CHINESE WATER CONSERVATION, FLOOD CONTROL PROJECTS; PREPARATIONS FOR HYDROELECTRIC PLANT CONSTRUCTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700150305-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2011
• Sequence Number: 305
• Publication Date: December 10, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTED
ox
CENTRAL INTE
SECURY L GENCErAGENCY
' INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
COUNTRY China
SUBJECT
HOW
PIIR ICU-
Economic - Agriculture, water conservation,
flood control, electric power
WHERE
PUBLISHED Peiping, Tientsin
DATE
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
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REPORT
CD NO.
DATE OF
DATE DIST. /0 Dec 1953
NO. OF PAGES 5
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
CHINESE WATER CONSERVATION FLOOD CONTROL PROJECTS;
/~ PREPARATIONS FOR HYDROELECTRIC PLANT CONSTRUCTION
rsummary: The Th-liu-chien Ho Engineering Project in Hopeh has
been completed. This project is intended to eliminate the flood
threat of the Th-chring Ho and Tzu-ya Ho to Tientsin and the Chin-pru
Railway.
Plans have been completed for the construction of a hydroelectric
plant at the Fou-tzu-ling Reservoir in Anhwei. The plant is scheduled
to be in operation by the end of 1.954. The San Ho lock on the Huai Ho
has been completed and put into operation.
Antiflood work in North China has been successful, but achieve-
ments are regarded as only steps in a long-range program.
Western Suiyuan has had good results in its anti-drought work.
Irrigation methods have been greatly improved.
Drought control and methods of water conservation are being
emphasized in Hunan Province.
Pao-ting, 2 August 1953, (Hsin-hua) _- The Tu-liu-chi H
e
The rise in the water level of the Yellow River has caused warn-
ings to be issued to authorities along lower reaches of the river.?
TU-LIU-CHIEN HO PROJECT IN ROPER COMPLETED -- Tientsin, Ta Kung Pao, 5 Aug 53
n o Engineering
Project has been the hope of millions of people in the Tientsin and lower Ta-
eh'ino FT. rpainna U.-
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Ta-ch'ing Ho has caused the most damages; since 1911, it has been the cause of five
disastrous floods. In 1917 and 1939, the flood raters rose to a height of 3 meters
in Tientsin. The 1939 flood resulted in losses amounting to 2,160,000,000,000
Yuan. Some 4,400 square kilometers of the lowlands southwest of Tientsin were
inundated, and more than 121,200 dwellings were destroyed.
In 1951, the Central People's Government decided to control the Ta-ch'ing
Ho by constructing reservoirs in its upper reaches, diverting its flow in the
central areas, and dredging the lower reaches of the Tu-liu-chien Ho. Beginning
from the juncture of the Ta-ch'ing Ho and the Tzu-ya Ho at village No 6, and
bearing east across the Nan-yun. Ho and the Chin-p'u Railway to the Wan-chia wharf
and Ma-ch'ang-chien Iio, a 43-kilometer man-made channel -- the Tu-liu-chien Ho --
was completed. At the entrance to the Tu-lip-chien Ho, a reinforced-concrete in-
let lock 130 meters long and li.5 meters high was constructed. This is the con-
trol mechanism in diverting the flood waters to the sea. With the Tu-liu-chien
Ho and the Hai Ho both drair.ing off the flood waters of five rivers, the problem
of diverting the flood waters of the Ta-ch'ir.g Ho and the Tzu-ya Ho to the sea
has been fundamentally solved.
Because the Tu-lip-chien Ho flows from west to east, intersecting the south-
to-north flow of the Nan-yun Ho, a new channel west of Tu-liu has been opened
and a control lock and boat lock constructed. The Nan.-yun Ho can thus flow
through the new channel and join with the Tzu-ya Ho. To continue the boat traffic
of the lower Nan-yun Ho and to maintain the sources of irrigation and drinking
water, a second new channel was opened from The Tzu-ya Ho back to the Nan-yun Ho,
and a lock installed on the Tzu-ya Ho north of Tu-liu near village No 11.
Work on the Tu-liu-chien Ho Engineering P_?o,je_t began on 5 March 1951, and
a labor, force of 2C0,000 expended a total of 21,';30,000 mandays in its construc-
tion. The over-all engineering work included excavation of the Tu-liu-chien Ho,
diversion of the Nan-yun Ho, and the construction of a 130-meter-long inlet and
boat lock, control lock, culverts, a,.d bridges. Excavation work amounted to 15
million cubic meters of earth. The prr.?:;: t. was completed at the end of July,
and now the overflow flood water;; of tnv '1'a-ch'ing Ho and the Tzu-ya Ho can flow
to the sea through the r:ewly opened Tu-lip-chien Ho. Moveover, the area flooded
by the lower- Ta-ch'ing He will row be restricted to the regions north of the
Ch'ien-li di':e and west of the Tzu-ya Ho. The high-water period of inundated
areas will also be shortened, p(.stai.tting the planting of winter, wheat. It is
hoped that the Tu-l.iu-chien project '.:111 eliminate the flood threat to Tientsin
and the Chin-p'u Railway and will also reduce flood damage in the lower reaches
of the Ta-ch'ing Ho.
PREPARATIONS FOR FOU-TZU-LING HYDROELECTRIC PLANT -- Hong Kong, Ta Kung Pao,
27 May 53
Peng-fou, 26 May 1953 (Chun--kuo Hsir:-wen She) -- Plans have been completed
and materials are being assembled for a three-story turbine-driven hydroelectric
plant to be constructed at the Fou-tzu-ling reservoir on the P'i Ho in Anhwei
Province. /This reservoir is one of the installations in the Huai Ho Control Pro-
gram_7 The plant will be ready for operation by the end of 1951+? It will supply
power to manufacturing and mining enterprises in Northern Anhwei. There will
eventually be a hookup of power produced here with that to be produced at the
Mei-shan Reservoir on the Shih Itc in Anhwei. It is estimated that power can be
supplied for a distance of 175 kilometers from the plant for 620 yuan per kilo-
watt.
The turhim_s, generators, and penstocks for this project will all be of
Chinese manufacture. The penstock pipes are already beinc delivered at the site.
STAT
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SAN HO LOCK COMPLETED ON LOWER REACHES OF HUAI HO -- Peiping, Jen-min Jih-pao,
7 Aug 53
The San Ho lock located on the southeast shore of the Rung-tse Hu in the
lower reaches of the Huai Ho has been completed. Opening ceremonies on 26 July
were conducted by the project director, Chen K'o-t'ien. The electrically
operated lock was put into operation by Leng Yu-chu, vice-chairman of the Kiangsu
Provincial People's Government.
WARN AGAINST COMPLACENCY IN ANTIFL00D WORK -- Peiping, Jen-min Jih-pao, 2 Aug 53
Antiflood and river control work in North China has been very successful
in the past 3 years. For the spring 1953 an`,iflood activity in Hopeh, 12 special
administrative districts and 52 hsiens mobilized a labor force of 130,000 which
excavated 13,370,000 cubic 'ceters of earth and repaired an, built structures in
221 places. In western Suiyuan at the Yellow River dike area, over 770,000 cubic
meters of earth mounds and embankments have been built in the last 3 years. At
Kuan-t'ing Reservoir or the Yung - ting No, th, 35-meter-high dam has been com-
pleted on schedule and will be ~n operation during the Lys, summer high-water
period. Also, all river systems have established warning stations and other co-
ordinated activities.
However, it must be clearly recognized that the achievements of the present
are only preliminary steps in a long-range program. To ensure food production
in 1953, and to protect the welfare of the people, attention must be given to
the following points:
1. The potential effectiveness of dikes is still far less than the potential
force of the flood waters. For example, although ouch additional work has been
done on the Yellow River dikes in western Suiyuerj the dikes are still far from
having the necessary resistance for effective control of the potential force of
the floods. In Hopeh, the area floods in 1950 was 50 percent less than that
flooded in 1949, and the existing dir_ proved ;efficient. But in the last 2 or
3 years the waters have not reached flood proportions and the dikes have not yet
been truly tested. Consequently, it is necessary that preparations be made to
strengthen the present dikes.
2. Various problems have been created ~7y newly build projects. In 1953,
the dam at the Kuan-t'ing Reservoir will be in use, controlling the flow of
water above Kuan-t'ing and definitely reducing the threat to the lower reaches
of the Yung-tang Ho. There is a rainfall collection basin of 1,700 square kilo-
meters in the narrows between Kuan-t'ing and San-this-tien. In the past, during
heavy rains and mountain floods, whenever this body of water has passed the safe
water level at the Lu-k'ou bridge, disastrous floods have resulter' But now,
with the completion of the Kuan-t'ing dam, people think that floods are not possi-
ble and may become lax and complacent about antiflood activities. To protect
large cities and also the Peipir.E,-Shan-hai-kuan Railway from floods, ample prepa-
rations for flood diversion of the Hsiao-ch'ing Ho must be made. With the com-
pletion o', the Kuan-t'ing project the streams will be running only half full.
Under these circumstances erosion of dike bases is heaviest and must be watched.
The main purpose of the work on the Tu-liu-chien Ho is to protect Tientsin and
to speed up the shallow water of the lower reaches. However, the river course of
the Ta-ch'ing Ho narrows as it goes downstream, and the current flow is restricted,
causing breaching of the dikes in the central reaches. Measures must be taken
to solve this problem and also to carry out flood diversion work at Hsin-kai-fang
and Ian-kou-wa.
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3. The tributaries of all the rivers are in mountainous regions, and in
time of heavy rains the waters are very turbulent with possibilities of 3reat
damage. This
conditions must be publicized in all hsiens of the mountain areas, and
permit tht masses must be stimulated to draw off this water for
irrigation and thus divert floods also.
4. The lowlands have always received t'-e greatest damage from floods. Ac-
cording to 1949 - 1950 statistics, resulting from rainfall on improperly drained
areas were the cause of 60 to 70 percent of the total flood damage, about twice
that from dike breaks. Efforts must be made to organize the masses in the low-
lands to carry out drainage activities.
GOOD RESULTS IN WESTERN SUIYUAN ANTIDROUGHT ACTIVITIES -- Peiping, Jen-min Jih-pao,
5 Aug 53
The water level of the Yellow River has been declining in western Suiyuan
since spring cultivation, and this created a problem in the irrigation of more
than 4 million mou of land. Beginning in tday, efforts were made to solve this
problem. Cadres were sent into rural areas to persuade the farmers to plant /-in
spite of the drought], to expand water sources, to control the use of water, and
to hoe the fields. All of these were succeosfully accomplished.
Before the start of the antidrought activities, approximately 30 percent
of the arable land in western Suiyuan was not cultivated because it was dry, not
having been irrigated in the fall of 1952. The farmers thought there was no way
of using this land, but after the application of various methods such as hand
sowing in plow-opened furrows, carrying water for irrigation, seed soaking, etc.,
70 percent of the dry land was cultivated by 20 June 1953.
The water level was low in five of western Suiyuan's eight main canals, but
the water levels were raised by various .methods, and by the end of June all of
the canals had sufficient water. Durirc antidrought work, over 40 types of repair
projects were completed by a labor fo_ce of 200,000. Outlets were opened from
branch canals or water was borrowed from full canals, and this expanded the
irrigated area two to three times.
In the past, farmers used deep, scattered irrigation. At a rate of flow
of one cubic meter of water per second, only 300 mou of land could be irrigated
in a 24-hour period. The highest rate was only 537 mou. Since spring planting,
shallow irrigation in rapid rotation has been carried out, irrigation experts
have organized watering teams, and many areas have been able ti irrigate 700 mou
in a 24-hour period. The Sha-hao Cars]. in Lin-ho Hsien irrigated 831 mou in the
same amount of time.
In many areas, wheat fields were hoed only once, and other fields not at
all. The farmers were taught that hoeing protects the young shoots, and now the
wheat fields have been hoed twice and the other fields at least once.
DROUGHT CONTROL STRESSED IN HUNAN PROVINCE -- Peiping, Jen-min Jih-pao, 5 Aug 53
Since the end of heavy rains in May, all levels of Hunan's party and govern-
ment leadership have been emphasizing antidrought activities. Dikes have been
repaired and systems of water usage set up. Since the end of June, rain has been
very scarce in Hunan and antidrought measures must be considered the prime duty.
The following steps should be taken: the organization of emergency mutual aid
teams for water pumping; the solution of labor and equipment problems; the promo-
tion of mutual aid and cooperation; the ;earch for new sources of water; and the
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proper irrigation methods. By mid-July the rel-
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lY dry areas were: Yu Hsien Li-ling, fling-yuan, Ku-chang, and Hsin-shao
Special found in available gazetteers] helens, Ch'a-ling Hsien in Hsiang-t'an
Administrative District, Mu-kang Hsien in Shao-yang Special Administra-
tive District, and Pao-ching Hsien in Shao-yang and Hsiang-hsi Miao Autonomous
Region. A small portion of shoots withered in the driest areas. Rains have
now begun again in Hunan, and with the exception of Shao-yang and Ling-ling
hsiena, which received only a light rainfall, all other areas are busy taking
measures to store the rain water in order to ensure an abundant harvest.
YELLOW RIVER CONTINUES TO RISE -- Tientsin, Ta Kung Pao, 4 Aug 53
K'ai-feng, 3 August 1953 (Hein-hua) -- In the past few days, there has
been continuous rain in the areas around the central reaches of the Yellow River.
In the regions south of Shan Hsien in Honan, the water mark is approaching the
1949 high water lev.l. The Yellow River Antiflood Bureau has already issued
warnipgs to all flood control units along the lower reaches of the river,-urging
them to make necessary preparations to prevent flood disaster.
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