CHINA’S THIRD BAD YEAR

Press, Volume C, Issue 29552, 29 June 1961, Page 16

CHINA’S THIRD BAD YEAR

Progress In Farm Development

(Specially written for The Preee" by REWI AU.ET)

China is ■liaMU meeting her third successive year of bad farm weather. There has been drought over some of the North China provinces, a late blizzard after the start of the growing period down the north-east coast, and detractive typhoons on the south-east coastal areas, coupled with heavy rains and surplus water there. It never rains but it pours, the farmers down in the south could say. Despite all, however, folk everywhere are confident that they will be able to master the difficulties. There is enough to go around when all resources are brought into the struggle, and the main big construction projects go steadily on to completion. In these days I have been fascinated by reports coming out of the huge province of Sinkiang—Chinese Turkestan. On my last visit there in 1957, I was surprised to see the great new State farms that had sprung up. and how much reclamation had been done. The Taklamaken Desert in the Tarin basin is one of the biggest previously unexplored deserts in the world. Many western explorers. Hedin, Stein, Pelliot, and others, have written massive accounts about their journeys on its fringes. A Desert Discovery Now in this month of May comes the report that right in its heart there is found to exist an area of 400 square kilometres of green virgin land that can be easily reclaimed. There are more abundant underground water resources than had been thought. There are forests of poplars, herds of gazelle and wild donkeys, and plenty of rabbits, away out in the midst of all those sands. Cut off from the world is a tiny oasis where 50 people were found to be living. Called "Tiehlimu,” it had been isolated for so long that its folk had no knowledge of the outside world at all. Rapidly they went through the organisational stages of mutual aid and then became a co-operative, finally being incorporated as a livestock team into a commune 200 kilometres south of them. Near this little oasis was found the ruins of an ancient city, since established to be that of the lost one of Kharadank. It was once beside a river but the river changed its course, and the city was buried in the sand. A huge beam, three feet thick and 10 feet high, still stands erect in the centre of the old site, defying the centuries. Not far away, many lakes have been formed, and there are large areas of marshy ground, all fed by waters from the melting glaciers of the Kunlun mountains. Flood Control Speaking of glaciers, it is interesting to know how these frozen rivers in Sinkiang are being controlled. In some places they do not melt quickly enough to irrigate the early summer wheat fields. So farmers, sometimes assisted by aeroplanes, scatter soot or black ash over their snouts, which encourages them to dissolve more swiftly. In other places, where the rush of water is too fast, coming down in flood and damaging the land below, the farmers organise to cover the butt end of the glacier with shingle to keep the sunlight off, and thus regulate the flow. Newly built dams in the course of the river hold water until needed, and laterals from the sides of the dams take the surplus to new fields that have been brought into cultivation. The surveying teams that have given the people an idea of what could be done have been studying water resources for some years. The teams include many kinds of experts botanists, hydroelectric power engineers, oil geologists, foresters, pastoralists and agriculturists, as well as archaeologists. Such teams are common now throughout the whole hinterland of China's undeveloped lands, but this one in South Sinkiang has an especially romantic area to deal with.

and has been able to demonstrate some quite remarkable findings. Another team in the province of Chinghai, also in Chinese Central Asia, has been able to do considerable research work on alkali soils on the southern edge of the Tsaidam basin. In one place called Karma, the alkali content of the soil in the worst places reached as high as 40 per cent. A layer of salt covered the earth. Nothing grew. Today after the best of this land has been treated, irrigated. and the salts washed out, 4000 hectares of it has been turned into arable fields from which grain crops have already been gained. Experimental Plots One of the things that is being shown over all China to pay well this year is the ( increased use of local commune experimental plots, that really reflect local conditions. The famous maize farmer, Wang Pao-chin, of Shensi, a likeable, unassuming 29-year-old lad I went to see in his home village during 1958, has , up to this May, seen through 162 experiments, and has from them obtained 15 new seed strains. On his best experimental plot he gained 12 tons of grain per hectare. His work has enabled the Fangho Commune in which he lives to more than double its output of maize. Naturally, provincial research institutions have helped him a lot, and success has not made him in any way too proud and arrogant to learn from them. He has been able to lead an up-and-coming group of young people from his village to take part in his experiments, and is thought so much of among the local peasantry that, as I found myself, one does not have to say the name of his village when winding through the loess country of Ichuan where his commune is located. One just says. “Where's Wang Pao-chin's place?” and direction is eagerly given. At present he is working on 12 items in his research programme, giving them as much time as he can outside the commune administrative tasks he is concerned with. He hopes to get at least one good agricultural technician for each of the hundred production teams of his commune. each one of whom 'will be able to carry on research into better farm methods.