read wrongly by many local governments who were desperate. When the development zone was at its hottest, the author followed National Highway 319 from Changsha, Hunan to Changde for an interview. During the 200-kilometer road section, I saw nearly a hundred signboards of the development zone with my own eyes.Bulldozers are pushing piles of loess everywhere, and crowds are repairing commercial streets everywhere.Red flags are fluttering, gongs and drums are blaring, it is very lively.China has become the largest construction site in the world. In one county, four development zones were established at once, and each of the 21 townships also established a development zone. There is a village with thousands of acres of land.One day, the young secretary of the village party branch decided to build a development zone with an area of ​​more than 300 mu under the influence of the upsurge of development in other places.So, Xiaohongqi planted a piece of land, rented a bulldozer the next day, and prepared to launch a development zone in a decent manner.Banners were hung everywhere on both sides of the road, with the slogan: "Welcome to invest in XX Development Zone". In one area, the construction of development zones is regarded as a hard task, which is repeated layer by layer and reminded every day, as if the economy will really be developed after the development of development zones. It is imperative to engage in development and construction, develop the tertiary industry, and improve the investment environment.But it must also be realistic and realistic.Some places blindly engage in the construction of so-called development zones, and some practices are similar to the 1958 steelmaking movement.Regardless of the actual effect, we only want to be vigorous on the surface, engage in crowd tactics, and engage in administrative campaigns. In 1991, there were only 117 development zones in the country, which increased nearly 80 times in one year.However, only 95 of them have actually been approved by the state, and most of them are self-made "birth permits". According to statistics, by the beginning of 1993, there were more than 8,700 development zones above the township level across the country, occupying 15,000 square kilometers of land, most of which were developed but not developed, and there was no business to recruit. The "land enclosure movement" blossomed in all directions, and the development zones were overwhelming, and the arable land under the feet of farmers was getting less and less.Relevant statistics show that 80% of the designated development zones occupy cultivated land. In 1992, 24 million mu of arable land was taken up in development zones. If one mu produces 500 kilograms of grain, the country will lose 12 billion kilograms of grain.This is a figure that is enough to shake China. The sudden increase in grain prices at the end of 1993 just confirmed people's worries. In 1993, the State Council took a series of measures, which finally brought the development zone movement to an emergency stop.Development zones were cleaned up and merged across the country, and only 400 to 500 remained in the end. However, we seem to be one step too late.Many places are riddled with holes, and many cultivated lands have been ravaged. There are piles of loess surrounded by red circles, and land with broken bricks and tiles everywhere. This is so similar to the scene after the big iron and steel smelting! The originally limited land was looted the most in this development zone campaign. After the boom in the development zone, the Chinese want to play golf again.According to the statistics of authoritative departments, there are currently more than 30 golf courses in use in China, more than 60 golf courses are emerging, and about 40 projects are interested. Can the Chinese afford golf? Golf is recognized as an aristocratic sport by many countries.Not only high investment, but also high consumption.Not to mention that it costs nearly 200 million yuan to build a golf course, and another 10 million yuan is needed every year for maintenance, planting turf, spraying chemicals, and purchasing equipment. It is the land occupation that we cannot bear.In general, an 18-hole golf course will cover an area of ​​900 to 1200 mu, and a 36-hole golf course will cover an area of ​​2000 mu.Even in the rich western countries, there are not many people who have the courage to often spend about 200 US dollars to play golf once, let alone China, which is still struggling with the problem of food and clothing?Besides, even if some people can afford it, leaving thousands of acres of land empty for a few nobles to enjoy, while many people starve because there is not enough arable land, is this civilization or barbarism?Li Xiannian believes that occupying one mu of land is equivalent to depriving two or three people of their jobs. Can we allow a few people to deprive thousands of people of their jobs just to exercise their muscles? Now, relevant departments have begun to restrict the construction of golf courses from the perspective of arable land protection.It's a very simple truth, if you don't play golf, you won't die, but if you don't have food, you can starve to death. You need land when you live, and you need land when you die.In China's rural areas, most areas still use burial.According to the estimates of the civil affairs department, 7 million people die every year in the country, and about 4 million people are buried in the ground.The tomb covers an area of ​​nearly 1 million mu. It is not an isolated phenomenon in China that the dead are fighting for land with the living.Huguang County, Shanxi Province has reduced its land area by more than 2,000 mu in the past ten years, of which nearly one-third is occupied by graves.Hangzhou West Lake Scenic Area was originally a tourist attraction, but now it is full of tombs.In Wenzhou, although the Changing Customs Office issued circulars every year reiterating the cremation regulations, two-thirds of the dead were still buried.It is estimated that about 30,000 new tombs appear in Wenzhou every year, and each tomb occupies 20 to 265 square meters.That is to say, each year new graves in Wenzhou take up more than 1.2 million square meters, equivalent to about 1,800 mu of land.In Centou, Ruian County, there is a tomb of the Chen family, covering an area of ​​264.99 square meters and costing more than 20,000 yuan.In a certain county in Fujian, a self-employed farmer built five tombs in his field of responsibility.Two were rebuilt for his deceased parents, two for his husband and wife, and one for his toddler son. Just like an oriental "black humor". The land entrusted to us by our ancestors has been lost. How will we face future generations in the future?Are they really going to farm on the moon? For today and tomorrow, please cherish the dwindling land under our feet! In people's eyes, nature seems to never age.No matter how many thousands of lives and kalpas, the sun is still so bright, the blue sky is still so pure, the earth is still so rich, the mountain is still that mountain, the river is still that river, nature is always radiant and youthful.I always feel that nature is an inexhaustible treasure, enough for human beings to suck and eat away infinitely. In the 1980s, people discovered that not only is the land under our feet less and less, but also the cruel fact is that our land has been weakened, and the cultivated land, grassland and forest cover are rapidly decreasing, and the quality of the land is seriously declining. Desertification is serious and the ecological environment is deteriorating. There are about 8 million square kilometers of deserts in the world. According to expert estimates, there are still 30 million square kilometers, or more than 20% of the land, facing the threat of desertification.In China, deserts, Gobi and desertified land have reached 1.496 million square kilometers, accounting for 15.5% of the country's total area, and there are still 158,000 square kilometers of land that have embarked on the journey of desertification, about 59 million mu of farmland, 74 million mu of grassland and nearly 2,000 kilometers of railways and roads are threatened by desertification.Land desertification is developing at an annual rate of 3.15 million mu, and the annual loss of soil nutrients is equivalent to 4.67 billion tons of chemical fertilizers. Qiqihar is an important commodity grain base in Heilongjiang Province. Due to the unreasonable development and utilization of land resources for thousands of years, coupled with the influence of atmospheric circulation in the past 20 years, frequent natural disasters such as drought, strong wind, hail, and frost have led to ecological problems in this area. The environment is deteriorating, and the hazards of soil wind erosion are becoming more and more serious.The 1,800-acre hills in two villages in Tailai County have been eroded by wind for more than 10 deep ditches in the past 20 years, with a depth of about 1 meter.The 35 cm humus layer on the surface of the 60 mu of sandy land that has been reclaimed was blown away, and the loess turned to the sky, and even the weeds refused to settle.The mobile sand dunes in the northern part of Zhangwu County, Liaoning Province are advancing northeast and southeast at a speed of 20-30 meters per year, and about 5-10% of the farmland is brutally attacked by wind and sand every year.The vicinity of the Xilamulun River, an important birthplace of ancient civilization in Northeast China, used to be a flat terrain, lush forests, and beautiful scenery in history. It screams one after another at night, which is creepy. Where is the slightest shadow of the amusement park where the ancestors of the Northeast lived? Land desertification is a disease we can see, but the decline of soil quality is a hidden crisis.For thousands of years, people only know how to ask for land, but they are stingy and refuse to give land compensation.Sometimes, although compensation is given, it is a drop in the bucket and does not help; or it is too much and inappropriate, and the land itself does not get much benefit, but it brings other pollution or complications to the land.Year after year, soil fertility declines, soil quality deteriorates, and the recession is severe.According to the summary of the situation of 1403 counties in the second national soil census: the cultivated land with soil barrier factors accounted for 15.35% of the total cultivated land; the cultivated land with low soil organic matter accounted for 10.6%; 59% of the total cultivated land was deficient in phosphorus and 23% was deficient in potassium , 14% are deficient in phosphorus and potassium; 26% of the cultivated land is shallow, and 12% of the cultivated land is compacted. From the perspective of organic matter content alone, my country's current cultivated land is significantly lower than the level of 2.5-4% in other countries such as the United States, which is only 1.5%.In the Northeast region, which belongs to the black soil belt, the organic matter content in the soil has also dropped from the original 5-8% to the current 1-2%.The current average organic matter content of cultivated land in Liaoning Province has dropped from 1.5% in the past to about 1%, of which about 15 million mu has an organic matter content of only 0.5%.And it is still declining at a rate of 0.02% per year.The cultivated land in the province is generally deficient in nitrogen; 30% of the cultivated land is deficient in potassium; 90% of the cultivated land is deficient in phosphorus; 100% of the cultivated land is deficient in trace elements.15% of the middle-yielding fields in the province have been reduced to low-yielding fields, and about 5-10% of the high-yielding fields have been reduced to middle-yielding fields.Compared with the past, the current cultivated land has changed from fat to thin, from soft to hard, from black to yellow, and the cultivated land suffers from serious "nutrient deficiency".In addition, 150 million mu of arable land is polluted, and about 12 billion kilograms of grain are lost every year. As the saying goes, "thin cows don't give birth to fat calves".Can we hope to produce more food from such a poor land? How weak the land that had lost too much blood, however, in order to embrace these black-haired and yellow-skinned Chinese offspring, she had to cheer up and squeeze out thin milk from her shriveled breasts.The milk is bitter, for her richness has been taken from her! In the minds of human beings, land is an inexhaustible and inexhaustible treasure forever.Therefore, from slash-and-burn farming in ancient times to modern mechanical farming, human beings have been planing and eating in the land generation after generation.The land has also sincerely contributed endless wealth to human beings and raised tens of billions of people.However, we just blindly ask for the land, but we don't give the land the return it deserves. No matter how big the treasure is, there will be times when it is dug up, and no matter how powerful the giant is, there will be moments of exhaustion.Now the land desertification is advancing rapidly, and the soil quality is declining day by day, which is a warning to us.If we don’t learn the lesson and continue to kill the chicken to get the eggs, then the Chinese people in the future will not only face a shortage of arable land, but also a decline in the quality of arable land. In order to survive, please save the mother earth who has nurtured us more than mountains! Now, many developed countries have begun to implement the system of arable land rotation, allowing the arable land to recuperate and adjust to protect soil quality.In China, where there is a serious shortage of cultivated land, it is obviously not possible to reach this step.However, since we cannot allow the land to "rest", we must love and maintain the land even more.Now some farmers grow maps to save trouble, "Green (grass and green manure) are not planted, yellow (human and animal manure) are not fertilized, coarse (soil miscellaneous fertilizers) are not used, and wet (river and pond mud) are not fished." Sow them every year. So several times of chemical fertilizers, the result is that the fertilizer structure is unreasonable, leading to soil compaction, decreasing organic matter, and deteriorating physical and chemical properties.The second is the extensive use of chemical pesticides, which seriously pollute the land.If things go on like this, our land will be overwhelmed and weak, and the final result will be that the land output rate is getting lower and lower. In this sense, protecting the quantity of cultivated land is equally important as protecting the quality of cultivated land.