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140-526: Its economy relies almost entirely on its giant mine, one of the country's largest. The economy in Panzhihua is mainly centered on natural resource development and heavy-industry. The city grew into a major city for steel production during the Third Front construction . The urban center was built on top of mountainous terrains. In 2005, Panzhihua won the "China Excellent Tourist City" title, in 2008 it won

280-845: A 50-foot granite pyramidal obelisk was erected in Xintan, on the site of Captain Plant's home, in a Chinese community of pilots and junk owners. One face of the monument is inscribed in Chinese and another in English. Though recently relocated to higher ground ahead of the Three Gorges Dam, the monument still stands overlooking the Upper Yangtze River near Yichang, a rare collective tribute to a westerner in China. Standard Oil ran

420-614: A General Staff report commissioned by deputy chief Yang Chengwu which evaluated the distribution of Chinese industry, noted that they were primarily concentrated in 14 major coastal cities which were vulnerable to nuclear attack or air raids, and recommended that the General Staff research measures to guard against a sudden attack. Major transportation hubs, bridges, ports and some dams were close to these major cities. Destruction of these infrastructures could lead to disastrous consequences. This evaluation prompted Mao to advocate for

560-577: A Party Work Conference in May 1973 resolved to re-direct state investment efforts from the Third Front to the northeast and the coastal regions, the Third Front was no longer the country's most critical economic objective. Agriculture and light industry became more important priorities. As Reform and Opening Up began in 1978, China began to gradually wind down Third Front projects with a "shut down, cease, merge, transform, and move" strategy. In 1984,

700-472: A hole for a toilet" and only canvas tents should be necessary for housing. According to academic Hou Li, the resulting style of construction is best characterized as "industrialization without urbanization." Panzhihua Steel was built during the Third Front campaign. Because planners chose locations based on military defense considerations, Panzhihua Steel was built on the side of a mountain, unlike most steel factories which are built on flat land. To ensure that

840-745: A large fleet of warships appeared on the China coast, and with the first cannonball fired at a British ship, the Royal Saxon , the British started the first of the Opium Wars . Royal Navy warships destroyed numerous shore batteries and Chinese warships, laying waste to several coastal forts along the way. Eventually, they pushed their way up north close enough to threaten the Imperial Palace in Beijing itself. The China Navigation Company

980-498: A means necessary for socialist development given the level of China's development at the time. In mobilizing and recruiting workers for Third Front Projects, the Party instructed recruiters to "take Mao's strategic thought as the guiding principle, teach employees to consider the big picture, resolutely obey the needs of the country, take pride in supporting Third Front construction ... and help solve employees' concrete problems." In

1120-568: A mistake of Soviet-style industrialization, the builders of Panzhihua were tasked with constructing in an austere style consistent with the success of the Daqing oil field -- service areas, multistory buildings, and cultural areas should be avoided in order to ensure maximum resources for heavy industry. Consistent with this mandate, Director of the Planning Commission Li Fuchun directed that at Panzhihua, workers should "dig

1260-535: A much greater welfare net than rural residents generally. In recent years, Panzhihua has experienced major population outflows. As a result, its government now offers subsidies to those who move to Panzhihua and have two or three children. The area has a monsoon -influenced humid subtropical climate ( Köppen Cwa ), with short, mild, dry winters and long, hot, and humid summers. Highs drop to 21 °C (70 °F) in December and January, quickly rebounding during

1400-512: A race against time with American imperialism and Soviet revisionism." Policymakers adopted military-style thinking, framing project selection in the rhetoric of "choos[ing] the proper targets to attack" and "concentrat[ing] forces to wage wars of annihilation" on a focused number of projects. Workers themselves often linked their tasks to broader conflicts, for example describing the drilling of tunnels as an act in opposition to "American wolves," thereby advancing "the people of Vietnam's war " with

1540-628: A remote headwater of the Yangtze River in 1966 as a steel production center. It grew rapidly as it remained relatively prosperous while the rest of the country suffered under the Cultural Revolution . The city is home to the Panzhihua Iron and Steel (Group) Co, called "Pangang 攀钢 ", the leading steel company in southwest China. Proven iron ore (mainly vanadium-titanium magnetite) reserves are 73.8 million tons, 72.3% of

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1680-636: A strategic industrial rear because its "lofty mountains and steep hills" would make it difficult for enemy infantry to access or for enemy airplanes to bomb. Meeting with Panzhihua leaders in October 1964, Bo Yibo emphasized that while it was critical to increase production in the area, doing so had to avoid the mistakes of the Great Leap Forward, a time when the emphasis on industrial production resulted in many people lacking "grain to eat." In an effort to avoid what Chinese policymakers viewed as

1820-531: A strategic rear for retreat, and we should be prepared to go into the mountains [to become guerilla]. We need a place like this. The "Big Third Front" ( da sanxian ) included the Northwest and Southwest provinces like Qinghai, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan. In comparison, the "First Front" was composed of the major cities from Manchuria down to the Pearl River Delta and the "Second Front" referred to

1960-475: A swimming craze through party propaganda. In 2002, Danish adventurer and sailor Troels Kløvedal sailed up the Yangtze, from Shanghai to past the Three Gorges Dam, in the collectively owned "Nordkaperen" sailing ship . Kløvedal had spent 12 years preparing and gathering the required permissions, and with a crew of Danes, his family members, a Chinese interpreter and several local maritime pilots , he became

2100-579: A war, while China's population and industries were concentrated on the east coast. As one of his inspirations for the Third Front, Mao cited the negative example of Chiang Kai-Shek 's failure to establish sufficient industry away from the coast prior to the Second Sino-Japanese war , resulting in the Nationalist government being forced to retreat to a small inland industrial base in the face of Japanese invasion. In April 1964, Mao read

2240-599: Is an arch dam on the Yalong River , a tributary of the Yangtze River in Sichuan. The dam has six hydroelectric generators , each with a generating capacity of 550 MW. The total generating capacity of the facility is 3,300 MW, one of the largest in China. Annual production averages 17 TWh , and through December 5, 2006, it produced over 100 TWh of electricity. Construction of the dam started in September 1991 and

2380-522: Is found at 33°25′44″N 91°10′57″E  /  33.42889°N 91.18250°E  / 33.42889; 91.18250 and while not the furthest source of the Yangtze, it is the highest source at 5,342 m (17,526 ft) above sea level. The true source of the Yangtze, hydrologically the longest river distance from the sea, is at Jari Hill at the head of the Dam Qu tributary, approximately 325 km (202 mi) southeast of Geladandong. This source

2520-569: Is from the Sanskrit root gáṅgā . By the Han dynasty , Jiāng had come to mean any river in Chinese, and this river was distinguished as the "Great River" 大江 ( Dàjiāng ). The epithet 長 ( simplified version 长 ), meaning "long", was first formally applied to the river during the Six Dynasties period. Various sections of the Yangtze have local names. From Yibin to Yichang ,

2660-428: Is reflected in the slogans at the time such as “Choose the best people and best horses for the Third Front," “prepare for war, prepare for famine, for the people” ( 备战备荒, 为人民 ; bèizhàn bèihuāng, wéi rénmín ), and "dig tunnels deep, store grain everywhere, never hegemony." Incomplete statistics show that between 1964 and 1970, 380 large projects, 145 thousand workers and 38 thousand units of equipment, were moved from

2800-596: Is served by the Chengdu–Kunming Railway and the Panzhihua Bao'anying Airport . The city has over 10 bridges over the Jinsha River . Third Front (China) The Third Front Movement ( Chinese : 三线建设 ; pinyin : Sānxiàn jiànshè ) or Third Front Construction was a Chinese government campaign to develop industrial and military facilities in the country's interior. The campaign

2940-585: Is the first city on the Yangtze Plain . After entering Hubei province, the Yangtze receives water from a number of lakes. The largest of these lakes is Dongting Lake , which is located on the border of Hunan and Hubei provinces, and is the outlet for most of the rivers in Hunan. At Wuhan , it receives its biggest tributary, the Han River , bringing water from its northern basin as far as Shaanxi . At

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3080-673: Is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows 6,300 km (3,915 mi) in a generally easterly direction to the East China Sea . It is the fifth-largest primary river by discharge volume in the world . Its drainage basin comprises one-fifth of the land area of China , and is home to nearly one-third of

3220-507: The Beijing dialect instead of Nanjing's and first published in 1867. The spellings Yangtze and Yangtze Kiang was a compromise between the two methods adopted at the 1906 Imperial Postal Conference in Shanghai, which established postal romanization . Hanyu Pinyin was adopted by the PRC's First Congress in 1958, but it was not widely employed in English outside mainland China prior to

3360-434: The Daqing oilfield and use revolutionary spirit to overcome all difficulties." The Party did not attempt to hide the challenges of working on the Third Front, however, and told local officials to "speak clearly about the difficulties, not boast, and not make empty promises." Because Chinese policymakers believed that the risks of invasion from foreign powers were imminent, Third Front workers were instructed to "engage in

3500-603: The Han dynasty , the region of the Yangtze River grew ever more important to China's economy. The establishment of irrigation systems (the most famous one is Dujiangyan , northwest of Chengdu, built during the Warring States period) made agriculture very stable and productive, eventually exceeding even the Yellow River region. The Qin and Han empires were actively engaged in the agricultural colonization of

3640-728: The Jiangnan region south of the river ( Wuxi , Suzhou , Hangzhou ) and with northern China (all the way from Yangzhou to Beijing). The less well known ancient Lingqu Canal , connecting the upper Xiang River with the headwaters of the Guijiang , allowed a direct water connection from the Yangtze Basin to the Pearl River Delta . Historically, the Yangtze was the political boundary between north China and south China several times (see History of China ) because crossing

3780-566: The Longshan peoples of the North China Plain . What is now thought of as Chinese culture developed along the more fertile Yellow River basin; the " Yue " people of the lower Yangtze possessed very different traditions – blackening their teeth , cutting their hair short , tattooing their bodies, and living in small settlements among bamboo groves – and were considered barbarous by the northerners. The Central Yangtze valley

3920-687: The Nationalist government , preparing for the Second Sino-Japanese War , drafted a policy to move industries to Northwest and Southwest of the country, in particular to develop the mining and heavy industry. Although the policy laid the seeds of industrial development in the Northwest, during the Civil War development eventually died down. After the failure of the Great Leap Forward , China's leadership slowed

4060-523: The Permian period. They consist of some 110 species. In 1971, Sichuan Agricultural Science and the original forest vegetation Panzhihua aerial survey, found more than 100,000 specimens. It is the highest altitude Cycas forest, hosting the largest number and size of specimens. This forest consists of an endemic species, Cycas panzhihuaensis . The Ertan Dam ( simplified Chinese : 二滩大坝 ; traditional Chinese : 二灘大壩 ; pinyin : Èrtān Dàbà )

4200-512: The Shandong peninsula within the historical record, the Yangtze has remained largely static. Based on studies of sedimentation rates , however, it is unlikely that the present discharge site predates the late Miocene ( c.  11 Ma ). Prior to this, its headwaters drained south into the Gulf of Tonkin along or near the course of the present Red River . The Yangtze River is important to

4340-551: The Spring and Autumn period 's Five Hegemons and one of the Warring States ' Four Lords . They fell in against themselves, however. Chu's growing power led its rival Jin to support Wu as a counter. Wu successfully sacked Chu's capital Ying in 506 BC, but Chu subsequently supported Yue in its attacks against Wu's southern flank. In 473 BC, King Goujian of Yue fully annexed Wu and moved his court to its eponymous capital at modern Suzhou. In 333 BC, Chu finally united

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4480-561: The Third Five-Year Plan should “solve the problems of food, clothes, and other life necessities” (jiejue chichuanyong). Zhou Enlai , in his report of the State Council on March 28, also reported that “[the government] should put agriculture in the primary place of the nation's economy. The economic planning should follow the priorities such that agriculture comes first, light industries comes next, heavy industries have

4620-566: The Warring States ~ Western Han period. The landscape is dominated by natural areas. Attractions include a red cell spa, the Cave Stone Forest, the Jinsha River and Hai lake. In recent years, the Panzhihua government has been working on the development of the Sunshine Recreation Project to attract more tourists to Panzhihua for their winter vacations. Cycas first appeared some 280 million years ago in

4760-583: The Yangtze River basin, holding more than 95 waterways. They feed the Jinsha and Yandalong Rivers , which in turn feed the Yangtze. Annual runoff volume is 110.2 billion cubic meters. The potential hydropower capacity is 700 million kilowatts. The installed capacity is 3.474 million kilowatts. Panzhihua is close to the Xigeda-Yuanmou fracture in the Sichuan-Yunnan border. Its Renhe District

4900-632: The Yellow River 's principal ports between the floods of 1344 and the 1850s, during which time the Yellow River ran well south of Shandong and discharged into the ocean a mere few hundred kilometers from the mouth of the Yangtze. ) By 1800, English cartographers such as Aaron Arrowsmith had adopted the French style of the name as Yang-tse or Yang-tse Kiang . The British diplomat Thomas Wade emended this to Yang-tzu Chiang as part of his formerly popular romanization of Chinese , based on

5040-474: The country's population . The Yangtze has played a major role in the history , culture , and economy of China . For thousands of years, the river has been used for water, irrigation, sanitation, transportation, industry, boundary-marking, and war. The Yangtze Delta generates as much as 20% of China's GDP , and the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze is the largest hydro-electric power station in

5180-400: The "National Health City" and the "China Vanadium, Titanium" titles. The construction of Panzhihua occurred during China's Third Front construction, a Mao Zedong -era campaign to develop basic and national defense industry in China's rugged interior in the event of foreign invasion. Mao viewed the building of the city as so important that he repeatedly told other party leadership that until it

5320-642: The "Yangzi River", from which the English name Yangtze is derived, is the local name for the Lower Yangtze in the region of Yangzhou . The name likely comes from an ancient ferry crossing called Yángzǐ or Yángzǐjīn ( 揚子 / 揚子津 ). Europeans who arrived in the Yangtze River Delta region applied this local name to the whole river. The dividing site between upstream and midstream is considered to be at Yichang and that between midstream and downstream at Hukou ( Jiujiang ). The river

5460-401: The 1965 to 1980 period was 20.52 billion RMB (the equivalent of the equivalent of US$ 2.5 billion). From 1964-1974, China invested more than 40% of its industrial capacity in Third Front regions. Ultimately, construction of the Third Front cost accounting for more than a third of China's spending over the 15 year period in which the Third Front construction occurred. The Third Front was

5600-747: The 2,308 km (1,434 mi) of the Yangtze from Yibin upstream to the confluence with the Batang River near Yushu in Qinghai, while the Tongtian River ("River that leads to Heaven") describes the 813 km (505 mi) section from Yushu up to the confluence of the Tuotuo River and the Dangqu River . In Old Chinese , the Yangtze was simply called Jiang/Kiang 江 , a character of phono-semantic compound origin, combining

5740-563: The 9th century BC. Traditional accounts credit these changes to northern refugees ( Taibo and Zhongyong in Wu and Wuyi in Yue) who assumed power over the local tribes, though these are generally assumed to be myths invented to legitimate them to other Zhou rulers. As the kingdoms of Wu and Yue , they were famed as fishers, shipwrights, and sword-smiths. Adopting Chinese characters , political institutions, and military technology, they were among

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5880-607: The Chinese government to make the river safer in 1917 by removing some of the most difficult obstacles and threats with explosives. In August 1917, British Asiatic Petroleum became the first foreign merchant steamship on the Upper Yangtze. Commercial firms, Robert Dollar Company, Jardine Matheson , Butterfield and Swire and Standard Oil added their own steamers on the river between 1917 and 1919. Between 1918 and 1919, Sichuan warlord violence and escalating civil war put Sichuan Steam Navigational Company out of business. Shutung

6020-504: The Chinese term for the mouth of the Yangtze ( 江口 , p   Jiāngkǒu ) as the name of the river itself. The name Blue River began to be applied in the 18th century, apparently owing to a former name of the Dam Chu or Min and to analogy with the Yellow River , but it was frequently explained in early English references as a 'translation' of Jiang , Jiangkou , or Yangzijiang . Very common in 18th- and 19th-century sources,

6160-596: The Economic Commission issued regulations for projects which were being relocated to the Third Front, mandating that all relocated projects had to be approved by the central Party and that none could be approved by local governments themselves. Administrative changes occurred in February 1965, as the State Council further consolidated central control of the Third Front construction. It converted

6300-610: The Female Yak "; transliterated into Chinese : 直曲 ; pinyin : Zhíqū ). The river originates from several tributaries in the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau , two of which are commonly referred to as the "source." Traditionally, the Chinese government has recognized the source as the Tuotuo tributary at the base of a glacier lying on the west of Geladandong Mountain in the Tanggula Mountains . This source

6440-622: The First Front, that new projects should be built concealed in the mountains, and that industrial enterprises, research institutes, and universities should be moved to the Third Front. Every Third Front project was a state-owned enterprise. The most significant Small Third Front Project was Shanghai's. At its largest, the Shanghai Small Front had 54,000 workers, 17,000 families, and 81 work units. The "rear base" in Anhui

6580-641: The Guiyang-Kunming lines linked all southwest provincial capitals using rail for the first time. The Xiangfan-Chongqing and Hunan-Guizhou connected the central and western provinces by rail for the first time. Chinese policy-makers determined that vehicle manufacturing should be advanced, and therefore the First Automotive Works transferred a third of its workforce to develop the Second Automobile Works as part of

6720-497: The PLA's enforcement of political discipline and suppression of the factions that had emerged during the Cultural Revolution. Those who did not return to work would be viewed as engaging in "splittist activities" ( fenlie huodong ) which risked undermining preparations to defend China from potential invasion. The perceived necessity of rushing construction in preparation for foreign invasion, along with constraints on resources, resulted in defects in many Third Front projects. Among

6860-406: The Party established centralized organizations to direct the Third Front construction. The highest Third Front-specific administrative body was the Third Front Construction Support and Examination Small Group , which was tasked with providing physical and financial resources for the building of the Third Front. This Small Group was led by Economic Commission Vice Director Gu Mu . It also formed

7000-400: The Planning Commission recommended that the First and Second Fronts no longer view supporting the Third Front as their "primary task," instead downgrading the Third Front assistance to an "important task." The Planning Commission also stated concerns about the amount of Third Front funding leading to neglect of heavy industry elsewhere, as well as insufficient investment in agriculture. After

7140-445: The Small Third Front). Other key leadership, including Deng Xiaoping, Liu Shaoqi , and Li Fuchun, did not fully support the notion of the Third Front. Instead, they continued to emphasize the coastal development and consumer focus pursuant to the Third Five Year Plan. In their view, small-scale commerce should be emphasized to raise the standard of living. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident on August 2, 1964, however, quickly changed

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7280-468: The Southwest Railroad Construction headquarters to oversee railroad development. Another body, the Southwest Third Front Preparatory Small Group, was established to oversee regional construction and planning. It was led by Li Jingquan . It in turn established a planning group to administer the industrial complex being developed in Panzhihua and another planning group to administer conventional weapons production around Chongqing. On December 1, 1964,

7420-576: The State Council issued a report concluding that 48% of Third Front enterprises still had marketable products and favorable business prospects. In the Seventh Five-Year Plan between 1986 and 1990, Third Front plants not making a profit were allowed to shut down. Some Third Front plants moved out of the mountains and caves to nearby small and medium sized cities where the geography and transportation were less difficult. Plants with workshops spread across many places gathered in one place. Third Front plants, especially military plants, were encouraged to produce for

7560-426: The Third Five Year Plan, consistent with its changing focus to preparations for the possibility that "the imperialists [would] launch an aggressive war against China." The hallmark of the Third Front Movement was a strategic shift to China's interior. On August 12, 1964, Zhou Enlai approved enormous industrial development in southwest China: Panzhihua Iron and Steel (in Sichuan), Liupanshui coal mines (in Guizhou), and

7700-528: The Third Front Preparatory Small Group into the Southwest Third Front Commission and required it to work with central ministries in fulfilling needs for labor, equipment, and building materials. The State Council put this Commission within the Economic Commission's supervision and then within the jurisdiction of the Infrastructure Committee when it was created in March 1965. In an August 19, 1965 report, Li Fuchun , Bo Yibo and Luo Ruiqing suggested that no new projects should be constructed in major cities in

7840-461: The Third Front construction was relatively isolated, close knit communities with a high degree of social capital formed, which also helped facilitate the eventual privatization of Third Front plants. Yangtze River Yangtze or Yangzi ( English: / ˈ j æ ŋ t s i / or / ˈ j ɑː ŋ t s i / simplified Chinese : 长江 ; traditional Chinese : 長江 ; pinyin : Cháng Jiāng ; lit. 'long river')

7980-444: The Third Front construction, the fourteen largest cities in China's potentially vulnerable regions included approximately 60% of the country's manufacturing, 50% of its chemical industries, and 52% of its national defense industries. In particular, the northeast was China's industrial center. China's population centers were concentrated in eastern coastal areas where they would be vulnerable to attack by air or water. In constructing

8120-412: The Third Front railroad projects built between 1969 and 1971, all but the Chengdu-Kunming railway suffered from major defects. Three such projects were completed in the early 1970s but still not fully operational until the late 1970s. The primary achievement of railroad construction during the Third Front construction was the building of ten new interprovincial lines. Building the Chengdu-Kunming and

8260-501: The Third Front region. More than 1,100 large and medium-sized projects were established during the Third Front period. With large projects such as Chengdu-Kunming Railway , Panzhihua Iron and Steel , Second Auto Works , the Third Front Movement stimulated previously poor and agricultural economies in China's southwest and northwest. Dozens of cities, such as Mianyang , Deyang , Panzhihua in Sichuan, Guiyang in Guizhou, Shiyan in Hubei , emerged as major industrial cities. However,

8400-454: The Third Front slowed during 1966. As the Cultural Revolution ignited leftist extremism, Lin Biao , Chen Boda also replaced Li Fuchun, Peng Dehuai , and Deng Xiaoping as the actual leaders of the Third Front Movement. By comparison to the rest of the country, Third Front work was less disrupted by the Cultural Revolution, consistent with the broader pattern that central officials acted to protect national security-related work units throughout

8540-626: The Third Front, China built a self-sufficient base industrial base area as a strategic reserve in the event of war with the Soviet Union or the United States. The campaign was centrally planned. It was carried out primarily in secret, and was only mentioned in the People's Daily for the first time in 1978. China built 1,100 Third Front projects (encompassing 1,945 industrial enterprises and research institutions) between 1965 and 1980. Major universities, including both Tsinghua University and Peking University , opened campuses in Third Front cities. The overall cost of Third Front projects during

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8680-450: The Third Front, for example, required structural reinforcement for the caverns into which they were built and tunnels to allow exhaust to escape. As Planning Commission Director, Li Fuchun set design rules stating that Third Front projects should not attempt to be "big and complete" or incorporate major administrative, social service, or other buildings not involved in production. Instead, project leaders were directed to make do with what

8820-426: The Third Front. Rural recruits were inclined to view it as an advancement from work in the countryside to better compensated industrial work. These material benefits helped ease the family separations that could occur as a result of Third Front work assignments. Urban recruits who already worked at state-owned enterprises in more developed coastal areas were more likely to be apprehensive because they already received

8960-445: The United States. Third Front factories often assigned workers to read the classic Mao speeches Remember Norman Bethune , The Foolish Old Man who Moved Mountains , and Serve the People . After Nixon's China trip in 1972, investment to the Third Front region gradually declined. Rapprochement between the United States and China decreased the fear of invasion which motivated the Third Front construction. In August 1972,

9100-487: The Upper Yangtze on Leechuan at the end of 1898. With Plant's design input, Little had SS Pioneer built with Plant in command. In June 1900, Plant was the first to successfully pilot a merchant steamer on the Upper Yangtze from Yichang to Chongqing. Pioneer was sold to Royal Navy after its first run due to threat from the Boxer Rebellion and renamed HMS Kinsha . Germany's steamship effort that same year on SS Suixing ended in catastrophe. On Suixing's maiden voyage,

9240-458: The Yangtze River refers to the section from Yibin to Yichang; the middle part refers to the section from Yichang to Hukou County , where Lake Poyang meets the river; the downstream part is from Hukou to Shanghai. The origin of the Yangtze River has been dated by some geologists to about 45 million years ago in the Eocene , but this dating has been disputed. Although the mouth of the Yellow River has fluctuated widely north and south of

9380-415: The Yangtze lowlands, maintaining a system of dikes to protect farmland from seasonal floods. By the Song dynasty, the area along the Yangtze had become among the wealthiest and most developed parts of the country, especially in the lower reaches of the river. Early in the Qing dynasty, the region called Jiangnan (that includes the southern part of Jiangsu , the northern part of Zhejiang and Jiangxi , and

9520-441: The Zhenbao Island incident as part of broader pattern of aggression. Perceiving the border clash in connection with the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Chinese policy-makers became concerned that the Soviet Union might view the Chinese domestic turmoil during the Cultural Revolution as a reason for similar military intervention. The central Party's efforts to accelerate Third Front work in June 1969 also became entwined with

9660-412: The benefits of working at such enterprises. If such urban recruits declined a Third Front assignment, they would lose their Party membership and right to work at state-owned enterprises. Third Front workers did, however, receive a "subsidy to keep secrets" ( baomi fei ). According to academic Covell F. Meyskens's analysis of remuneration based on Third Front work unit gazetteers, approximately 75% of

9800-402: The building of railroads to connect Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou. The Third Front construction was primarily carried out in secret, with the location for Third Front projects following the principle of “close to the mountains, dispersed, and hidden” ( 靠山, 分散, 隐蔽 ; kàoshān, fēnsàn, yǐnbì ). This principle was motivated by national defense considerations; plants were required to be hidden in

9940-403: The campaign. In Sichuan province, China developed an integrated nuclear sector which included uranium mining and processing facilities. Electronics manufacturing expanded during the Third Front and by 1980, inland China accounted for more than half of the country's electronics production capacity and work force. Major production facilities were built in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Guizhou, with

10080-495: The civilian market ( junzhuanmin ). As plants built during the Third Front construction were privatized over the period 1980 to 2000, many became owned by former managers and technicians. As one example, Shaanxi Auto Gear General Works was privatized and became Shaanxi Fast Auto Drive Company; as of 2022 it is the largest automotive transmission manufacturer and its annual revenues exceed US$ 10 billion. Through its distribution of infrastructure, industry, and human capital around

10220-490: The coastal areas to the Third Front region. Most of these firms came from cities like Shanghai , Beijing , Shenyang , Dalian , Tianjin, Nanjing . Approximately 400 state-owned enterprises were re-located from coastal cities to secret locations in China's interior regions. In 1969, Third Front construction accelerated following the Chinese-Soviet border clash at Zhenbao Island. Chinese policy-makers interpreted

10360-410: The completion of the Panzhihua facility was not promoted at the time. Today, the city government of Panzhihua promotes it as a model of Chinese technological ingenuity. Panzhihua city government built a hospital in 1965 to provide health care for Third Front workers and their families, with Panzhihua Steel itself also establishing a hospital in 1970. In 1966, two power stations were built in Panzhihua as

10500-406: The concept of the Third Front to locate critical infrastructure and national defense facilities away from areas where they would be vulnerable to invasions. Describing the geographical foundation of the concept, he stated: Our first front is coastal regions, second front is the line that cuts from Baotou to Lanzhou and southwest is the third front ... in the period of the atomic bomb, we need

10640-462: The country's interior. Mao objected to the preliminary proposal because ”[t]he Third Five-Year Plan […] need[s] to set basic industries in the Southwest.” He said that agricultural and defense industries are like fists, basic industries are like the hip. “The fists cannot be powerful unless the hip is well seated.” According to Mao's judgment, there was possibility that China would be involved in

10780-412: The country, the Third Front created favorable conditions for subsequent market development, private enterprise, and township and village enterprises . Once remote regions that were part of the Third Front continue to benefit from the influx of specialists during the Third Front construction and many enterprises, including many private ones, are legacies of the movement. Because each plant built during

10920-605: The country. Panzhihua, for example, was less impacted by the Cultural Revolution. Besides newly built large projects, many Third Front plants were spinoffs or entirely moved from existing plants in other parts of the country. In a document issued in early 1965, plants in the First and Second Fronts were required to contribute their best equipment and workers to the Third Front Movement. This priority

11060-546: The creation of a heavy industrial zone as a safe haven for retreat in the event of foreign invasion during State Planning Meetings in May 1964. Subsequently referred to as the Big Third Front, this inland heavy industrial base was to be built up with the help of enterprises re-located from the coast. At a June 1964 Politburo meeting, Mao also advocated that each province should also establish its own military industrial complex as an additional measure (subsequently named

11200-535: The cultural origins of southern China and Japan. Human activity has been verified in the Three Gorges area as far back as 27,000 years ago, and by the 5th millennium BC, the lower Yangtze was a major population center occupied by the Hemudu and Majiabang cultures , both among the earliest cultivators of rice. By the 3rd millennium BC, the successor Liangzhu culture showed evidence of influence from

11340-684: The deadliest natural disasters ever recorded, and almost certainly the deadliest of the 20th century (when pandemics and famines are discounted). Estimates of the total death toll range from 145,000 to between 3.7 million and 4 million. The Yangtze flooded again in 1935 , causing great loss of life. From June to September 1954, the Yangtze River Floods were a series of catastrophic floodings that occurred mostly in Hubei Province. Due to unusually high volume of precipitation as well as an extraordinarily long rainy season in

11480-456: The designs of many Third Front projects were uneconomic due to their location or deficient due to their hurried construction. For national defense reasons, location choices for the Third Front projects followed the guiding principle “Close to mountains, dispersed, hidden” ( kaoshan, fensan, yinbi ). Many Third Front projects were located in remote areas that were hard to access and far away from supplies and potential markets. The Third Front Movement

11620-613: The discussion about the Third Five-Year Plan. Mao became concerned that the United States could strike China's nuclear weapons facilities in Lanzhou and Baotou and advocated even more strongly for development of the Third Front. Other key leadership's fear of attack by the United States increased also, and the Third Front received broad support thereafter. In 1965, Yu Qiuli was given the lead role in developing

11760-474: The dry springs, and peak in May and June, unlike much of the rest of the province. Much of the annual rainfall occurs from June to September. Panzhihua is one of unique places in the world without any seasonal lag. For instance, the hottest time in this city is exactly in the summer solstice, and the same happens with winter. The 24 solar terms of China exactly define the beginning and end of each season by both solar radiation and temperature here. Panzhihua lies in

11900-418: The facility had the level foundation necessary for steel production, workers built the factory on massive steps carved out of the slope. Instead of the internal track system common to steel factories, technicians used a cable system to connect different parts of the facility to better adapt to the local terrain. Consistent with the Third Front construction's emphasis on secrecy due to national security concerns,

12040-479: The first 2,600 km (1,600 mi) of its length, the river has fallen more than 5,200 m (17,100 ft). It enters the basin of Sichuan at Yibin . While in the Sichuan basin, it receives several large tributaries, increasing its water volume significantly. It then cuts through Mount Wushan bordering Chongqing and Hubei to create the famous Three Gorges . Eastward of the Three Gorges, Yichang

12180-478: The first foreigner since 1949 to navigate the Yangtze. His months-long journey was documented both in his 2004 book "Kineserne syr med lang tråd" and the TV show "Kløvedal i Kina" by DR . In August 2019, Welsh adventurer Ash Dykes became the first person to complete the 4,000-mile (6,400 km) trek along the course of the river, walking for 352 days from its source to its mouth. Tens of millions of people live in

12320-496: The floodplain of the Yangtze valley, an area that naturally floods every summer and is habitable only because it is protected by river dikes. The floods large enough to overflow the dikes have caused great distress to those who live and farm there. Floods of note include those of 1931, 1954, and 1998. The 1931 Central China floods or the Central China floods of 1931 were a series of floods that are generally considered among

12460-527: The lower Yangtze by annexing Yue, whose royal family was said to have fled south and established the Minyue kingdom in Fujian . Qin was able to unite China by first subduing Ba and Shu on the upper Yangtze in modern Sichuan , giving them a strong base to attack Chu's settlements along the river. The state of Qin conquered the central Yangtze region, the previous heartland of Chu, in 278 BC, and incorporated

12600-509: The lowest priority”. In early 1963, a central planning team (led by Li Fuchun , Li Xiannian , Tan Zhenlin , Bo Yibo ) put “solving the problems of food, clothes, and other life necessities” (解决人民的吃穿用) as the priority of economic works in their proposal for the Third Five-Year Plan. The preliminary draft for the Third Five Year Plan, of which Deng Xiaoping was a major author, had no provision for largescale industrialization in

12740-558: The middle stretch of the Yangtze River late in the spring of 1954, the river started to rise above its usual level in around late June. Despite efforts to open three important flood gates to alleviate the rising water by diverting it, the flood level continued to rise until it hit the historic high of 44.67 m in Jingzhou, Hubei and 29.73 m in Wuhan. The number of dead from this flood was estimated at 33,000, including those who died of plague in

12880-538: The most expensive industrialization campaign of the Mao-era. Operating on the principle of "choose the best people and best horses for the Third Front," ( 好人好马上三线 ; hǎorén hǎomǎ shàngsānxiàn ) many skilled engineers, scientists, and intellectuals were transferred to Third Front facilities. In this slogan, the "best horses" refers to the best available equipment and resources. Third Front construction methods fused both low-tech and high-tech techniques. In 1937

13020-442: The most powerful states during the later Zhou . In the middle Yangtze, the state of Jing seems to have begun in the upper Han River valley a minor Zhou polity, but it adapted to native culture as it expanded south and east into the Yangtze valley. In the process, it changed its name to Chu . Whether native or nativizing, the Yangtze states held their own against the northern Chinese homeland: some lists credit them with three of

13160-583: The most risky and deadly sections of the three gorges. Archibald John Little took an interest in Upper Yangtze navigation when in 1876, the Chefoo Convention opened Chongqing to consular residence but stipulated that foreign trade might only commence once steamships had succeeded in ascending the river to that point. Little formed the Upper Yangtze Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. and built Kuling but his attempts to take

13300-588: The most widely known electronics factory being Changhong Electric in Mianyang, Sichuan. In the late 1960s and the early 1970s, nearly all work units in China's aerospace industry were established via the Third Front. These Third Front Projects benefitted China's space program through the launch of Dong Fang Hong 1 (China's first satellite) in 1970, expansion of Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center , building Xichang Satellite Launch Center , and building Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center . On September 11, 1964,

13440-625: The mountains and were not allowed to be geographically clustered to minimize the damage of air strikes. These priorities reflected Communist Party leaders' revolutionary experiences as guerillas. Because construction of Third Front projects was based on these non-economic considerations, projects were extremely costly. Dispersing new or re-located industry in rugged terrain required major new infrastructure for utilities, communication, and transportation. Facilities such as factories were sometimes built in subterranean complexes which greatly increased costs. The twenty subterranean powerplants built during

13580-461: The name fell out of favor due to growing awareness of its lack of any connection to the river's Chinese names and to the irony of its application to such a muddy waterway. Matteo Ricci 's 1615 Latin account included descriptions of the "Ianſu" and "Ianſuchian." The posthumous account's translation of the name as Fils de la Mer ("Son of the Ocean") shows that Ricci, who by the end of his life

13720-540: The normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and the PRC in 1979; since that time, the spelling Yangzi has also been used. The source and upper reaches of the Yangtze are located in ethnic Tibetan areas of Qinghai . In Tibetan, the Tuotuo headwaters are the Machu ( Tibetan : རྨ་ཆུ་ , Wylie : rma-chu , lit. "Red Water"). The Tongtian is the Drichu ( འབྲི་ཆུ་ , ‘Bri Chu’), literally "Water of

13860-409: The northern tip of Jiangxi province, Lake Poyang , the biggest freshwater lake in China, merges into the river. The river then runs through Anhui and Jiangsu , receiving more water from innumerable smaller lakes and rivers, and finally reaches the East China Sea at Shanghai. Four of China's five main freshwater lakes contribute their waters to the Yangtze River. Traditionally, the upstream part of

14000-460: The official perspective, it was a political privilege to be selected as a Third Front recruit. Among the important recruitment mechanisms were oath-swearing ceremonies or mobilization meetings held at urban work units or rural communes . At these events, local officials exhorted crowds to join the Third Front construction effort. The Party instructed them to urge workers to "learn from the PLA and

14140-418: The pace of industrialization. It invested more on in China's coastal regions and focused on the production of consumer goods. Construction of the Third Front reversed these trends, developing industry and using mass mobilization for the construction of such industrial projects, an approached that had been suspended after the failures of the Great Leap Forward. In February 1962, Chen Yun had proposed that

14280-626: The periods 1911–12, 1927–37, and 1945–49. The Jardine , the first steamship to sail the river, was built for Jardine, Matheson & Co. in 1835. This small vessel was to carry passengers and mail between Lintin Island , Macao , and Huangpu . However, the Chinese, draconian in their application of the rules relating to foreign vessels, were unhappy about a "fire-ship" steaming up the Canton River. The acting Viceroy of Liangguang issued an edict warning that she would be fired on if she attempted

14420-470: The provincial total. At the end of 2007, the city's reserves of vanadium-titanium magnetite were 6.694 billion tons, of which: titanium reserves were 425 million tons, 93% of the national total, the world's largest; vanadium reserves were 10.38 million tons, 63% in the nation, third in the world. Cobalt reserves were 746 million tons. Other minerals were chromium, gallium, scandium, nickel, copper, lead, zinc, manganese, platinum and other rare metals. Panzhihua

14560-528: The region into its expanding empire. Qin then used its connections along the Xiang River to expand into Hunan , Jiangxi and Guangdong , setting up military commanderies along the main lines of communication. At the collapse of the Qin Dynasty , these southern commanderies became the independent Nanyue Empire under Zhao Tuo while Chu and Han vied with each other for control of the north. Since

14700-587: The river through Sichuan and Chongqing Municipality is also known as the Chuān Jiāng ( 川江 ) or " Sichuan River ". In Hubei , the river is also called the Jīng Jiāng ( 荆江 ; 荊江 ) or the "Jing River" after Jingzhou , one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China. In Anhui , the river takes on the local name Wǎn Jiāng after the shorthand name for Anhui, wǎn (皖). Yángzǐ Jiāng ( 揚子江 ; 扬子江 ) or

14840-739: The river was difficult. This occurred notably during the Southern and Northern Dynasties , and the Southern Song . Many battles took place along the river, the most famous being the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD during the Three Kingdoms period. The Yangtze was the site of naval battles between the Song dynasty and Jurchen Jin during the Jin–Song wars . In the Battle of Caishi of 1161,

14980-706: The run and by 1915, foreign ships expressed their interest too. Plant was appointed by Chinese Maritime Customs Service as First Senior River Inspector in 1915. In this role, Plant installed navigational marks and established signaling systems. He also wrote Handbook for the Guidance of Shipmasters on the Ichang-Chungking Section of the Yangtze River , a detailed and illustrated account of the Upper Yangtze's currents, rocks, and other hazards with navigational instruction. Plant trained hundreds of Chinese and foreign pilots and issued licenses and worked with

15120-510: The ships of the Jin emperor Wanyan Liang clashed with the Song fleet on the Yangtze. Song soldiers fired bombs of lime and sulfur using trebuchets at the Jurchen warships. The battle was a Song victory that halted the invasion by the Jin. The Battle of Tangdao was another Yangtze naval battle in the same year. Politically, Nanjing was the capital of China several times, although most of

15260-400: The smaller cities located further inland from the First Front. The "Small Third Front" ( xiao sanxian ) referred to rugged or remote areas in more major provinces like Shanxi, Anhui, and Hebei. As with the Big Third Front, Chinese policymakers intended Small Third Front to form a part of a network of military and industrial power that could withstand invasion or nuclear attack. Prior to

15400-475: The source of the Yangtze since the discovery of the Jari Hill source. These tributaries join and the river then runs eastward through Qinghai (Tsinghai), turning southward down a deep valley at the border of Sichuan (Szechwan) and Tibet to reach Yunnan . In the course of this valley, the river's elevation drops from above 5,000 m (16,000 ft) to less than 1,000 m (3,300 ft). Thus, over

15540-408: The southeastern part of Anhui ) provided 1 ⁄ 3 – 1 ⁄ 2 of the nation's revenues. The Yangtze has long been the backbone of China's inland water transportation system, which remained particularly important for almost two thousand years, until the construction of the national railway network during the 20th century. The Grand Canal connects the lower Yangtze with the major cities of

15680-405: The studied work units paid salaries above the national norm for the industrial sector. Aside from material consequences, some urban and rural workers saw Third Front work favorably because it was to express their commitment to building Chinese socialism through bringing industry to undeveloped regions and building an industrial base to help protect China in the event of invasion. Construction of

15820-548: The tankers Mei Ping, Mei An and Mei Hsia, which were collectively destroyed on December 12, 1937, when Japanese warplanes bombed and sank the U.S.S. Panay. One of the Standard Oil captains who survived this attack had served on the Upper River for 14 years. Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong took staged swims in the river in 1956 and 1966 at Wuhan in publicity stunts to demonstrate his health, also starting

15960-700: The time its territory only covered the southeastern part of China, such as the Wu kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period, the Eastern Jin Dynasty , and during the Southern and Northern Dynasties and Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms periods. Only the Ming occupied most parts of China from their capital at Nanjing , though it later moved the capital to Beijing. The ROC capital was located in Nanjing in

16100-640: The trip. On the Jardine's first trial run from Lintin Island the forts on both sides of the Bogue opened fire and she was forced to turn back. The Chinese authorities issued a further warning insisting that the ship leave Chinese waters. The Jardine in any case needed repairs and was sent to Singapore . Subsequently, Lord Palmerston , the Foreign Secretary decided mainly on the "suggestions" of William Jardine to declare war on China. In mid-1840,

16240-669: The upstream Yangtze flowing through deep gorges in western Yunnan is part of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas , a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Cháng Jiāng ( 长江 ; 長江 ) or " Long River " is the official name for the Yangtze in Mandarin Chinese . However, the Chinese have given different names to the upstream sections of the river up to its confluence with the Min River at Yibin , Sichuan. Jinsha River ("Gold Sands River") refers to

16380-420: The vessel further upriver than Yichang were thwarted by the Chinese authorities who were concerned about the potential loss of transit duties, competition to their native junk trade and physical damage to their crafts caused by steamship wakes. Kuling was sold to China Merchants Steam Navigation Company for lower river service. In 1890, the Chinese government agreed to open Chongqing to foreign trade as long as it

16520-445: The vessel hit a rock and sunk, killing its captain and ending realistic hopes of regular commercial steam service on the Upper Yangtze. In 1908, local Sichuan merchants and their government partnered with Captain Plant to form Sichuan Steam Navigation Company becoming the first successful service between Yichang and Chongqing. Captain Plant designed and commanded its two ships, SS Shutung and SS Shuhun . Other Chinese vessels came onto

16660-733: The water radical 氵 with the homophone 工 (now pronounced gōng , but *kˤoŋ in Old Chinese ). Kong was probably a word in the Austroasiatic language of local peoples such as the Yue . Similar to *krong in Proto-Vietnamese and krung in Mon , all meaning "river", it is related to modern Vietnamese sông (river) and Khmer krung (city on riverside), whence Thai krung (กรุง capital city), not kôngkea (water) which

16800-467: The world that is in use . In mid-2014, the Chinese government announced it was building a multi-tier transport network , comprising railways, roads and airports to create a new economic belt alongside the river. The Yangtze flows through a wide array of ecosystems and is habitat to several endemic and threatened species, including the Chinese alligator , the narrow-ridged finless porpoise , and also

16940-410: Was a water processing plant. Due to Panzhihua's focus on industrialization, factories and mines had priority access to these utilities, with general access to filtered water and power coming over time. During the period of the Third Front campaign, almost every work unit in Panzhihua was a state-owned enterprise . The social services provided by these units meant that Panzhihua residents generally had

17080-479: Was an early shipping company founded in 1876 in London, initially to trade up the Yangtze River from their Shanghai base with passengers and cargo. Chinese coastal trade started shortly after, and in 1883 a regular service to Australia was initiated. Steamers came late to the upper river, the section stretching from Yichang to Chongqing. Freshets from Himalayan snowmelt created treacherous seasonal currents. But summer

17220-540: Was available, including building rammed earth housing so that more resources could be directed to production. This policy came to be expressed through the slogan, "First build the factory and afterward housing." Potential Third Front workers had to meet physical requirements and had to undergo a political review. The Party forbid recruitment of those whose families were "landlords, rich peasant, counterrevolutionary, bad element, or [...] rightist." Third Front workers had varying reactions to being selected to work on

17360-509: Was better navigationally and the three gorges , described as a "150-mile passage which is like the narrow throat of an hourglass," posed hazardous threats of crosscurrents, whirlpools and eddies, creating significant challenges to steamship efforts. Furthermore, Chongqing is 700 – 800 feet above sea level, requiring powerful engines to make the upriver climb. Junk travel accomplished the upriver feat by employing 70–80 trackers, men hitched to hawsers who physically pulled ships upriver through some of

17500-515: Was built he would "not sleep well a single day." Speaking figuratively, he routinely emphasized the importance of developing Panzhihua by stating that if party leaders would not develop the city, he would "ride a donkey and hold a meeting" to build it himself. Southwest Third Front Commission Vice Director Cheng Zihua was among the first to investigate the Panzhihua site, traveling there in mid-1964 when only eight households lived in Panzhihua. In his memoirs, Cheng highlights Panzhihua's suitability for

17640-571: Was busy into the early 1970s; like the rest of the Third Front, its work slowed as China and the United States developed their diplomatic relationship. The Shanghai Small Front office ultimately shut down in 1991. To recruit and develop the labor force responsible for building Third Front projects, the CCP sought to develop a labor force committed to the Third Front campaign as a way to build socialist modernity. The Party emphasized austere living and working, although not as an end in-and-of-itself, but as

17780-501: Was called Quian ( 江 ) and Quianshui ( 江水 ) by Marco Polo and appeared on the earliest English maps as Kian or Kiam , all recording dialects which preserved forms of the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 江 as Kæwng . By the mid-19th century, these romanizations had standardized as Kiang ; Dajiang , e.g., was rendered as "Ta-Kiang." "Keeang-Koo," "Kyang Kew," "Kian-ku," and related names derived from mistaking

17920-613: Was carried out in a hurry. Many Third Front projects were simultaneously being designed, constructed, and put in production, ( biansheji, bianshigong, bianshengchan ). After rapprochement with the United States reduced the national defense considerations underlying the Third Front, investment in its projects decreased. Since the reform of state-owned enterprises starting in the 1980s, many Third Front plants went bankrupt, though some others reinvented themselves and continued to serve as pillars in their respective local economies or were developed into successful private enterprises. Mao created

18060-424: Was carried out primarily in secret. "Third Front" is a geo-military concept: it is relative to the "First Front" area that is close to the potential war fronts. The Third Front region covered 13 provinces and autonomous regions with its core area in the Northwest (including Shaanxi , Gansu , Ningxia , and Qinghai ) and Southwest (including today's Sichuan , Chongqing , Yunnan , and Guizhou ). Its development

18200-568: Was commandeered by warlords and Shuhun was brought down river to Shanghai for safekeeping. In 1921, when Captain Plant died at sea while returning home to England, a Plant Memorial Fund was established to perpetuate Plant's name and contributions to Upper Yangtze navigation. The largest shipping companies in service, Butterfield & Swire, Jardine Matheson, Standard Oil, Mackenzie & Co., Asiatic Petroleum, Robert Dollar, China Merchants S.N. Co. and British-American Tobacco Co., contributed alongside international friends and Chinese pilots. In 1924,

18340-400: Was completed on December 26, 1999. A total of 12,638,000 m (446,306,758 cu ft) of material was excavated during construction. Panzhihua is a highly industrialized area dominated by gigantic mining operations. Most of the land not in use for mining is taken up by subsistence farming. Panzhihua has abundant natural resources, but remained undeveloped until 1960. It was founded on

18480-603: Was fluent in literary Chinese, was introduced to it as the homophonic 洋子江 rather than the usual 揚子江 . Further, although railroads and the Shanghai concessions subsequently turned it into a backwater, Yangzhou was the lower river's principal port for much of the Qing dynasty , directing Liangjiang 's important salt monopoly and connecting the Yangtze with the Grand Canal to Beijing. (That connection also made it one of

18620-632: Was home to sophisticated Neolithic cultures. Later it became the earliest part of the Yangtze valley to be integrated into the North Chinese cultural sphere. (Northern Chinese were active there since the Bronze Age ). In the lower Yangtze, two Yue tribes, the Gouwu in southern Jiangsu and the Yuyue in northern Zhejiang , display increasing Zhou (i.e., North Chinese) influence starting in

18760-487: Was motivated by concerns that China's industrial and military infrastructure would be vulnerable in the event of invasion by the Soviet Union or air raids by the United States. The largest development campaign of Mao-era China, it involved massive investment in national defense, technology, basic industries (including manufacturing, mining, metal, and electricity), transportation and other infrastructure investments and

18900-881: Was motivated by national defense considerations following the escalation of the Vietnam War after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident , the Sino-Soviet Split and small-scale border skirmishes between China and the Soviet Union. The Third Front campaign industrialized part of China's rugged interior and agricultural region. Between 1964 and 1980, China invested 205 billion yuan in the Third Front Region, accounting for 39.01% of total national investment in basic industries and infrastructure. Millions of factory workers, cadres , intellectuals, military personnel, and tens of millions of construction workers, flocked to

19040-541: Was only discovered in the late 20th century and lies in wetlands at 32°36′14″N 94°30′44″E  /  32.60389°N 94.51222°E  / 32.60389; 94.51222 and 5,170 m (16,960 ft) above sea level just southeast of Chadan Township in Zadoi County , Yushu Prefecture , Qinghai. As the historical spiritual source of the Yangtze, the Geladandong source is still commonly referred to as

19180-874: Was restricted to native crafts. In 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki provided a provision which opened Chongqing fully to foreign trade. Little took up residence in Chongqing and built Leechuan , to tackle the gorges in 1898. In March Leechuan completed the upriver journey to Chongqing but not without the assistance of trackers. Leechuan was not designed for cargo or passengers and if Little wanted to take his vision one step further, he required an expert pilot. In 1898, Little persuaded Captain Samuel Cornell Plant to come out to China to lend his expertise. Captain Plant had just completed navigation of Persia 's Upper Karun River and took up Little's offer to assess

19320-418: Was the centerpiece of the project and served as "a multi-function manufacturing base for anti-aircraft and anti-tank weaponry. By 1966, it was producing arms including rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft weapons. Steel mills, chemical plants, instrumentation factories, electronic factories, and extensive road infrastructure were also built in the Shanghai Small Front. The Shanghai Small Third Front

19460-788: Was the epicenter of the 2008 Panzhihua earthquake . Bronze Age cultural remains are representative of various types of bronze artifacts. Under the jurisdiction of Panzhihua City in Yanbian, Miyi and Renhe District, archeologists have collected nearly 20 bronze artifacts. Most of the dig sites were tomb sites excavated specifically for funerary objects. Practical objects were found that can be divided into three categories. Weapons such as bronze swords, bronze spears, and bronze Ge, tools such as copper axes, copper knives and copper hoes, and decorative objects like copper bracelets were found. The objects were similar to those of western Yunnan province , reflecting ethnic group similarities. The relics date from

19600-488: Was the home of the now extinct Yangtze river dolphin (or baiji ) and Chinese paddlefish , as well as the Yangtze sturgeon , which is extinct in the wild . In recent years, the river has suffered from industrial pollution, plastic pollution , agricultural runoff , siltation , and loss of wetland and lakes, which exacerbates seasonal flooding. Some sections of the river are now protected as nature reserves . A stretch of

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