Comments on: Color-coded Guide to Eastern Provinces-to-Xinjiang Economic Aid Pairing

By: Porfiriy

Porfiriy — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 03:18:08 +0000

Based on what I read the logic about the pairings is exactly as you’ve said: poorer XJ jurisictions get wealthier east coast ones; and I also read an article with some BS about how the Dongbei and North Xinjiang, having similar climates, should be paired together.

I think it’s a PR stunt. There are much better and more efficient ways to allocate aid and funding for Xinjiang, but this “pairing” thing is highly visible, and in terms of party policy in Xinjiang (and pretty much everywhere else, in my opinion), projecting a strong, visible image of effort takes priority over effort itself.

And yeah…. bingtuan getting money. Eye-roll. I laugh because I actually worked for a bingtuan school once. As if they need money (after all, they were one of only two schools in the city that could hire foreign teachers… the other one was the school in the sinopec gated community. Go figure).

By: kahraman

kahraman — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 02:21:05 +0000

Is there any stated logic (economic, political or otherwise) for these pairings? (like relatively prosperous provinces paired with poorer counties, geographically similar areas etc.) Or is this entirely a public relations exercise aimed at demonstrating the unbending unity of the motherland…….

By the way, it seems noteworthy that the Bingtuan divisions all have pairings. They are already to be prioritized in the coming Xinjiang spending binge.

By: Porfiriy

Porfiriy — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 20:14:36 +0000

Yeah, schticky, I see what you’re talking about but it’s more just poor color choices on my part, Beijing, Lop, and Moyu are actually indeed of the same color, which is this drab olive green, but it appears I chose a poor color for Hebei, a brighter, minty green which is linked to Bayingolin in the Xinjiang map; nevertheless, they both are green so I could so how I could’ve caused confusion. If I have time, I may go in and choose a more distinct color.

By: schtickyrice

schtickyrice — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 18:50:04 +0000

Well done. However, Lop and Moyu counties are listed under the aid of Beijing, but the colors have them in partnership with Hebei.

By: Xinjiang economic aid map

Xinjiang economic aid map — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 10:49:40 +0000

[...] Link picked by Danwei.org [...]

By: Porfiriy

Porfiriy — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 01:33:29 +0000

Thanks, Josh and Bruce! Didn’t even see that we got linked by the FP, so cool.

One criticism I have of the policy, it just seems to me a major lapse that the Party leaders didn’t assign Taiwan as a sister province for a Xinjiang locale… I mean, Taiwan is one of the PRC’s most prosperous, if not THE most prosperous province, am I right? It’s right in the thick of the East seaboard economic boom and you’d think they’d have a lot valuable aid to offer to a place like Kashgar or Khotan. Shame on you, Party leaders!

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:45:04 +0000

Like Bruce said…well done! Doesn’t look “hasty” to me.

Don’t you find it a bit funny that Urumqi and Karamay weren’t paired with another sister city in the province? They’re definitely rich enough.

Congrats on the FP link…

By: Bruce

Bruce — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 23:59:52 +0000

This mapping idea is neat. Well done!

“Sister Cities” — Kashgar and, uh, Shenzhen? Wonder what we might be able to provide to the typical Kashgar resident: Management, Foxconn-style? Our vibrant “Ernai” culture? Chengguan thuggery?

The mind boggles.

Of course, you never know what will result from such “pairing.” If you had drawn a similar map for Shenzhen in 1978 when it was designated a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), “sister cities” would have included Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei — and look what happened!