Historic link blasted in green drive
Source: Xinhua |
October 29, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ENGINEERS yesterday blasted away part of a causeway on China's southeast coast, a relic from the era of confrontation between the mainland and Taiwan decades ago.
The 2,212-meter-long Gaoji Causeway in Fujian Province linked the mainland and Xiamen island, which is close to Taiwan. During hostilities it was Xiamen lifeline, along which goods and personnel were moved.
The causeway, completed in 1955, reflected the "man conquers nature" notion of the time. Today, officials say they are destroying it to protect the ecosystem.
Engineers will remove about 800 meters of the causeway using explosives and connect the remaining parts with a 24-meter-wide bridge. The two-year project will allow sediment that has accumulated to wash away, said Wang Wenjie, a local official who oversees coastal cleanup projects.
Increased water flow will improve the ecosystem and benefit endangered animals such as Chinese white dolphins, the official said.
The causeway was a major project for New China in the 1950s, and its construction took place even amid shelling and air attacks from the Koumintang troops in Taiwan.
Chairman Mao Zedong, founder of New China, personally ordered the causeway's construction, setting aside 13 million yuan (US$1.95m) - a huge amount for the war-torn country - for the project.
Almost 10,000 Xiamen residents were mobilized between 1953 and 1955, carrying 750,000 tons of rock on their shoulders to build the causeway.
"Conditions were tough," said 81-year-old Wang Bingyao, who worked on the project. "We used our bare hands and hammers and our legs swelled after being in the water for hours, But we were determined, Chairman Mao's instructions encouraged us."
Some people lost their lives during the causeway's construction. In January 1955, 76 workers were killed when Taiwan warplanes bombed a boat ferrying workers home.
After the Communist Party of China won the civil war in 1949, the Koumintang government fled to Taiwan and engaged in a decades-long confrontation with the mainland. Shelling and air strikes occurred frequently during the 1950s and 1960s.
The causeway remained Xiamen's sole link to the mainland until 1991, when a bridge to the island was built. Today, four bridges and a tunnel link Xiamen with the mainland.
Its demolition is also a metaphor for changes in the way China thinks about nature. The notion of living in harmony with nature has replaced the "man conquers nature" mentality.
Xiamen's Vice Mayor Pan Shijian said that although it contributed much to Xiamen's development, the causeway has caused ecological damage.
Xiamen University researchers found that large amounts of sediment started piling up along the causeway in 2003. They also found that the bay to the west of the causeway contains no life at all. Moreover, the causeway has caused beaches to shrink and has affected water quality.
The 2,212-meter-long Gaoji Causeway in Fujian Province linked the mainland and Xiamen island, which is close to Taiwan. During hostilities it was Xiamen lifeline, along which goods and personnel were moved.
The causeway, completed in 1955, reflected the "man conquers nature" notion of the time. Today, officials say they are destroying it to protect the ecosystem.
Engineers will remove about 800 meters of the causeway using explosives and connect the remaining parts with a 24-meter-wide bridge. The two-year project will allow sediment that has accumulated to wash away, said Wang Wenjie, a local official who oversees coastal cleanup projects.
Increased water flow will improve the ecosystem and benefit endangered animals such as Chinese white dolphins, the official said.
The causeway was a major project for New China in the 1950s, and its construction took place even amid shelling and air attacks from the Koumintang troops in Taiwan.
Chairman Mao Zedong, founder of New China, personally ordered the causeway's construction, setting aside 13 million yuan (US$1.95m) - a huge amount for the war-torn country - for the project.
Almost 10,000 Xiamen residents were mobilized between 1953 and 1955, carrying 750,000 tons of rock on their shoulders to build the causeway.
"Conditions were tough," said 81-year-old Wang Bingyao, who worked on the project. "We used our bare hands and hammers and our legs swelled after being in the water for hours, But we were determined, Chairman Mao's instructions encouraged us."
Some people lost their lives during the causeway's construction. In January 1955, 76 workers were killed when Taiwan warplanes bombed a boat ferrying workers home.
After the Communist Party of China won the civil war in 1949, the Koumintang government fled to Taiwan and engaged in a decades-long confrontation with the mainland. Shelling and air strikes occurred frequently during the 1950s and 1960s.
The causeway remained Xiamen's sole link to the mainland until 1991, when a bridge to the island was built. Today, four bridges and a tunnel link Xiamen with the mainland.
Its demolition is also a metaphor for changes in the way China thinks about nature. The notion of living in harmony with nature has replaced the "man conquers nature" mentality.
Xiamen's Vice Mayor Pan Shijian said that although it contributed much to Xiamen's development, the causeway has caused ecological damage.
Xiamen University researchers found that large amounts of sediment started piling up along the causeway in 2003. They also found that the bay to the west of the causeway contains no life at all. Moreover, the causeway has caused beaches to shrink and has affected water quality.
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