By LONG ZEWEN

A log cabin in the forest zone.

THE Daxing'anling (Greater Hinggan Mountains) "green treasurehouse" Forest Zone in northeastern China covers 7.13 million hectares. In it are 665 million cubic meters of timber reserves. Its primeval forests make up 40 percent of the total area.

Daxing'anling traverses Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang Province. It is the largest forest zone in the country and concentrates the most resources. It is also an important timber production base, having in the past 40 years provided 110 million cubic meters of commodity timber, generating 4.9 billion yuan in revenue.

According to Zhou Shengxian, official in charge of forestry affairs, the Daxing'anling Forest Zone has contributed a great deal to the primitive accumulation of new China and development of its national economy, hence its reputation as "Eldest Brother in forestry."

In August 1964, 100,000 people entered the Daxing'anling area and initiated forestry production. This mainly took the form of tree felling to supply the construction, papermaking, shipbuilding and railroad industries.

As the demand for timber increased, the forest zone resources became overstretched and timber reserves decreased sharply. As shortcomings in the unitary economic structure of timber production gradually emerged, the monthly salary of workers dropped to 200 yuan, and inestimable damage was sustained to the ecological environment. Dai Wanchun, former vice-governor of Daxing'anling Prefecture, recalls that when he came to the Greater Hinggan Mountains in the 1960s he would often spot wild animals such as brown bears, roe deer and wild boar. Nowadays it is rare to see even a bird. The decline of flora and fauna is a superficial phenomenon; ecological disaster in the area goes deep. The annual rainfall has decreased nearly 100 mm, and there have been extreme climatic phenomena in the region. Windstorms have increased, in June 1996 there was heavy snowfall, and in 2001 there were sandstorms. In July 2002 the temperature hit 38 degrees. All this has impaired the forests' water-retaining capacity, and floods are frequent. There is a 20,000-square-kilometer soil erosion area, the frozen earth stratum has thickened, and the forest communities have degenerated. The forest zone faces great challenges in both its economy and resources.

Restructuring

Oroqen ethnic group sports have ethnic characteristics.

It was the planned economy that awarded the northeast China forest zone its status as "Eldest Brother." During the transition period from the planned to the market economy forestry shortcomings came to light. Forestry workers in the Greater Hinggan Mountains soon called for reform of its structure.

In 1988, the National Natural Forest Protection Program began implementation and the local government and forestry administration took this opportunity to readjust economic structure and product mix. By the end of 2003, the output value of green food amounted to 350 million yuan.

Special-interest tours developed, generating an income of 52 million yuan in 2003. Forest, ice and snow, boundary-river, summer resort, driving and conference tours all draw large numbers of visitors to the region.

Economic and social development in the forest zone has also advanced. By the end of 2003, the GDP of the forest zone had increased from its 1997 figure of 3.55 billion yuan to 5.32 billion yuan, averaging 10,061 yuan per capita. Great breakthroughs have been made in the readjustment of product mix.

The forest zone has formed a complete industrial system. Its products, such as high-grade wooden furniture, wooden floorboards, laminated timber, shaving board, joinery board, and container floors, are sold both at home and abroad. The Greater Hinggan Mountains has become one of the main forestry product suppliers in the country.

The private sector of the economy is greatly encouraged and has generated an annual output value of 1.43 billion yuan, becoming the fastest growth factor in the forest zone's economy. The non-public economy now makes up 31.7 percent of the forest zone's GDP.

Improving Lives

At the beginning of development, influenced by the principle "production precedes livelihood," the living environment of forestry workers was seriously lacking. They experienced difficulties in housing, water supply, transportation and supplies.

Horse-drawn sleigh in the Greater Hinggan Mountain forest zone in winter.

Since 1998, dramatic changes have taken place in both urban and rural areas of the Greater Hinggan Mountains. After raising funds through various channels, the forest zone completed infrastructure investment of 4.29 billion yuan -- more than total investment in the previous decade. Per capita housing of urban dwellers expanded by 2.59 square meters, and 150,000 local inhabitants have access to tap water. Tap water projects have been conducted in ten counties, districts and bureaus, including Jagdaqi District, Tahe County, Huma County, Xinlin District, Songling District, and Huzhong District. The tap water supply in urban areas has expanded from 44.4 percent of the total population in 1998 to 62 percent in 2003. Investment of 220 million yuan has increased newly upgraded A-class roads to 106 kilometers. A-class and B-class roads amount to 209 kilometers, making up 50 percent of the total length of urban roads and providing great convenience to local inhabitants.

In 2002, Ma Shujie, former vice governor of Heilongjiang Province and now vie-chairman of the Standing Committee of Heilongjiang Provincial People's Congress, praised Jagdaqi and Mohe as "small but picturesque cities."

Ecological Construction

Ecology is the foundation of economic development, especially in the Daxing'anling Forest Zone. It is the source of two great rivers (Heilong and Nenjiang), and also the natural protective screen for the Songnen Plain, Inner Mongolia Grassland, Northeast China and North China.

Since implementation of the Natural Forest Protection Program, the forest zone has intensified its protection of resources. The timber output has been reduced from 3.504 million cubic meters in 1997 to 2.144 million cubic meters in 2003, a decrease of 38.81 percent. Forest coverage has increased from 75 percent in 1997 to its present 78.4 percent, an increase of 3.4 percentage points. Talking about future ecological construction, Wang Zhonglin, Party secretary of Daxing'anling Prefecture, said, "As the largest state-owned forest zone in the country, the Daxing'anling Forest Zone should not base its economic development on consumption of forest resources. We would rather endure economic pressure than damage the ecological environment."

In order to intensify its protection of the ecological environment, since 2002 the forest zone has canceled all environmentally detrimental gold mining activities, and has gradually restored damaged vegetation. This reduces income by 200 million yuan, or two GDP percentage points annually.

Seven nature reserves in the forest zone, including Huzhong, Shuanghe, Nanwenghe and Chuonahe, have been listed as national or provincial nature reserves. After 17 years of effort, 1.04 million hectares of forest damaged during the 1987 fire has been fully restored.

Urban Infrastructure

In the 35 years from 1964 to 1998, the forest zone's surfaced roads amounted to less than 80 kilometers, and there was no A-class highway. Backward transportation and communications has greatly restricted economic development of the forest zone. To change this situation, in 1998, the Daxing'anling Prefecture and Forestry Administration raised funds through different channels to upgrade infrastructure, and in the five years from 1998 to 2003, invested a record 1.69 billion yuan in infrastructure.

In October 2003, the 582-km A-class highway from prefectural capital Jagdaqi to Mohe opened. This greatly promoted the prefecture's forest tours, and in May 2004, flights from Harbin to Jagdaqi began, ending its isolation from the aviation network.

Preferential policies regarding western development will enable construction of Mohe Airport to start within 2004. This will shorten the travel time between Harbin and Mohe from 24 hours to 4 hours. Construction of a bridge on the Sino-Russian boundary river - the Heilong River - will soon begin in Luoguhe. This will greatly promote Sino-Russian trade and tourism.

At present, Jagdaqi operates passenger trains to Beijing, Harbin, Shenyang and Dalian. There are also express trains between Mohe and Harbin. Developed transportation and fast communications will make Daxing'anling's links with the outside closer and more convenient. Everything now looks set for Daxing'anling's economy to burgeon.