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The 'pearl of northwest' comes of age
By Zhang Haizhou (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-24 09:06
 YINCHUAN, Ningxia: In late 1958, 10-year-old Yang Jianhai moved here from Hebei with his entire family because his father came to this remote and just established-region to "build Ningxia". Fifty years later, Mu Xiaofeng, 31, who was born and brought up in this capital city, returned to start up his own animation company and produced Ningxia's first ever cartoon. Today, Ningxia Hui autonomous region is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its establishment, and Yang and Mu represent two generations in the development of this area. Yang Jianhai, who is now 60, is also celebrating a 50th anniversary - that of living in Yinchuan, a metropolis of 4.5 sq km in the northern part of Ningxia, with three urban districts and two suburban counties. Today, it has an estimated population of 1.2 million. Yinchuan was a much smaller town 50 years ago, Yang recalled. When it became Ningxia's capital in 1958, the city consisted of two districts and had a population of just over 300,000. The two districts were linked by a wasteland, a bit of farmland, and a few lakes. Travel between the two districts was a real headache, Yang recalled, but it is also his earliest impression of living in Yinchuan. "When I first arrived in Yinchuan 50 years ago, I was only 3 years older than my granddaughter," said Yang, who was sitting in Yinchuan's Zhongshan Park on a sunny early autumn afternoon, watching his 7-year-old granddaughter ride on a carrousel. "On our first day here, the entire family got into a big truck, which took us from the railway station in the east to the northwest highlands where my father was going to work," Yang recalled. There was only one narrow, bumpy dirt road through the wasteland linking the two parts of the city, Yang said. It was early winter, and it was cold in the back of the truck.
"The truck, arranged by my father's factory, was the only recourse because we knew there was no way we could haul our luggage by foot on that road," Yang said, adding that they didn't see a single bus. As the truck moved and shook along that bumpy road, the journey of 4 km took half an hour, Yang said. Half a century later, an eight-lane boulevard has replaced that bumpy dirt road. The wasteland has become Yinchuan's third district, a new economic development area with new buildings, high-tech companies, and entertainment centers. Yinchuan native Mu Xiaofeng's animation company, Daily Media, is now located in the third district. After he graduated in 2000 from university in Shanghai, Mu worked there until late 2007, when he decided to go home to open his own animation company. His decision was risky, as Ningxia certainly had no cartoon industry. The Hui autonomous region had long been reliant on agriculture and manufacturing, but Mu's return was driven by his love for his hometown. "There are a bunch of local guys - like me, who studied and even worked away from home for a long time, but are still keen to return to build up Ningxia," Mu said, sitting in his company offices in "Ningxia Software Garden", the autonomous region's first computer software cluster. In 1958, agriculture and manufacturing accounted for more than 75 per cent of industry in Ningxia. At the end of 2007, the service and high tech sectors occupied nearly 40 percent of industry in the region. The changes of the past five decades have gone far beyond Yang's expectations, because for the generation that came to develop this area, heavy industry and agriculture were the sole focus in the late 1950s. Yang's father was among some 400,000 people from all over China, including engineers, workers, teachers and cadres, who answered the central government's call to help build Ningxia in the late 1950s. "It's not an exaggeration to say that my father and his colleagues from all over the country started from scratch to build up this remote and backward region," Yang said, adding that his father worked in heavy industry for his entire work life. While many chose to leave Ningxia after several years, Yang's family stayed on, because his father anticipated a bright future here. "That was definitely a correct choice," said Yang with a smile. "Yinchuan developed really fast, especially in the last decade," he said, pointing to the high rises and broad boulevards in the distance. These things did not exist in the early years. An old picture hanging on the wall of Yinchuan's bureau of planning and administration showed what the regional capital looked like in 1958. There were rows of single story bungalows, narrow streets, a few high rises and almost no cars. That was Yang's Yinchuan. Upon arrival, the factory allocated his family of six staff housing consisting of a one-bedroom bungalow. Both the toilet and the kitchen were shared. Not all new staff got such good treatment. For the single workers, there were only dormitory rooms shared by eight people, Yang recalled. "The locals used to say Yinchuan had only one road, only two buildings, only one policeman, only one park and only two monkeys," Yang said. The only park was Zhongshan Park. It was where his father brought the whole family for outings on the weekends, Yang said. Zhongshan Park is no longer unique. Parks, large and small, now dot the city. Yuehai Park in the suburbs is built around a new manmade lake on the Aiyi River that flows through Yinchuan. It has become a major sightseeing spot for local residents. Besides a better environment, living standards have also risen, producing a younger generation of natives like Mu, who have taken opportunities to develop their hometown. Back home from Shanghai last August, Mu Xiaofeng immediately opened the Daily Media. His first cartoon, the Legend of Buzhou Mountains, reflects the long history and rich culture of Ningxia, which lies on the upper reached of the Yellow River - China's mother river. Mu's cartoon was released yesterday. The cartoon is based on the ancient 2,318 cliff paintings in the Helan Mountains which depict life and tales dating as far back as 10,000 years ago. Mu's cartoon describes how a tribal leader led the locals in battle against an invader thousands of years ago. "Buzhou" is actually a metaphor, meaning Helan Mountains. "I had the idea for the story in April when reading a local newspaper, which had a whole page on the cliff paintings," Mu said. For his next project, the Yinchuan native wants to make a 1,000-minute-long cartoon series on Ningxia's history and culture. The new series will hopefully also cover the history of the Xixia Dynasty, which existed in the territory of Ningxia for 200 years beginning in the early 11th century, Mu said. But that's not all. Mu has greater ambitions and that is to found the Ningxia Animation Group. Besides the Daily Media, the software cluster has another 11 companies in animation, graphics and cartoons. "The problem here is that all these small companies are doing small projects separately," Mu said. He noted that the region would be more competitive if all these companies united together to form a group. "Perhaps the animation industry will someday become Ningxia's calling card," said Mu.
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