This September, reporters visited the home of Han Jinshan, a 78-year-old Lisu veteran comrade in Gongshan Dulong Nu Autonomous County, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture. He took out a stack of yellowed old photos and slowly told the story of the first car that drove into Gongshan County in 1973. He said that at that time, it took more than a week to drive back and forth from Liuku to Gongshan. Today, the reporter drove from Liuku to Gongshan in only 3.5 hours.
Since the establishment of the autonomous county 70 years ago, transportation has always been the key to changing Gongshan's destiny and leveraging development. From the people-horse post road and the zipline crossing the river, to the connection of national and provincial trunk lines, the tunnels passing through the mountains, and the rural roads entering villages and households, every step taken by the people of all ethnic groups in Gongshan out of the mountains is engraved with the deep concern of the party and the government. Han Jinshan was one of the first batch of local drivers trained locally. Back then, it took him more than a week to go back and forth from Gongshan to Liuku. The sharp contrast with the reporter's "morning and noon arrival" today is a vivid witness to the historical changes of "the frontier is not a "border" and the distant mountains are not far away."
Breaking the situation: from the people-horse post road to the highway opening to traffic
According to historical records, before the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the sidewalks in Gongshan County were "bird paths and sheep intestines, wide enough to hold the palm of your hand." People of all ethnic groups have experienced ups and downs in their travels. Some climb vines and cling to trees, avoid rivers and circumambulate mountains, or risk crossing by ziplines and bamboo rafts. Tragic incidents such as falling off rocks and falling into rivers often occur.
"On September 10, 1954, a group of seven of us set out from Lijiang. We took a bus to Shigu on the first day and started walking on the second day. It took us 12 days to reach Gongshan." He Xuecheng, a Lijiang-born teacher who has taught in Gongshan all his life, wrote in his memoir.
Starting in 1953, the party and government first widened the post road from Gongshan County to Weixi and over the Biluo Snow Mountain. In 1964, a 65-kilometer post road was built from Dandang, the county town, to Bapo Village, Dulongjiang Township. In September 1971, the Wa (Yao) - Bi (Jiang) - Gong (Mountain) highway was built to Niulangdang Village, Cikai Town, Gongshan County; in 1973, the Cikai Automobile Suspension Bridge was completed. In May, cars drove into Gongshan County, and Gongshan began to have modern automobile and tractor transportation.
Han Jinshan recalled that when he was preparing to establish the county car fleet, he purchased three Kunming brand cars. "But at that time, the road from Gongshan to Liuku was all muddy, which was difficult to walk. It was even more difficult to walk on rainy days. If there was a mudslide, it would take ten and a half days to go back and forth."
During his years as a driver in Hanjinshan, he had two experiences that he will never forget. They also provide a glimpse into the backwardness of Gongshan's transportation at the beginning of reform and opening up. It was the 1980s. Han Jinshan was twice ordered to Beijing to purchase vehicles for his work unit. He drove both vehicles back to Gongshan from Beijing. "It takes almost 20 days to go back and forth. Without mobile phone navigation like today, I would just look at the map and drive back."
Leap: From half-year mountain closure to 5 hours round trip
"From dirt roads to gravel roads, and then to asphalt roads, this change has really happened under the eyes of our generation." Han Jinshan repeatedly lamented, "With the roads repaired, the lives of the people in Gongshan have also improved."
Entering a new era, especially during the "13th Five-Year Plan" and "14th Five-Year Plan" periods, Gongshan County has made full use of its power to continue to improve the framework of national and provincial trunk lines. It has completed major projects such as the secondary reconstruction of the G219 Gongshan section, the Dulongjiang Highway upgrade and maintenance project, the Degong Highway upgrade and reconstruction, the Kongqueshan Tunnel, and the Nujiang Beautiful Highway Greenway. It has built the "three vertical and three horizontal" main framework of county highways, connecting Tibet in the north, Fugong in the south, Diqing in the east, and border ports in the west.
In 1995, Han Jinshan retired. In 1999, Dulongjiang Simple Highway was opened to traffic, ending the history of no roads in Dulongjiang Township. However, the dilemma of "heavy snow closing the mountains for half a year" has not yet been solved. In early 2014, the Dulongjiang Highway reconstruction and expansion project was completed, and the Dulongjiang Highway Tunnel in Gaoligong Mountain was successfully connected, completely solving the problem of "isolation" caused by heavy snowfall for half a year, and shortening the drive from Dulongjiang Township to the county seat to 3 hours.
Dou Xiaoshan started working as a driver for the Gongshan County Branch of China Post Group Co., Ltd. in Yunnan Province in 2020, responsible for mail transportation in three townships (towns): Dulongjiang Township, Bingzhongluo Town and Pengdang Township. He said: "At that time, it took two or three days to enter Dulongjiang, and it was very difficult to walk. After the highway was widened in 2023, it will be much easier to walk. You can return to the county in four or five hours. Now the roads are better, and everyone's life is getting happier."
As the volume of mail increased and the Gongshan Highway continued to be optimized and upgraded, the mail trucks changed from motorcycles to vans and then to small trucks. This change has become a vivid epitome of the improvement of people's living standards.
"In the past 70 years, Gongshan transportation has truly achieved a historic leap from the people-horse post road and zip lines across the river to the connection of national and provincial trunk lines, rural roads connecting every village, and bridges and tunnels." He Jin Bo, secretary of the party group and director of the Gongshan County Transportation Bureau, said that after the reform and opening up, the national highway G219 was gradually implemented, opening up the north-south external channel of Gongshan; the S318 Degong Highway was fully connected, opening up the northwest Yunnan tourism ring. There are 223.588 kilometers of national and provincial highways in the territory.
Puhui: Covering everything from ziplining across the river to village roads
Transportation is the lifeline, wealth line, unity line and border defense line for border ethnic areas. The road network continues to improve, and rural roads are also undergoing earth-shaking changes, which truly benefits people of all ethnic groups.
Gongshan County has vigorously promoted the construction of hardened roads in organic and natural villages, and simultaneously implemented zipline bridge reconstruction, dangerous bridge reconstruction, and life safety protection projects. It has built 94 bridges such as the CCCC Yonglaga Bridge and the Dulong River Rainbow Bridge, completely replacing the zipline crossing model. All five townships (towns) in the county have asphalt roads, and the comprehensive accessibility rate of hardened roads in natural villages reaches 98.97%. All 13 border administrative villages and 86 border villager groups in the county are covered by hardened roads, and dangerous road sections near water, cliffs, steep slopes and sharp turns are all equipped with security facilities, and the road network of border villages is fully accessible.
In the past, it was almost difficult for people in Gongshan County to go out. “In the past, the roads were not smooth and the journeys were long, and the patients who sadly passed away before being transferred to another hospital were scars in our hearts.” Yu Xiulian, deputy director of Gongshan County People’s Hospital, said sadly. Today, the county's rural roads have a length of 605.737 kilometers. Now that the road is open, the most direct change is that the road to medical treatment is shorter, ambulances are faster, and village doctors are more frequent at home. Yu Xiaolan, a village doctor at the Galabo Village Clinic, said proudly: "Now the car can drive to the door of every house. I am responsible for more than 2,000 people who are responsible for door-to-door medical treatment, referral and follow-up. Minor illnesses can be treated in time, and acute illnesses can be sent out quickly."
In December 2023, Gongshan went from having no public transportation to opening urban and urban-rural new energy buses, ending the history of being the last county in the state without public transportation. A comprehensive transportation pattern with trunk roads connecting the inside and outside, rural roads reaching village groups, and bridges, tunnels, and stations with complete supporting facilities has been basically formed.
"Standing at the new starting point of the 70th anniversary, Gongshan's transportation blueprint is clear. We firmly believe that people of all ethnic groups in Gongshan will move towards a wealthier and better new life along the smooth road." He Jinbo said that in the next step, Gongshan County will comprehensively promote the Madi Highway disaster recovery and reconstruction project, continue to upgrade the main channels of national and provincial trunk lines, deepen the construction of "Four Good Rural Roads", and strive to include projects such as the Gongshan Section of the Yunnan-Tibet Railway and the Yezhi-Gongshan Expressway (Gongshan Section) into the planning and preparation, and weave a smoother transportation network.
If the road is open, then everything can be connected. From people carrying horses on their backs to smoothing the flow of vehicles, from being closed for half a year to being accessible all year round, from crossing the river with zip lines to being connected by bridges and tunnels - the great changes in Gongshan's transportation in the 70 years since the establishment of the autonomous county are just the pragmatic answer to the implementation of the earnest instructions of "one instruction, one meeting, one reply". Every road is a superimposed extension of the road to poverty alleviation, the road to revitalization, and the road to connecting hearts. It has become a reality that borders are not "borders" and distant mountains are not far away.
