As one of the six members of the preparatory work group of the Shantou Special Economic Zone, Wang Ruizhong is the most direct witness of the 30 years of tremendous changes that have taken place in Shantou.
As an amateur photographer, he recorded the development and changes in the city landscape of Shantou over the past decades.
"This used to be farm land, and almost uninhabited," he said while pointing to a shabby and empty road in the photograph.
He told the reporters that the photo was taken in 1976 and the road in it was the original appearance of today's Jinsha Road, the busiest shopping street in Shantou. "Many people didn't believe their eyes after seeing the tremendous changes."
27 years ago, the undeveloped Longhu industrial park was almost a tidal beach, and Longhu ditch, a creek then, was just barren yellow sand and clay, with an occasional sighting of several green trees. Wang produced a photo, in which there were a row of pigpens, an orchard and a large tidal beach in the background.
It was a completely rural landscape. "You would not be able to guess where this is today.
This is where today's Golden Gulf (Jasper) Hotel, Longhu Entertainment Park and Shantou Time Square are located, Wang said.
After the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the CPC, the Central Government gradually gave preferential policies to the local governments and flexible measures were taken to carry out reform and opening-up.
Then the City of Shantou decided to build the 'Longhu Export Processing Zone,' the predecessor to the Shantou Special Economic Zone.
After over 20 years of development, today there is a large number of high-rises around Longhu and Longhu Industrial Village, the duty-free shop, the Longhu Hotel and the Longhu District Government Building have all become landmarks in the region.
On January 22, 1980, the preparatory work group of the Shantou Special Economic Zone was formally established.
In order to speed up the establishment of the Shantou Special Economic Zone, the preparatory work group, after further research, proposed to have the site of the special economic zone relocated to the northwest side of Longhu Village, which was on higher ground, of better geological structure and closer to downtown; and in the preliminary stages, the water and electricity supply could use existing facilities in the urban area, making it possible to save funding and yield a quicker result.
After on-site inspections by the provincial, prefecture and municipal leaders, it was finally decided that the site of the Shantou Special Economic Zone would be located on the northwest side of Longhu Village.
The Jinsha East Road was renovated, the Dongdun Water Plant was enlarged and a 10,000-volt high voltage line was built, to create the conditions for the full-scale construction of the special economic zone.
Eventually, the Shantou Longhu Special Economic Zone was established on July 12, 1980.
By People's Daily Online
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