Exiles from Yangtze River Valley Dispersed throughout China

[CND, 10/23/02] During the second half of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), thousands of young people were sent from to Chongming Island near the mouth of the Yangtze River to work on farms there, the South China Morning Post reported Monday.

The political campaign which set off the mass migration, called "Up to the mountains and down to the countryside", resulted in large-scale migration to rural areas throughout the mainland.

Beginning two years ago, a new group of exiles has begun to take up residence in Chongming - economic migrants who have been forced to relocate to allow for the construction of the huge Three Gorges Dam, more than 600 miles upriver.

By the time the disputed project is complete, China will have had to move one million people. Shanghai has just completed the process of taking in a group of 5,500, many of whom have been sent to Chongming.

The Yangtze will be dammed next month, and the reservoir flooded next year, so local officials have accelerated the relocation program, first begun in 1999.

Beijing argues that the project is required to generate power and provide a means of controlling floods on the world's fourth-longest river.

Chongming's newest settlers report that the island's rich soil and well-developed infrastructure are an improvement on their former home, Yunyang county, located in the mountains surrounding the southwestern city of Chongqing.

Others have criticized the government for sparking a mass exodus and for not providing better compensation to those who are moving. The migrants say were given little choice in the matter, since the government has continued to move ahead with the project, now slated for completion in 2009.

ZHANG Xunqi, 70, sobbed as narrated how her family had been dispersed, her daughter relocated to Chongming and her son to a rural area in Jiangsu province. She first followed her son to Jiangsu, but found that conditions were worse than in Chongming.

"Our old home had mountains and rivers," she said, using a Chinese expression that is a metaphor for beautiful scenery. "Life is only hardship now. We don't even have enough water to wash clothes."

Mrs Zhang then left her son's earthen dwelling in Jiangsu to move to her daughter's two-storey cement house in Chongming. The Shanghai government had been more generous than the Jiangsu provincial government in providing the migrants with rice and other daily necessities, she said.

The contrast in the two situations illustrates the pitfalls inherent in a mass relocation: inconsistent application of Beijing's policies and a wealth of opportunities for corruption.

Officials retort that the government has found only 234 cases of corruption and embezzlement, involving 42 million yuan (approximately US$5 million) in project funds.

But many migrants to Chongming bemoan the cost of living in Shanghai, which is much higher than in theier former home.

"Earning money is difficult. It seems like just taking a breath needs money," Mrs Zhang said.

Mrs Zhang's daughter's life has changed substantially - she has gone from being the proprietor of her own small shop to ironing clothes for a living, earning 400 yuan a month. Her husband toils as part of a road crew, earning 600 yuan a month.

But Shanghai explains its decision to settle more than 1,200 migrants in 43 villages around Chongming instead of in the city proper (at least a 40-minute boat ride from the city) by saying that it is what they are used to.

"They are from the countryside. Basically, their living standards are better than some of the local people," a government official said.

Chongming is the mainland's third-largest island territory, and most of its 1,200 sq km is farmland, with the rest devoted to light manufacturing and tourism.

Local residents said the migrants were not yet integrated into the community, primarily due to dialect differences. Inter-marriage is also uncommon, few migrants have founded their own independent enterprises.

The authorities dispersed the migrants around the island to limit the amount of social friction, residents said.

"If the government put them all together, local people would be afraid," one resident said.

Chongming residents said the migrants would eventually be accepted into the community, like those sent to the island during the Cultural Revolution who never returned to their original homes.

"When the first group came from Chongqing, we all went to the dock to meet them. With the second group, only the government officials met them. We are all used to it now," a resident said.

For the migrants Shanghai allocated subsidized housing of 90 square metres for families of two people and 120 square metres for three. Migrants paid for the housing at below-market rates using their relocation compensation money.

Shanghai also provided the migrants with furniture, appliances and a limited supply of food upon arrival. The houses allocated to the migrants all have electricity, running water and telephones, denoting a relatively high standard for rural housing.

But levels of compensation for relocation - and payment schedules for new housing - appear to vary from place to place. Some migrants reported that the Chongqing government (responsible for their compensation) had given them 280 yuan per square metre of housing and 7,000 yuan for each 0.7 hectare of land they had owned.

"The money is not enough. I found the hospital here to be very expensive," said one migrant, who arrived in Chongming in 2000 in the first group of 639 people relocated to the island.

FAN Qingming, 33, earns 1,000 yuan a month working for the Shanghai Xingxin Cookware Co, one of the largest employers on the island.

That level of income had allowed him to purchase a new motorcycle, but Mr Fan said he would be able to earn more working in Shanghai or Guangdong province, where he had previously.

"It's not so bad here. As long as we can make money, we can get used to it," he said.

But some residents of the areas to be flooded continue to fight against government attempts to relocate them to higher ground, holding out in the hope of receiving more money or simply not wanting to give up their homes.

SHU Mingxiang gave the example of his 98-year-old mother, who had refused to come to Chongming, although he himself felt that he had to move.

"There's a small group of people who wouldn't move. When the water comes, they will just move higher," he said. (Laurel Mittenthal)