On Jan. 27, Xinhua News Agency reported the "road competition movement" in many places around the country, which centered on the alignment of high-speed railways and setting up of stations. The report listed the phenomena of "public opinion war", official public relations and "mass pressure" adopted by many places, and said that the "campaign for roads" embodied the local "political economy of high-speed rail".
New York Times
New Beijing News reporter in Henan also found a similar phenomenon. Since September last year, civil society organizations in Xinye and Dengzhou in Henan have demanded that the Xiangyang-Nanyang section of the Zhengwan high-speed railroad set up a station in their hometowns. Subsequently, civil groups in the two cities launched various forms of road protection activities in many cities across the country. Behind these activities, travelers see home, merchants see business opportunities ......
Experts have suggested that high-speed rail lines can't be changed arbitrarily in response to local public opinion, and that local governments should consider the bigger picture.
On Jan. 14, the road-protection movement in Xinye and Dengzhou, Henan Province, reignited the flames of war.
"The cause is that the Henan provincial government once again sent a letter to the railroad corporation to support the Zhengwan Railway to set up a station in Dengzhou East program." A Xinye civil road protector told the New Beijing News.
Early in 2015, a Henan Provincial People's Government to the Railway General Corporation issued a "letter on the Zhengwan Railway Dengzhou East Station site program opinions" circulated, the letter proposed to adopt the recommendation "in the village of Huyan set up in Dengzhou East Station program."
According to the New Beijing News reporter, this program is the end of last year, the new program, by the two places of civil protection of the iron known as the "fourth program".
The Zhengwan Railway, which starts in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, and ends in Wanzhou, Chongqing, is an important passenger dedicated line in China's railroad network plan.
Dengzhou, Xinye two places "high-speed rail battle" has been intermittently lasted nearly half a year, "war" stems from the Zhengzhou high-speed rail in Henan section of the site is located in Dengzhou or in Xinye.
"Road protection movement" experience
Dengzhou and Xinye civil road protection movement in the form of creative, in addition to the launch of signature campaign, there are a variety of publicity campaign
Dengzhou Sun Yang, who works in Beijing, on November 16, 2014, also into the "road protection movement". The "road protection movement", he pulled open a banner in Xizhimen, "We are in Beijing, support Dengzhou high-speed rail station". Subsequently, Dengzhou people in Suzhou, Chongqing, Shanghai, Wuhan and a dozen other cities set off signature campaigns.
The road-protection campaign took many creative forms, with a road-protector from Dengzhou wearing a leather jacket and cap and climbing Tianshan Mountain to pull up a road-protection banner in the freezing snow.
And Dengzhou netizens created a Dengzhou high-speed railroad march, "Dengzhou high-speed railroad version of the sky road": "I stand in the fertile fields at dusk, looking forward to the high-speed railroad repaired to my hometown, a huge dragon wind speeding, for the people of the reservoir area to bring well-being."
"Dengzhou hometown associations" are gradually promoting activities around the world. The "road protection movement" has been underway for three months in Xinye, Henan province.
Wang Hongyong, the initiator of the "Xinye Road Protection Alliance", said they already have a wealth of "combat experience" and "skillful tactics". The Dengzhou is nothing new, and has copied our previous activities exactly.
But in the face of Dengzhou's nationwide campaign to protect the road, Wang still felt the pressure "to overwhelm them (Dengzhou) in terms of momentum."
"Dengzhou hometown associations" organized five or six people on the streets to pull signatures on petitions, "Xinye road protection alliance" organized hundreds of people on the streets; Dengzhou road protector went to the Tianshan Mountain to take photographs, Xinye road protection alliance members to the U.S. White House to take pictures.
Wang Hongyong and others used different ways to publicize to different people. Giving work to his farmer brothers, Wang Hongyong would say, "They took our land and they want to rob our high-speed railroad." When they heard this, the farmers were not happy: "This is not hit!"
The Xinye Road Preservation Union has also attracted highly educated people to join it. Among them, there are four road-protection ladies: an urban planning expert, a civil service examination expert, a certified public accountant, and a doctorate in computer science, who are the think-tanks of the road-protection alliance, and are able to make a detailed analysis of the reasonableness of setting up a station in Xinye.
The source of funding relies mainly on "crowdfunding" -- donations from road-protection members across the country. As of Nov. 19, the Dengzhou hometown association had raised more than 3,000 yuan. The Xinye Road Safety Union has already raised 40,000 yuan.
Wang Hongyong's cell phone has 37 groups, including a planning research group, an event planning group and an event execution group. He would subcontract the tasks.
High-speed rail economics
High-speed rail means more convenient transportation for the people, higher housing prices for developers, and more opportunities for urban development
There is a growing sentiment among the private sector to protect the roads, in addition to support and love for their homelands, and the desire for convenient transportation.
"Why do you break your head and not give in, and fight to the death in the end? Because high-speed rail is too important to us common people." Wang Lan, a Xinye native, runs a clothing store in Wanzhou, Chongqing, and because there is no high-speed rail, it takes 16 or 17 hours to travel from Xinye to Wanzhou.
Xue Xiaoshan, a native of Dengzhou, is also looking forward to the high-speed rail. He worked as a mass actor and sound engineer in Beijing, and then returned to Dengzhou to open a film and television company. Because of the inconvenient transportation, many of his friends in Beijing were reluctant to come to Dengzhou to help. So he joined the road protection activities in Dengzhou.
The high-speed rail transit, the most directly driven by housing prices. Netizens in the two cities have accused each other of being backed by real estate developers in the public opinion war.
A real estate company executive in Xinye told the New Beijing News reporter that the company did not materially support the Xinye Baoji organization, but hoped that the high-speed rail could set up a station in Xinye. "At present, the price of housing in Xinye is about 3,000 yuan per square meter, and if there is a high-speed rail station, it will be able to go up to 4,000 yuan per square meter."
The governments of Dengzhou and Xinye have also expressed the importance of the high-speed rail to the city's development.
"If the high-speed rail station is located in Dengzhou, Dengzhou will not only enter the one-hour economic circle of the Central Plains city cluster, but also face the whole country directly and enter the fast lane of big cities." Jia Qibin, deputy director of Dengzhou's Development and Reform Commission, said.
The people of Xinye think they need the high-speed rail even more. As a large agricultural county, Xinye's economy once ranked among the top in Nanyang city. But as industries developed around the city, Xinye began to lag behind.
"Because Xinye has no railroad, no highway, no transportation, industry is not easy to get up. If the high-speed rail station does not fall in Xinye, Xinye will have even fewer opportunities." An official from the Xinye Propaganda Department said.
Politics or principles?
Changes in the railroad line, originally planned to set up in Dengzhou high-speed rail station, due to the "principle of straightening" to make Xinye become a new choice
Zhengwan high-speed rail station set up was originally very clear. 2012, the initial planning of the line is from Nanyang in Henan Province to Shiyan in Hubei Province, according to the "principle of straightening", the line is from Nanyang to Shiyan in Hubei Province, according to the "principle of straightening". Take straight principle", the line from Dengzhou through. There is no doubt that Dengzhou will have a station.
But soon, the Hubei section of the high-speed rail station from Shiyan to Xiangyang West, in May 2014, and then changed to Dongjin New District. This change made the Dengzhou station not in a straight line, and the neighboring Xinye is more in line with the "principle of straightening".
At that time, the experts of Railway Academy IV responsible for railroad design put forward three line programs: two of them set up a station in Xinye, and one set up a station in Dengzhou. The originally undisputed high-speed rail station in Dengzhou now has to compete with Xinye.
In the two cities' campaign to protect the road, Dengzhou speaks of "politics" and Xinye speaks of "principles".
The reason for Dengzhou's "politics" comes from the Danjiangkou Reservoir Area and Upstream Area Economic and Social Development Plan, which was approved by the State Council in 2012. In the plan, Dengzhou is clearly for the Danjiangkou reservoir and the upper reaches of the "regional center city". The plan proposes to give support in infrastructure and other aspects, which mentioned the construction of railroads.
Xinye, on the other hand, is based on the "principle of straightening".
On August 2, 2014, Nanyang Daily published an article showing that the Zhengwan high-speed railway will set up a station in Dengzhou East.
Many Xinye people felt it was Dengzhou city that did the provincial work. Wang Hongyong said, "They took our station."
Xinye netizens began to work on collecting evidence to prove that the high-speed rail station was originally from Xinye. The evidence included photos of survey traces of the Xinye East Line by relevant departments and phone calls from villagers who had witnessed the exploration site.
But people in Dengzhou don't think the high-speed rail station that seized Xinye, said one Dengzhou netizen, "The high-speed rail station is a yam we've already baked, but it's being targeted by Xinye."
At least it should be called the new Deng station
With the intense civil voice of Xinye, in mid-October, Henan Province launched in the middle of Dengzhou Xinye Dengzhou East Station program, taking into account the two places of Dengzhou Xinye
Mid-August 2014, Xinye netizens consulting the Development and Reform Commission of Henan Province to set up a station of high-speed railroads, and received a reply that "in order to solve the problem of the new wild not being able to access to the railroad I have sought the consent of the Railway Corporation, Zheng Wan Railway ...... set up Dengzhou East Station, the station program is 16 kilometers from Dengzhou city, only 14 kilometers from the urban area of Xinye." Compared with the previous, this is a compromise program.
But the reply makes Wang Hongyong and other Xinye netizens dissatisfied, "The high-speed rail station was originally ours, but now it seems to pity us. We want a station in Xinye, not Dengzhou East."
Dissatisfaction spread online, Wang Hongyong launched an initiative: to organize a signature campaign to defend the high-speed rail station. on September 2, 2014, the day of the signature campaign, more than 9,000 people came to the Xinye Cultural Square.
The 10,000 people in Xinye who signed the signature campaign to protect the road were reported by the media and soon spread online. People of Xinye nationality from all over the country gathered in the forum to participate in the discussion.
On October 2, 2014, more than 70 enthusiasts in Beijing, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Shenzhen, Fuzhou and other places rushed back to Xinye and held the "Zhengwan High-speed Railway Transit Xinye Public Voice Forum" to discuss the railway protection activities and organize the establishment of the "Xinye Road Protection Alliance".
October, "new wild road protection alliance" has compiled "new wild dengzhou high-speed rail controversy", the production of high-end atmosphere of the new wild high-speed rail station effect map, but also the production of the new wild high-speed rail version of the "small apple" video, according to which the new wild amazons, jumped up the square dance.
Dengzhou also has netizens concerned about the belonging of the high-speed rail station, but only sporadically in the forum with the new wild netizens polemic "firefight". At that time, compared with the intense and frequent activities of the Xinye civil society, Dengzhou civil power can be said to be calm.
With the new wild folk voice more and more intense, October 17, Henan Province, specifically organized a meeting of experts, the launch of the program is the previous Henan Provincial Development and Reform Commission replied to the netizens mentioned the Dengzhou East Station program.
"What is the name of the middle station?" A leading member of the Xinye Road Protection Union said, "This is related to the honor of a place, at least it should be called the new Deng station."
For this new program, Dengzhou officials welcomed, Dengzhou City, deputy director of the Development and Reform Commission, Jia Qibin told the New Beijing News reporter that the meeting proposed to set up a station between Dengzhou Xinye, Dengzhou has made great concessions. An official from the Xinye Propaganda Department, on the other hand, said that Xinye is not satisfied with the proposal and still wants to have a station in Xinye.
Zhengwan High Speed Railway
Zhengwan High Speed Railway (Zhengzhou-Wanzhou) is an important passenger dedicated line of China's railroad network in the medium and long term planning, is an important part of the Zhengzhou-Chongqing (Zhengzhou-Chongqing) Railway, but also a link between the Southwest China and the Central Plains region of the main passenger fast track, taking into account the transportation of inter-city and tourist traffic along the route
Zhengwan Railway is not only to build China's southwest and central China, north China and other areas of rapid passenger transportation network of the main channel, but also through the South Asian subcontinent, to promote the development of China - ASEAN Free Trade Area. Has been included in the national "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" by the original plan to start construction by the end of 2015, ahead of the "strive to start construction by the end of 2014".
In the future, Zhengzhou to Chongqing only takes about four hours to reach, Henan Province, Nanyang, Pingdingshan, Dengzhou will also be the first time a high-speed rail through.
Henan: Zhengzhou East Station (departure station), Zhengzhou South Station, Changge Station, Yuzhou Station, Jiaxian Station, Pingdingshan West Station (departure station), Fangcheng Station, Nanyang East (Wolong) Station (departure station), Dengzhou East Station
Hubei: Xiangyang Dongjin Station (departure station), Baokang Station, Xingshan Station
Chongqing: Chongqing North Station (departure station), Changshou North Station, Dianjiang Station, Liangping South Station, Wanzhou North Station, and reserving the condition of Wanzhou North as the starting station