"THE GREAT THIRD FRONT" par Chen JIAGANG. Editions Timezone 8 Limited. 2008. in-4, format oblong, couverture toilée noire sous jaquette photo. 180 pages. Texte bilingue Anglais / Chinois, préface de Li Xianting, illustré de nombreuses reproductions photographiques couleurs hors texte, 65 de la série "The Third Great Front" et 21 de la série "Temptation", par Chen Jiagang.

 

"During the 1960's, faced with an unstable foreign policy as well as a high demand for resources, the People's Republic of China was forced to delocalise most of its heavy industry and armament factories. Originally situated on China's coasts and in the North East close to the Russian border, these factories were obliged to relocate in the countries heartlands, hidden away and better protected. So it was that the "Third Line" was created. Over a short period of time millions of workers were encouraged to move to the mountainous regions of Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan, where hundreds of factories were hurriedly set up, which in turn stimulated the local economies. Such a large-scale relocation effort was unprecedented in China. Villages transformed overnight into dormitory towns. As immigrant populations were housed in makeshift buildings, these hamlets became significant industrial zones and duly prospered. At the start of the 1980's, Deng Xiaoping initiated drastic measures in an effort to force the economy to become more market oriented. These measures hit the industrial zones of the "Third Line" hard, gutting the villages nearly as quickly as they had sprung up. In just a few years these industrial monoliths that were once the pride of the country became obsolete and useless. One by one they were closed down and the workers went back to their roots, leaving the cities abandoned. Today they are ghost towns in the truest sense of the word…"

 

Ref LPB1041