Secretary Liu asked Xiao Tong, the secretary in charge of records, to inform the driver class to prepare a bus, and notified Wang Junliang, the old director of the Urban Construction Bureau, to also participate.
Secretary Liu took the lead, followed by members of the First Political Standing Committee. They went downstairs and got on a bus. An old man with gray hair was already sitting in the seat next to the driver. Secretary Liu introduced everyone: "This is the former Urban Construction Bureau
Comrade Wang Junliang, the director, is an expert in urban planning and the earliest participant in the planning of our county in South China."
The old man turned around and nodded to the leaders to greet them.
The car drove out of the county party committee compound, bypassed the central square, first drove around North Street and East-West Street, and then headed towards South Street.
After the car entered South Street, it was immediately blocked. At this time, County Magistrate Liu asked with a smile: "I have seen the four streets. Which street do you think has better planning?"
Jiang Gang was born in the military and had a relatively straightforward personality, so he blurted out: "Do you need to ask? Of course North Street is the best, with four lanes in both directions, separated by a green belt in the middle, non-motorized roads, and sidewalks. It's the only place here."
, it’s a bit like a modern city.”
Secretary Liu smiled and asked: "What do you think of South Street? What is the biggest problem?"
Jiang Gang said: "South Street is too narrow. The cars are jammed as soon as they arrive here. I don't know who planned it in the first place. I think it should be twice as wide."
Secretary Liu said: "Mr. Wang Junliang participated in the planning of this South Street. Let him tell you the story of the planning of South Street."
Wang Junliang said: "This street was planned in the late 1970s. I joined the work not long ago, mainly assisting several experts to organize files. At that time, the South China County Construction Bureau had a very famous expert named Du Qingye
, in the early stage of the settlement, I had participated in the planning work of many big cities. I used to work at the Qinxi Design Institute, but this person was very proud and spoke very directly. Because he openly contradicted the leadership, he was sent to this small place in southern China.
I still remember his appearance clearly. He wore a snow-white shirt every day, his hair was combed perfectly, and he always walked with his head held high, looking triumphant.
The first draft of the planning plan for South Street was drawn up by him. His design width was fifty-six meters. What is the concept of fifty-six meters? Just now we looked at North Street. The design width of North Street is fifty meters.
In other words, if built according to his design, South Street would be six meters wider than the current North Street."
When Wang Youliang said this, Luo Yufei couldn't help but interjected and asked: "If it had been built according to this plan, the current South Street would definitely be much more prosperous than the North Street, because there are more than 30 years of accumulation.
Ah, but why did it end up like this?"
Wang Youliang sighed and said: "As soon as his plan came out, many people questioned it. Fifty-six meters wide? How much land does this take up? How much food can be harvested on this street? How many people can be fed in the city?
There were not many cars, and there were only four lanes, two of which were redundant. There were non-motorized lanes, sidewalks, etc. At that time, people had never even heard of them. I am ashamed to say that I thought so too at the time.
Facing the doubts of his colleagues, he frowned and said: "Urban planning is a rigorous science. My design of 56 meters wide is based on scientific basis. You don't understand anything and I can't explain it clearly to you."
Finally, he proudly said to us: "If we strictly follow the plan I proposed, I guarantee that this street will not fall behind in fifty years."
Now it seems that his view is undoubtedly very correct. However, at that time, almost no one supported him. The truth is often in the hands of a few people. This sentence is true.
The secretary of the county party committee at that time was called Chang Jun. You may have heard of him. He was an old revolutionary who joined the party when he was a student. He was an upright official all his life. He served as county magistrate and secretary of the county party committee in South China for ten years.
, opened the Huimin Canal and created thousands of acres of plains. His contribution to the economic and social discovery of South China is recognized as the greatest among all previous leaders.
At that time, when the Construction Bureau submitted Du Qingye's design plan to Secretary Chang Jun for review, Secretary Chang Jun slapped the table and cursed: "How many people are there in South China County? How many cars? One street is 56 meters wide? Are you planning to kick it on the street?
Football? What a mess!"
He called the then Director of the Construction Bureau, He Guowei, to point him in the nose and give him a scolding, and asked the Construction Bureau to redesign the plan and cut the width in half to a maximum of 28 meters.
After hearing the decision of the county committee, Du Qingye went to the county committee secretary Cheng Tianjun to give him blunt advice. He said: China now has 800 million people. According to the current growth rate, it will exceed 1.2 billion in 20 years. Today's Chinese cities
The degree of urbanization is very low, but one day it will burst into urbanization. At present, our county has only more than 20,000 people and few cars. However, I can conclude that in twenty or thirty years, the number of permanent residents in the county in South China will be
The population will definitely exceed 100,000, and the number of vehicles will exceed 3,000. When we look at this street again, we will not think it is too wide, but will think it is too narrow. If we build it very big now
If it is narrow, it will become even narrower in the future, and intestinal obstruction will occur in this case.
If a house is not built well, we will have to tear it down and rebuild it at most, which will result in a loss of some money. But if a street in the city is designed wrong, it will be troublesome, because future city construction will be based on it.
, that is one thing that leads to everything, and one thing that blocks everything, so when we engage in urban planning, we would rather be a little ahead of the curve, but we must not be conservative.
Secretary Changjun listened to his statement, thought about it carefully, and thought that his point of view was correct, but his judgment on the development of society was a bit exaggerated, and he was guilty of intellectual idealism, so he also punished him.
After a meal: How many people still have no food to eat, but you want to build streets from good farmland? I absolutely cannot agree.
The county committee still insisted that the maximum street width should not exceed 28 meters.
Du Qingye refused to participate in the design of the new plan. After a group of us pieced together the design, Du Gong refused to sign, so the director, He Guowei, had to sign and submit it.
After the county committee saw the new plan, they were very satisfied and started construction immediately.
After Du Qingye saw this situation, he looked up to the sky and laughed and said: "When power is in the hands of those who are stupid and unaware, it will cause the greatest damage to society. You will definitely be judged by history."
Three years later, Du Qingye returned to work at Qinxi Design Institute. Two years later, he went to Beijing and became one of the most famous urban planning experts in the country. He never came to South China again until his death.
After the completion of South Street, it quickly became the commercial center of South China. However, congestion began to appear in the early 1990s. Because the street was too narrow, there was no way to implement greening and beautification projects. It was joked by foreign businessmen as a small rural alley in South China.
Many powerful businesses have moved away from South Street one after another. The prosperity of South Street was short-lived and then completely declined. Everyone knows what it has become now. In just thirty years, it has turned into a place harboring filth and evil.
This is something that the original designers never thought of.”
When Wang Youliang said this, everyone was silent and lost in thought. Everyone finally understood why Secretary Liu wanted to take everyone here to visit.
Wang Yongmin laughed twice and said: "This street can be regarded as a special product under special circumstances. There are many streets like this across the country. The main reason is that reform and opening up has greatly liberated productivity, and society has begun to develop in a spurt. It has grown so fast.
The speed of development may not even be expected by national leaders, so it is reasonable for the then Secretary of the Growth Army to make such a wrong judgment.”
Several members of the Standing Committee also echoed his view, which was actually justified by their own speeches at the Standing Committee meeting just now. This is also the norm in officialdom. When achievements are made, it is the leadership's wise decision-making. When problems occur, it is objective reasons.
Secretary Liu said, "I will take you to visit another place."
The car finally crossed South Street. Secretary Liu saw a flower shop in front and asked the driver to stop. He got out of the car and bought a bouquet of white chrysanthemums himself. After getting in the car, he said, "Go to Yudaishan Cemetery."
Yudai Mountain is three kilometers east of Huanan County. The mountain is only a hundred meters high. The top of the mountain is gentle, and there are all kinds of cypress trees growing there. It is green all year round, but the mountainside is exposed to rocks. What is strange is that the rocks are fine and white in color, which seems to give it to this place.
The hill is wrapped with a white belt, so it is called Yudai Mountain.
It is said that Yudai Mountain has excellent feng shui, but ordinary people cannot be buried here, because since the 1950s, this place has been designated as a martyr cemetery. All revolutionary martyrs who died in South China have been moved and buried here for future generations to pay their respects.
.
Later, there was an unwritten rule that officials who had worked in South China could be buried here after their death, but their rank must be above the division level.
I heard that Secretary Liu was going to Yudai Mountain, and he was bringing a bouquet of white chrysanthemums with him. Apparently he was going to pay homage to a deceased person. I wonder who he was going to pay homage to? What does this have to do with the plan discussed today?
The car wound its way up the artificially opened road and stopped in front of a gatehouse at the top of the mountain.
After getting off the car, Secretary Liu walked into the door solemnly holding flowers, followed by a group of people quietly following behind.
A small winding stone path winds through the green cypress woods, and along the way you can see tombstones standing in the woods.
After finally passing through a piece of Berlin, Secretary Liu stopped in front of a lonely tombstone about two meters high and sixty to seventy centimeters wide. He placed flowers under the monument and bowed deeply three times towards the tombstone.
Everyone also bowed three times, but they became more and more puzzled. They didn't know who was buried here because there was no word on the tombstone.
Li Weiyou said with a heavy tone: "The person buried here is Comrade Chang Jun, the former secretary of the South China County Party Committee."
Everyone was surprised. As far as they knew, Changjun left Hecheng in the early 1980s, was transferred to work in his hometown in the south, and finally retired as deputy secretary of the provincial party committee. This is recorded in the county annals. His hometown is in the south.