Perspire in peace and save blood in war, say tunnel-diggers

Press, 10 June 1977, Page 13

Perspire in peace and save blood in war, say tunnel-diggers

By

KEN COATES

It was like a scene from a television drama. An assistant behind the glasstopped counter of a small Chinese drapery shop pressed a button on the wall. Slowly’ and smoothly, a section of the floor slid back to reveal a flight of concrete steps leading underground. We trooped down into a

well-lit tunnel, lined with bricks and cream-painted concrete stucco, and felt the fresh air of powerful, electrically-driven blowers. “No photographs,” we were told. We were under one of the busiest shopping areas in central Peking, not far from Tian’anmen Square. Our Chinese hosts were proudly showing us one of the many underground defence complexes burrowed out beneath cities, towns, and industrial areas throughout their vast country. Above us, the streets were thronged with crowds in a busy area comprising 45 shops and department stores.

In those shops were working the 3000 assistants and staff who, in 1969, began scooping, digging, and delving on the 3000-metre-long network of tunnels for the complex we had been invited to inspect. Now, the underground network is equipped with telephone and radio facilities, running water, toilets, warehouses, kit chens. dining-rooms, dressing rooms, clinics, and its own electricity generators. The tunnel, in which we had no trouble walking upright, had a number of off-shoots, connecting with other, similar complexes, and with main-route tunnels to the outer suburbs of Peking. We walked through several doorways on either side of which were large pairs of heavy, steel safety doors. The tunnel took a downward dip, and in another five minutes we were in a spacious underground chamber fur-

nished in conference-room fashion — long tables, a

digrammatic wall plan electrically lit, and the inevitable lidded cups for tea. We were introduced to the director of Peking’s Defence Office, a Mr Kao, and were requested to await the arrival of an-

other party of foreign visitors — “a group of friends from the United States.”

No hint of American imperialists and their running dogs in this situati o n ... a middle-aged woman poured scaldinghot water from an aluminium kettle on to the jasmine tea-leaves in our cups. The Americans trooped out of one of the several tunnel entrances to the underground chamber, most of them aged more than 60. The tunnels led in several directions, we were told through an interpreter. The shop assistants dug the complex in their spare time in the evenings, using for the most part simple tools. “We are all shop assistants and not experts at digging underground defence tunnels so there are many defects . . .” It w'as made clear that this complex — virtually self-contained — was only one of many under Peking, and all are closely linked. The system was mainly for defensive purposes — dug in accordance with Chairman Mao’s instructions: “Dig tunnels deep, store grain everywhere, and never seek hegemony.” What is the Chinese attitude towards war? Some indication came from the defence director: “The world is not tranquil and there still exists the danger of a third world war. Imperialism and social tm-

perialism in particular have wild ambitions.

“The Soviet social imperialists are stretching their tentacles to every corner of the world and riding rough-shod over the peoples of the world. Their ambition is to conquer new territory, and in their expansionist policy

they have already encroached on China’s territorv in the north in March, 1969.”

We learned that the complex we were in was comparatively small — others were built by neighbourhoods, or workers in Government offices, or schools. Underground defence was “a nationwide work,” we were told. “When China is prepared it can reduce loss of life and casualties.” The underground system has three roles: for use in an air raid when people need to be transferred underground in a' short space of time: evacuation from the central city to suburban areas; as a system for tunnel warfare. This means that all Peking districts are served by trunk lines, and it is estimated that by using these tunnels, the whole of the inner city population could walk to the outer suburbs in three hours.

“We have underground workshops, factories, and supplies for staying underground for long periods,” the director went on. “Should the enemy come by land we could deal blows in the same way as the People’s Liberation Army dealt blows against the Japanese aggressors by tunnel warfare. Once the Soviet revisionists encroached into China’s territory, they would not be allowed to leave.”

It was question time, and predictably one of the

Americans asked how much the underground complex had cost. Back came this answer: “Shop assistants come on their own initiative and part of the materials are provided by the State, while others, such as bricks, are made by the people. So, as you can see, relying on .our own efforts, the cost is rather low.” All had not been straight-forward in this area. With a water tabla only 50 metres below the surface, and unstable ground, there bad been a number of tunnel coD lapses. Technicians helped overcome problems and tunnelling skills were learned by the people, we were informed.

The Chinese have obviously decided to expend a tremendous amount of time and energy in building these tunnel systems — effort they could well have directed towards improving living standards. We had earlier ridden on a section of Peking’s budding underground railway, about 13 miles of which has been completed. Stations were beautifully constructed, in tiled marble, and the special train — reserved it seemed for all the foreign visitors in Peking at the time — was swift, smooth, and new. If the work done on underground tunnel complexes during the last few years had been devoted to an underground rail netw’ork then Peking would probably have the best and most modern system in the w’orld.

But as we made our way back up towards sunlight from the sterile atmosphere of the tunnels the final words of the defence chief still rang in our ears: “The people and the cadres all understand that w’hen we perspire more in peacetime, we will reduce the shedding of blood in wartime."