PROGRESS ON SOUTH TUNG-T'ING HU RECTIFICATION PROJECT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700110391-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 14, 2011
• Sequence Number: 391
• Publication Date: May 28, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700110391-4
DATE DIST. ~$ May. 1953
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT N0.
PROGRESS ON SOl1PH TUNG-T'ING HU RECTIFICATION PROJECT
~um',~ary: The South Tung_t'ing Hu Rectification Construction
Project on which work was begun in December is now employing 200,000
peasant laborers. Seven of the projected 13 cut-off dams designed
to separate the waters of the Tzu Chiang and Hsiang Chiang and to pre-
vent flooding of thA lowlands between Y.he twn rivers, have been com-
pleted.' Building of new dikes and repair and enlarging aP old dikes
is going forward rapidly and the 1952 - 1953 Phase of the pro,Ject is
expected to be flniahed by mid-March.
A sketch map of the area is appended
Two hundred thousand workmen are swarming over the various parts of the
South Tung-t'ing Hu Rectification Construction Project that will protect from
floods an area that produces one sixth of the rice crop of Hunan Province.
In preparation Por'the arrival and maintenance of this force of workmen,
soma 200 miTliori'cattiea of grain and supplies had to be assembled. This re-
quired the services of 1,500 small boats, 22 steamers, and several hundred barges.
The chief features of this first stage of the program are (1) shutting off
a large number of anastomotic streams forming a network connecting the Tzu Chiang
on the west and north sides of the area, and the Hsiang Chiang on the east side
and (2) the building oP several important new protective dikes. Some 13 cut-off
dams are under construction involving the movement of 2,021,400 cubic meters of
earth, and 19,400 cubic meters of stone. In the past, this network of steams
flowing across low-lying rice lands has overflowed when the large rivers were at
high-water Stage. In the future, these streams are expected to dry up gradually
and the cultivated areas they now separate can then be ,joined.
Below Kan-ch'1-Chiang, the Tzu Chiang will be confined to three main chan-
nels, tvo of them leading directly into the South Tung-t'ing Hu and the third
,joining the Hsiang Chiang at Lin Tzu-k'ou, thus eventually entering the main
Tung-t ing Hu.
STAT
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08 _ CIA-RDP80-00809A000700110391-4 ~
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
SUBJECT
HOW
CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTED
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY N
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO I~;20ADCASTS
COUNTRY China
Economic - Agriculture, water conservation
14 Jan 1953
Chinese
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700110391-4
The present phase oP the project involves the building of 56.42 kilometers
of new dikes and the repair of 63.41 kilometers oP old dikes. In addition to the
above construction under the immediate direction oP the South Tung-t'ing IIu Recti-
fication Construction Project Committee of the provincial government, 132.6 kilo-
meters of dikes in the area will be repaired under the direction of local authori-
ties, for a grand total of 252.68 kilometers.
The most important .and largest single piece of new dike construction of the
Rectification Construction Project is the new dike to be built enclosing the north-
eastern portion of the Rectification Construction Project area, starting at a point
northeast oP Ta-chiang-tzu and running eastward, crossing several lakes and mudd~r
swamps. After passing Huang-t'u-lun and Fu-chic-ahan, the dike swings southward
past Tseng-this-t'ai, then southwest to a point a Little northeast of Lin-tzu-k'ou
where it connects with the old dike. The total length of this dike is 19.9 kilo-
meters. It ranges from 8 to 9 meters in height and is 6 meters broad on top., This
dike is expected to bear the brunt of flood waters coming from the Tung-t'ing Hu,
One other type of structure included in the program is an eight-gate rein-
forced concrete drainage lock, 12 meters high and 32 meters long. It will be lo-
cated near Hsin-ch'uan-ssu and will be used as needed to release flood water from
the flat rice lands in the Ian-ni Hu area into a tributary of the Hsiang Chiang.
One result of the Rectification Construction Fro,ject is to provide three pro-
tected areas knoxn as safety pockets. The largest oP these is the Lan-ni Hu area
between the Tzu Chiang and the Hsiang Chiang, A11 the anastomotic streams in this
area that have formerly carried flood waters from both the above rivers into the
area will be cut off Prom their connection with those rivers and the farmers will
be spared the flood menace that has heretofore threatened them.
The second of these safety pockets lies between the central and northeastern
branches of the Tzu Chiang from Mio-chiao-k'ou on the south to Huang-t'u-fun on
the Wort]. This is the area protected on the north and northeast by the new 19.9-
kilometer dike.
The third safety pocket is the area lying between the central and western
branches of the Tzu Chiang ~rom Kan-ch'i.-chiang on the southwest to Feng-shu-yang
on the northeas~. Near the nort}~east corner of this area, a new dike has to be
built through an area where there is one meter of soft mud covered by 3 meters of
water.
Seven of the 13 projected cut-off dams have already been completed, namely
those of Liu-chic Hu ~ot indicated on original of sketch ma], Ta_t'an-k'ou,
Kao-tzu Hu, Hsiao-ho-k'ou, San-li-ch'iao, I-p'o-yang, and Tz'u-kiu-k'ou. The
whole project is expected to be finished in the spring before the spring season
high water on the Hsiang Chiang.
This project is of great economic value. In the first place, the length of
dikes to be kept up will be reduced frcm 816 kilometers to 361.67 kilometers,
Secondly, only 75 kilometers of hazardous dikes frill remain. Thirdly, 52,000
shih mow ~ne shih mow equals 01647 acr) of arable land will be added to the
flood-free area for a total of 780,000 shih mow, capable of an annual production
of 389 million tattles of paddy rice.
Year by year in the past, the flood waters from the Yangtze River coming
down through the Tung-t'ing Hu and the flood waters of the Tzu Ho, Hsiang Ho,
Yuan Ho, and Li Ho have flooded or threatened to flood all this area. After the
completion of this project, these rivers, more closely confined to their channels,
will scour out and lower their beds with resulting benefit to shipping, flood con-
trol, and drainage. The Ian-ni Hu area, south of the Tzu Chiang, is expected to
hocome a broad fertile plain.
~ppended sketch sap follows
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08: CIA=RDP80-00809A000700110391.4
 Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700110391-4
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Declassified in PartSanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/08 :CIA-RDP80-00809A000700110391-4~,