INFORMATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF SINKIANG PROVINCE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700070396-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 18, 2011
• Sequence Number: 396
• Publication Date: July 18, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/19: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700070396-4
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
HOW
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
CLASSIFICATION ? STRICTED
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE O~GEANCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
China - Sinkiang Province DATE OF
Economic INFORMATION 1950 - 1951
- Agriculture; Sociological
Daily, semiweekly, newspapers DATE DIST. I$ Jul 1952
Shanghai; Berlin (GDR) NO. OF PAGES 3
PUBLISHED 17, 23 ?eb 19552
LANGUAGE
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SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
INFORMATION ON THE DEVELOPMERI' OF SINKIANG PROVINCE
Two recent newspaper articles discuss the development of Sinkiang
Province. Novaya Zhizn' describes an irrigation project undertaken
in Sinkiang and a projected hydroelectric plant. It discusses agri-
cultural gains, city and industrial development, and the increasing
educational opportunities. Aussenhandels Nachrichten reports on ir-
rigation plans, livestock figures, and agricultural data.
AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENTS IN SINKIANG -- Shanghai, Novaya Zhizn',
17 Feb 52
In Sinkiang, the following products are grown: wheat, maize, cotton,barley,
rice, sorghum, kaoliang, sunflower seed, and hemp. Pastures are spread over the
Tien Shan and the Kunlun Mountains.
Since the liberation, creative steps have been taken in the province. To
make water available to grain-producing Sinkiang, the feudalists were deprived
of the right to control water sources. Springs, yells, canals, and irrigation
ditches were declared national property; all farmers received the right to use
them.
After the expulsion of the KMi' from Sinkiang, the People's Army, numbering
tens of thousands of soldiers, armed with shovels, hoes, and picks, began to con-
struct new, large-scale irrigation projects. The People's Army drew up a plan
under which more than 3 million mou of land would be irrigated by the beginning
of 1954, and pledged to construct 1,800 kilometers of large and small canals.
The plan is being carried out successfully.
Hammers and picks clatter against the shores of Lake Ho-yen-ch'ih, which is
to become the basis of a big water reservoir with a complete ayst~m of locks and
canals. To augment the supply of water for the reservoir, it was decided to di-
rect into the lake a river which runs 5 kilometers away. A 5-kilometer canal was
dug through rocks and mountain ridges, and a powerful dan, was erected across the
old river bed, changing the river's course.
STATE
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The chief oY the river and lake irrigation project, Lu Tsung-Chang, gave
the following explanation: "We built a dam and locks between two high spurs.
The lake can now have a capacity of 50 million cubic meters of water. The
river will now fill our basin from November to April. In the spring we shall
begin to empty the water through the locks and let it flow through a canal for
35 kilometers, irrigating 130,000 mou of land. On the new river bed which
leads to the lake, we shall build a hydroelectric plant which will provide
electric power for the industrial enterprises under construction all around.
"The struggle for water has extended all over Sinkiang. The old irriga-
tion system has already been overhauled. over 300 kilometers of new canals and
ditches have been dug. But this is only the beginning."
At the time of the liberation, agriculture in Sinkiang was in bad shape.
Of 104 million mou of arable land, less than 50 million mou were under cultiva-
tion.
Land reform in Sinkiang has not yet been carried through. Confiscation
and division of the land will begin only after the next harvest. At present,
the people's authorities are taking measures to limit the rent charged by land-
owners, and to return land mortgages.
Even these first agricultural reforms have already brought favorable re-
sults in the village. The area under grain cultivation increased by more than
3 million mou in the last 2 years, and the yield also increased. The peasants
began to form mutual aid teams. Units of the People's Liberation Army organ-
ized 14 provincial horse-renting stations. Here, the farmer gets help with
seeds, fertilizer, draft power, and modern farm machinery.
The new life is especially noticeable in the cities. The mayor of Urum-
chi, the administrative capital of the province, stated: "Urumchi has a popu-
lation of 120,000 people. Th. whole adult population signed the World Peace
Appeal. In the 2 years of the people's administration the city's appearance
has changed. Everybody remembers how the river which flows through the city
flooded 440 homes in spring 1944. This shall not be repeated. High stone dams
have been erected which protect the houses and streets from the violent spring
floods. During the four summer months of 1951, 5 kilometers of roadway were
covered with asphalt and stone. The old inhabitants of the city say that such
building would have taken about 50 years under the 10?f. Bridges are being
built throughout Sinkiang for the through highways.
"Industry and trading companies have developed with the increased activity
in Urumchi. As compared to 1949, their number has almost doubled. Unemploy-
ment has been liquidated The purchasing power of the population increased
more than 1 times. And so it is everywhere."
There are plants and factories under construction which will be finished
in fall 1952. The large automobile repair plant was planned to be in operation
by the end of the year, but the workers came up with a counterplan: double the
labor effort and have the plant in operation for the anniversary o. the People's
Republic of China on 1 October 1952.
Five kilometers from Urumchi, on the extensive mountain plateau, a large
textile combine is being built. This is the first local textile industry in
Sinkiang. It will provide textiles not only for the province, but also for Ti-
bet and Tsinghai.
Ther' are 60 middle and high schools, teaching 15,000 people in Sinkiang.
About 300,000 children are gettine primary education. Courses for illiterates,
set up in every city and village, were attended by 256,000 workers and peasants
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STAT
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in 1950, and in fall 1951, by more than 400,000 people. A party leader train-
ing school, opened in Sinkiang, already has :,372 graduates. During their
studies, many of them have joined the Communist Party and the New Democracy
Yov*h Movement.
ECONOMIC ADVANCE IN SINKIANG -- 'Jerlin, Auasenhandels Nachrichten, 23 Feb 52
Approximately 770,000 square kilometers in Sinkiang can be irrigated for
farming, and the remainder of the area can support at least four times the 16
million sheep, one million cattle, and 2 million horses which grazed there in
1940.
Extensive work has already been accomplished on the restoration of the
irrigation system. A Five-Year Plan provides for the irrigation of 800,000
hectares of land by 1956.
In 1950 alone, 66,000 hectares of new farm land were brought under the
plow. This increased the 1950 food production of Sinkiang Province by between
20 and 30 percent, a quantitative increase of 90,000 tons of food which would
not otherwise have been produced. It was also possible to improve the quality
of various crops.
In Sinkiang Province the People's Liberation Army has participated in ex-
emplary fashion in building up the economy. The value of goods produced and
services rendered by this organization amounted to one trillion yuan in 1951.
Last year.. 65,000 additional hectares of land were cultivated, producing
54,000 tons of grain.
The livestock population was increased in 1951 by 400,000 animals. This
represents an increase of 138 percent compared with 1950. Extensive reforest-
ation projects were undertaken and more than 1,200,000 trees planted in 1950.
In addition to numerous smaller irrigation projects, five large systems were
completed and a number of levies repaired. As a result of this work it is now
possible to irrigate 36,000 hectares.
This year's production elan calls for expansion of areas under cultivation
sad for an increase in crops. To meet the growing demands of the rapidly ex-
panding textile industry, a considerable ircrease in cotton acreage is planned.
To protect fields and orchards, extensive shelter-belt forests are being
planted. New irrigation systems will make possible the irrigation 'f an addi-
tional 200,000 hectares in 1950 Z-_ic7.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/19: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700070396-4