The importance of people-first principle

The second edition of Huang Wanli's biography, Lonely Journey Along the River, was published just before Spring Festival. The book's release itself was news because Huang, as professor of hydro-engineering, is well-known for his opposition to the construction of the Sanmenxia Dam and the Three Gorges Dam. His prediction in 1957 that Sanmenxia Dam would be a disaster has unfortunately come true.

History is compared to a mirror that reflects the errors we have committed. Huang's biography should serve as such a mirror for decision-makers. What I feel strongly after reading the book is not just the audacity with which Huang expressed his opinion on the disastrous consequences of the dam. It is also the reservation I have long had about "pooling resources from all sides to accomplish big things", which Deng Xiaoping said while talking about the advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The rapid economic growth of the past more than three decades, the grand events such as the Beijing 2008 Olympics and Shanghai 2010 World Expo that China has held, and the country's mega-projects like high-speed railways and the Three Gorges Dam certainly do justice to Deng's remark.