6 CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Monday, May 10, 2021 | 7 PATH TO GLORY XIBAIPO: THE LAUNCHING PAD FOR CPC’S ‘BIG EXAM’ Hebei village, the former headquarters of the Party and residence of its leaders including Chairman Mao, now a popular ‘red tourism’ site By LI LEI in Beijing and ZHANG YU It has been borrowed by Party offi- tral Committee, a landmark Party in Shijiazhuang cials as a reminder of its founding prin- gathering that laid out the blueprint of Railway expansion bolsters city cluster development ciples, and it has also been promoted to the PRC, and the National Land Confer- calendar lying open on a tens of millions of CPC members as the ence. desk was turned to March 23, Party navigates the republic through The decision to leave Xibaipo came By LI LEI in Beijing and ZHANG YU reliance on steel and other heavy pollut- 1949. At Chairman Mao Ze- modern challenges. as the Party was confronted with in Shijiazhuang ing industries for economic growth. dong’s former residence in important questions as to what kind of The provincial government said more XibaipoA village, Hebei province, the ‘Last rural command post’ country it wanted to establish and what The northern province of Hebei is than 132,000 polluting factories were prop alludes to a watershed moment in Xibaipo, which literally means “a kind of political party it wanted to making progress in bolstering trans- shut down or rectified over the past five the century-old history of the Commu- slope with cypresses”, is tucked away in become, said Kang Yanxi, a researcher portation connectivity with its wealthi- years, and about 11 million families ben- nist Party of China. the rolling Taihang Mountains that sep- with the Xibaipo Memorial Hall. er neighbors Beijing and Tianjin as part efited from the sweeping coal-to-gas or That day, Mao and other revolution- arate Hebei from western neighbor The “exam metaphor” was a product of a broader effort by the Communist coal-to-electricity projects. aries packed up and left Xibaipo, a Shanxi province. of the in-depth contemplation over the Party of China to integrate regional The average concentration of PM2.5 sacred place for the then 28-year-long Party historians dubbed it the CPC’s future of the revolution in the face of a development. — inhalable particulate matter with a Communist struggle, which paved the “last rural command post” before estab- “new situation”, he told CNS. Known as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less that way for the founding of the People’s lishing the PRC. Seventy-two years on, the CPC has cluster, the region embarked on a is considered a health hazard — in the Republic of China in 1949. In March 1948, the central authori- proved itself to be an effective ruling sweeping integration drive seven years area fell 50 percent or more during that Their destination: Beijing, a war-rav- ties settled down in the village as they party, presenting remarkable results on ago, with aims ranging from establish- period, compared with 2013 levels, it aged city more than 350 kilometers worked to liberate larger parts of the the “big exam”. ing better railway connections to facili- added. away. country from the rule of the Kuomin- Built from ruins and chaos left by the tating a freer flow of capital. Over the past seven years, a large Zhao Di, a tour guide in Xibaipo, tang regime during the War of Libera- Kuomintang regime, the PRC has Provincial government figures number of big data companies from which is now a patriotic education base tion (1946-1949). become the world’s second-largest showed that the length of railways knit- Beijing settled in Zhangbei county in and a showcase of the country’s boom- Xibaipo was chosen as a springboard economy. It is also the world’s biggest ting the cluster together has exceeded the province’s northwest, which Hebei ing revolution-themed “red tourism”, as the CPC Central Committee moved industrial country, largest goods trader 10,400 kilometers, compared with Daily said has formed an industrial said that he always emphasizes the date out of Yan’an in the north of Shaanxi and largest holder of foreign exchange roughly 8,500 km in 2013. The Shijiazhuang Railway Station in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, is a cluster that has instilled momentum to visitors pouring in from across the province and blazed a trail to Beijing, reserves. “An integrated Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei major transportation hub in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city cluster. into local growth. nation all year round. the capital city of a new republic. China also has the world’s largest region via railways has basically taken ZHANG XIAOFENG / FOR CHINA DAILY A number of factories, including elec- “It is the remembrance date for the Xibaipo was of strategic importance social security system, with basic medi- shape,” Wang Dongfeng, secretary of tric car manufacturers, have been set Party’s decision to go for a ‘big exam in to the effort. Located at the junction of cal insurance covering over 1.3 billion the CPC Hebei Provincial Committee, the launch of a spate of high-speed rail- “big city problems”. The plan also up in the province to take over some of the capital city’,” he told China News the Taihang Mountains and the North people and basic old-age insurance cov- said in an interview with Xinhua News ways promoting the connections looked to inject momentum into less-af- the noncapital functions from Beijing, Service. China Plain, it lies in a horseshoe- ering nearly 1 billion. Visitors head to the Xibaipo Memorial Hall in Pingshan county, Hebei province. TIAN RUIFU / FOR CHINA DAILY Agency in January. among cities in the province, as well as fluent Hebei by shifting overly concen- which has grappled with explosive Zhao was referring to a metaphor shaped basin surrounded on three The average life expectancy of Chi- In Hebei province, That month, a high-speed train link- with Beijing and Tianjin and beyond. trated resources there from its growth of residents because of its overly coined by Mao 72 years ago. sides by mountains and water on the nese people has risen to 77.3 years, offi- the Taihang ing Beijing and Chengde city in Hebei Many more are either under con- neighbors. concentrated resources. At the time, the Kuomintang troops remaining side. cial figures show. benefits the world,” he said at a news the original village that sits a few kilo- “Although the revolutionary base of Mountains are went into operation. struction or have acquired official For years, the province — which Official figures showed the province were retreating and the communists The landscape proved to be advanta- The country has also ended extreme conference in Beijing in March. meters away. The current site was set up Pingshan has shaken off poverty, we rolling in the north; The new line slashed one-way travel approval. encircles the two richer municipalities has signed 90 billion yuan ($13 billion) were leaving the village to build a new geous from a military perspective, mak- domestic poverty, meeting the poverty in 1971 after a reservoir was built near still face new tests,” Dong Xiaohang, the Baiyangdian from four hours by slow train to just The addition of such infrastructure — has served as a base for cheap labor worth of technological transference China in Beijing, which had long served ing it easy to hold but hard to attack. reduction target set out in the United Patriotic education base the original more than a decade before. Party chief of the county, told Xinhua Lake resides at its slightly more than 50 minutes. has helped “connect dots to form a net”, and farm produce supplies, but it has contracts with Beijing and Tianjin since as the Chinese capital during the impe- Moreover, it abounds in wheat and Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable After years of development, Xibaipo Also duplicated were the former resi- News Agency. He added that high-qual- center; the Great A commentary in Hebei Daily said and a one-hour transportation zone has scrambled to reap economic benefits 2016. rial era. rice — crucial for soldiers — and had a Development 10 years ahead of sched- has become a base for patriotic educa- dences of former leaders including ity development would be the focus of Wall meets the the launch of the line solidified Cheng- begun to take shape, said Hebei Daily, while those two cities grew wealthier. More than 20 billion yuan of those Mao has drawn parallels between the strong base of pro-communist farmers. ule. tion and a popular red tourism destina- Chairman Mao, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Pingshan in the next five years. Bohai Sea. The de’s inclusion in a “one­hour city circle”, quoting an official with the China State Only a decade ago, the province was deals were inked last year, accounting central authorities’ strategic change of As the then headquarters of the Peo- The Party has united and led the tion. The former sites of the CPC Zhou Enlai, Ren Bishi and Dong Biwu. Xin Ming, a professor at the Party province nurtured which means it takes around one hour Railway Group’s Beijing division. home to some of the most entrenched for almost 8 percent of all such con- residence and the arduous journeys ple’s Liberation Army, Xibaipo had Chinese people in making outstand- Central Committee, a memorial hall The headquarters of the Central Mili- School of the CPC Central Committee, many martyrs of to reach major cities in its orbit.