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Western areas thirsty for hi-tech
2000-09-09
peopledaily.com.cn
The Chinese Government should take advantage of high technology and the region's cultural and human resources to spur western development, said Fei Xiaotong, one of China's leading sociologists, in the overseas edition of People's Daily.
In a bid to narrow the gap between the landlocked western region and the east, the central government kicked off the remake-the-west campaign this year.
Although this development plan resembles those in countries such as the United States, which had put a large amount of human resources into developing their underdeveloped west, it would be totally wrong for China to duplicate their experiences, Fei pointed out.
With the knowledge economy replacing the capital-based economy, science and technology are playing a dominant role in racking up a country's economy.
Half of the wealth in the world which has been accumulated during the last three decades was created because of high technology.
The economic miracle created by Shenzhen Special Economic Zone proves that the underdeveloped regions could surpass the already developed ones if the former could catch up in terms of high-tech application, trained talent, advanced technological equipment and a favourable investment environment.
Fei warned that the western region would hardly catch up with the east if the State merely expanded the labour-intensive industries there.
The major way out for the State to achieve its goal lay in the wide use of high-tech to modernize industry and agriculture.
He suggested that big industrial cities in the west could be developed into China's own "Silicon Valleys." These cities, if well developed, could become high-tech centres of the west and play a role as Shenzhen and Zhuhai, two economic giants, did in the east.
While focusing on the development of big cities, local governments should direct more attention at developing high-tech agricultural zones in rural areas.
Yanglin, a well-known high-tech agricultural development zone in Xi'an, the capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, is a good example.
The zone cashed in on high technology to develop good-quality and highly-efficient agriculture, blazing a way for China's agriculture.
But people still raise fresh concerns over whether it is too early to develop high-tech development zones in rural areas because China's most rural areas are still underdeveloped and many people are still illiterate.
In these circumstances, it is a challenge for farmers in the west to master high-tech information and establish high-tech development zones.
To reverse this gloomy picture, local governments should encourage more scientists to go to rural areas and popularize science technology there, Fei suggested.
As the competition in today's world mainly focuses on talent, local governments must take measures to ensure this talent can be put into play, Fei said.
That China's western region has been underdeveloped for a long time is partly because the region ignored the advice of experts who went to the west in the 1960s in response to the government's call to develop the west.
In the past, in Shaanxi Province for example, the arms factory was only one of a few options available for intellectuals. They had no chance to put what they learned in school into full use. This resulted in a waste of human resources and led to the province being stagnant in terms of economy, Fei said.
To avoid back tracking, the government should not only adopt a series of incentives to attract domestic and overseas talents, but also cultivate a favourable environment under which potential can be fully tapped.
Fei also stressed that people should not neglect rich cultures in the western regions.
As the cradle of ancient Chinese culture, the western region boasts bountiful historic and scenic resources.
Special folk customs created by many minority nationalities living in the region for a long period are an asset.
Protection of these human resources should be a top priority both on the local governments' and central government's work agenda.
Otherwise, the western development campaign might end up in cultural vandalism, Fei said.
Fei proposed that the State utilized the abundant western human resources to develop their tourism, an industry which needed little investment but had a good return.
The State also needed to strike a balance between economic development and protection of natural resources, Fei said.
Excessive exploration of natural resources will only hurt the development of the national economy from a long-term perspective, he said.
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