The construction of the third line refers to a large-scale construction of national defense, science and technology, industry and transportation infrastructure carried out by the Government of the People's Republic of China in 13 provinces and autonomous regions in central and western China since 1964. The background of the beginning was the Sino-Soviet conflict and the United States' offensive on the southeast coast of China. The construction of the third line is another large-scale industrial migration process in China's economic history, and its scale can be compared with the coastal industrial migration during the War of Resistance Against Japan. Because the construction locations are too remote, this construction method caused serious waste and inconvenience for the later business development of enterprises, but the construction of the third line has also become an important booster for industrialization in the central and western China.

With the most economically developed front line and on the defense front line (referring to the southeast coast, northeastern, Xinjiang and other regions) and the second line such as Anhui and Jiangxi in the middle

Third-line construction

Compared with provinces, the scope of the construction of the third line includes 13 provinces and autonomous regions in Sichuan (including today's Chongqing), Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Shaanxi, Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia. They are all located in the central and western regions of China. Among them, the seven provinces located in the northwest and southwest are also called the Grand Third Line, while the six central provinces are relatively called the Mian Third Line. Among them, Guizhou, the mountainous areas in eastern Sichuan, and the plains in central Sichuan have the largest number, the largest enterprise scale and the largest population, especially Chongqing as the center. Among them, Chengdu, Sichuan mainly accepts the light industry and electronics industry, Mianyang mainly accepts the nuclear industry and aircraft industry, and Chongqing accepts the vast majority of weapons manufacturing and production in the PLA equipment except the aerospace industry, including nuclear test equipment (816 factory) and submarine manufacturing (Wangjiang Shipyard); Guiyang, Guizhou mainly accepts the optoelectronics industry, and Anshun mainly accepts the aircraft industry.

The so-called three lines generally refer to the convergence of the coastal and border areas to the inland and divide three lines. The first line refers to the front line areas located in the coastal and border areas; the third line

Third-line construction

Refers to the south of the Great Wall, north of Shaoguan, east of Wushaoling, Gansu, and west of the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway. It mainly includes western provinces and regions such as Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, and other provinces and regions such as Shanxi, Henan, Hunan, Hubei, Guangdong, and Guangxi. The second line refers to the middle area between the first and third lines. Among them, Sichuan, Gui, Yunhe, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ning, and Qing are commonly known as the big third line, the first and second lines of the hinterland are commonly known as the small third line. The third line is the third line.

The area is located in the hinterland of China, with the closest being more than 700 kilometers to the coastline and thousands of kilometers away from the western territory border. On all sides are the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Taihang Mountain, Dabie Mountain, Helan Mountain, Luliang Mountain and other continuous mountains as natural barriers. In the specific situation of preparing for war, it is an ideal strategic rear. In today's regional concept, the third-tier region is actually an economically underdeveloped area in western China except Xinjiang and Tibet.

After the Sino-Soviet break in 1958, the severe strategic situation and the fragile defense system in the southeast coast made the Chinese Communist Party leadership begin to consider the strategic issues in the rear of the west. On August 2, 1964, the Beibu Gulf incident broke out. The US destroyer Markdos fought fiercely with the Vietnamese naval torpedo ship and continued to burn to southern China. On August 17 and 20 of the same year, Chairman Mao pointed out twice at the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee that China's current economic lifeline is concentrated in big cities and coastal areas, which is not conducive to preparations for war, and all provinces must establish their own strategic rear. This is the origin of the Third Line Construction.

Base 011: Anshun. Fighter and trainer aircraft production base.

Base 012: Hanzhong. It is expected to be built into a fighter production base. In 1975, the central government decided that the Yunba aircraft developed by Xi'an Aircraft Design Institute will continue to be developed from the 012 base, and the base will be transformed into a transport aircraft manufacturing base. In 1979, Tonghui Machinery Factory, Jinsong Machinery Factory and 012 Aircraft Design Institute will be separated and set up a Shaanxi Aircraft Manufacturing Company, and the 012 Base will become an aviation accessories production base. In 1980, the Yunba aircraft was put into mass production.

Base 013 (Hunan Airlines): Zhangjiajie-Changsha. It governs several aviation accessories factories (mainly Xiangling Machinery Factory 3028 Factory) and Zhangjiajie Aviation Industry Vocational and Technical College, and the Third Aviation Design Institute.

Base 014 (China Air-Air Missile Research Institute): Nanfeng Company of Luoyang Factory 158 moved from Hanzhong to specialize in manufacturing air-aero missiles.

061 Base (Jiangnan Aerospace) Zunyi. Air Defense Missile Production Base, divided into the Second Aviation Institute.

062 Base (Seventh Academy of Aerospace) Wanyuan - Chengdu. Rocket/Ballistic Missile Production Base. Aviation Academy is divided into separate construction.

Base 063 (Fourth Academy of Space): Xi'an.

Base 064 (integrated into Base 062): Dazhou.

Base 066 (Ninth Research Institute of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (China Sanjiang Aerospace Group)): Yuan'an-Xiaogan. Navigation Missile Production Base (Hongniao). Separate construction of the Third Aviation Institute.

Base 067 (Space Sixth Academy): Fengxian-Xi'an. Liquid rocket engine production base. Aviation First Academy is divided into separate construction.

068 Base (Hunan Aerospace): 4 counties and 1 city in Shaoyang - Changsha. The Second Aviation Institute was built. It was built in 1970, stopped construction in 1978, and moved to Changsha in 1994.

081 Base (Chuanbei Electronics): Guangyuan. The former 0821 Command was built in 1965 and is a fire control radar production base.

Base 082: Chengdu Dongjiao Electronics Industrial Base.

083 Base (Zhenhua Electronics): Duyun.

541 General Factory: Tank manufacturing base, the agency is located in Dong Town, Wenxi County, Shanxi Province, and the factory area is distributed in Wenxi County, Jiang County, Yicheng County, and Xia County.

1. The combat readiness situation is urgent and construction is urgent and fast.

In 1964, the international situation was turbulent and war factors grew sharply. The United States expanded the Vietnam War and directly threatened China's security; the Soviet Union deployed millions of troops on the Chinese border; the Taiwan authorities created tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Faced with the imminent war situation, national defense and security have become the top priority.

Prepare for war and famine for the people

At the Beijing Working Conference of the CPC Central Committee held in May, Chairman Mao asked the whole party to regard the construction of the third line as a very important and urgent strategic task. He pointed out that the construction of the national defense industry should compete with imperialism and revisionism for time and speed, and be more enthusiastic about the relocation of coastal factories and the construction of the third line. It should not be deserted. The higher the enthusiasm, the better. Even if it is a little rough, it should be started quickly. In April 1965, in response to the continuous escalation of the US war of aggression against Vietnam, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Instructions on Strengthening Preparation for War", which clearly pointed out that US imperialism took steps to expand aggression in Vietnam, directly invading Vietnam, and seriously threatened our country's security. The whole party, the entire army and the people of the whole country should be prepared to cope with the most serious situation in their thoughts and work, and strengthen preparation for war.

The judgment at that time was that war would fight early and big, so we should seize time and strive for speed, and build the rear of the "three-line" strategic as soon as possible before the war broke out.

At that time, the construction commands at all levels of the "three-line" construction were all putting the scramble for time and speed to a prominent position. As a result, some construction projects were blindly set up without careful exploration; at that time, they also advised the principle of "three-sided": that is, while exploration, design and construction, and if the overall design is not done well, they will be fully constructed; one-sided pursuit of speed and neglect construction quality; auxiliary and supporting facilities were not built and put into production. Not only did it cause a lot of waste of rework, but some factories were also built in fault layers, landslides, mountain torrents or water scarce areas, leaving behind some engineering construction problems that were difficult to solve in the future. Many construction projects could not form productivity for a long time, which put a heavy burden on the national economy.

2. The operation model of the planned economy has caused inefficient resource allocation. The country is the only investment entity. The ownership structure is a single state-owned economy. The regulation agency is a national plan and administrative order. The driving force is a single spiritual mobilization. The pattern is to rely on domestic own funds and own resources to develop a closed inward economy. With the order of the Party and the government, millions of construction troops moved to the west in a mighty way. A large number of factories, enterprises, universities and scientific research institutions moved inwards one after another, and batches of construction materials were continuously transferred to the third line. The construction of the third line is a product of a typical planned economy.

The biggest problem with the planned economy is that it cannot effectively allocate resources. The construction of the third-tier line has formed a large number of state-owned enterprises. At that time, these enterprises were just administrative appendages of state organs and lost the autonomy of people, money, materials, production, supply, and sales. They had no motivation, no pressure, and no vitality. As a result, resource allocation was inefficient and wasted. According to relevant departments, from 1966 to 1972, ineffective investment reached more than 30 billion yuan, accounting for more than 18% of the country's third-tier funds used in the same period.

3. Political movements influence the construction of the third line

The construction of the third line was mainly carried out during the "special period" period and was obviously political. At that time, the main methods to promote the construction of the third line were political means, including: political mobilization and call, stage struggles and general battles.

The construction of the third line progressed rapidly at the beginning. After the outbreak of the "special period", the situation changed drastically. Many leading cadres at all levels of the third line construction "stand on the side". The wave of rebellion and fighting has caused the local "third line" construction projects to be in chaos, many scientific and technological personnel were injured, and important scientific research projects stagnated. From 1967 to early 1969, many third line construction projects such as the Chengdu-Kunming Railway and Chongqing Ordnance Industrial Base were at a standstill and semi-stagnant state, and the rest were also in a difficult situation.

Third-line construction

After the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in 1969, the domestic political situation eased slightly, and the leadership team, construction forces, and material funds in the third line construction were enriched and re-opened.

The political movement has a great influence on the construction of the third line, especially in the so-called "political factory building".

In late January 1970, the National Construction Committee held a national construction site meeting, mainly to learn and promote the experience of the Second Automobile Manufacturing Factory belonging to the "Big Third Line", Jiangshan Machinery Factory and Jiaozhi Railway, that is, to follow the experience of "political factory building"; to mobilize poor and lower-middle peasants to participate in basic construction and fight the people's war; to build, build, install, produce, produce, then live, first factory and then dormitory; to carry forward the spirit of "dry-cracking" and save construction materials, etc. These experiences violate objective economic laws and infrastructure procedures to a certain extent, causing harm to the construction of the third line.

Fourth, the accumulation rate is too high, the investment structure is unreasonable

First of all, the proportion of agricultural, light and heavy industrial structures is unbalanced. The investment direction of the third-tier construction is mainly concentrated in heavy industry and national defense industry. According to the arrangement, among the 85 billion yuan investment in the country's entire basic construction, heavy industry, national defense industry, and transportation have a total of 62.8 billion yuan, accounting for 74%; agriculture has a total of 12 billion yuan, accounting for only 14%; light industry has a total of 3.75 billion yuan, accounting for only 4.4%. During the "Three Five-Year Plan" period, the investment in national defense industry, raw material industry, machinery manufacturing industry and railway transportation in the third-tier region accounted for 72% of the total investment in the region. The structure is obviously not conducive to the development of agricultural light industry.

The second is to expand the contradiction between total social demand and total supply. The direct reason is that the scale of the third-tier construction has been too large and the accumulation rate is too high, which has suppressed consumption and affected people's lives. During the "Three Five-Year Plan" and "Fourth Five-Year Plan" period, employees' wages were actually frozen. During this period, the national consumption level was the slowest growth since 1949.

5. The policy of "mountain, scattered, and cave" affects the development efficiency. As a combat readiness project, based on the topography and landforms of the third-tier areas, Chairman Mao proposed the opinions of "large dispersion, small concentration" and "large camps around the mountains and rivers". The central government then determined the construction policy of "backing, scattered, and hidden" has its rationality, especially for some cutting-edge national defense projects that are related to national safety. The concealment should be considered first. However, overemphasizing the principles of mountain, scattered, and caves will inevitably violate economic laws and cannot achieve the due benefits.

For example, a third-tier enterprise, its research institutes and production workshops are scattered in 11 valleys in five counties, with a maximum distance of 146 kilometers and an internal highway of more than 700 kilometers. The connection is very inconvenient, resulting in repeated transportation between processes and a lot of manpower and material resources. Many cutting-edge technologies with extremely high degree of modernization are obviously not suitable for their development. Because cities far away from the economic and cultural centers are too scattered and developed in a relatively closed state, the radiation functions of these modern industrial bases embedded in the western land are restricted to the surrounding areas.
Chapter completed!