History is as Yuan Jiagu expected. Although the Mengzi switch of 1889 can be regarded as the beginning of Yunnan's modernization, the influence of western industrial civilization on Yunnan did not really begin to appear until the Yunnan-Vietnam railway was opened to traffic.
Today's historians can see more clearly the significance of this railway 100 years ago. Rolling western industrial products arrive in Haiphong, Vietnam from all over the world, then transported to Kunming by Yunnan-Vietnam railway, and then flowed to the whole southwest region. Among them, the benefits along the railway are the most direct.
Take Kunming as an example. Before the train was opened to traffic, there were only a few post roads in Kunming. Most of the daily consumption is native products of this province, and few foreign goods are limited to neighboring provinces. After opening to traffic, Kunming's municipal construction, consumption habits and concepts have undergone unprecedented changes. Some unheard-of commodities began to appear in Kunming people's lives, and canned food, champagne, coffee, watches, sewing machines and cosmetics began to be accepted and consumed by some wealthy families. Many western-style or Chinese-western buildings began to appear in the urban areas. Today's Huize College of Yunnan University is the representative of French architecture at that time. Telephones, electric lights, running water, cars and bicycles also appeared in this city; Western-style lifestyle has gradually become popular in society, cafes, bars and cinemas have become consumer places for citizens, and new schools have become popular, and girls can also enter schools to receive new education.
According to rough statistics, from 19 10 to 1923, there are as many as thirty or forty newly opened hotels and foreign firms in Kunming. At the same time, there are only a dozen foreign firms in Guangzhou, and the reputation of Kunming is "comparable to that of Hong Kong".
Ai Wu, a writer, described this in his "A Lesson of Philosophy of Life": "The blood of the French and the blood of the British are constantly poured into the artery of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway ... to turn this mountain city (Kunming) that used to be the face of a village girl into a beautiful Miss De Moder."
Industrial start-up
After the railway was opened to traffic, due to the dumping of a large number of cheap cotton fabrics, the traditional family economy in Yunnan was greatly affected, leading to the separation of small agriculture and cottage industry. At the same time, the rapid increase in the export volume of rice, brown sugar, tea, ham and other local products has also changed the agricultural structure of Yunnan; In order to adapt to import and export trade, some emerging economic entities such as companies and public factories began to appear. Accompanied by this, the traditional commercial organizations have begun to be replaced by chambers of commerce and new clubs, the financial system has also been upgraded from banks, and financial capital has begun to penetrate into emerging industries. Traditional social strata have also begun to show new differentiation, and national entrepreneurs and new intellectuals have gradually grown up. New education and new ideas began to spread widely in Yunnan.
In this process, urban construction along the railway has developed rapidly. Take Bise Village as an example. This remote village where only a few families lived in the late Qing Dynasty became a transportation hub after the opening of the railway. All the goods originally transported by the red river waterway were transshipped here, and as a result, this remote village miraculously prospered in a short time. In this village of only 4 square kilometers, people of different nationalities and languages, such as France, Britain, the United States, Germany, Japan, Greece and Vietnam, have gathered, and companies, foreign firms, hotels, cafes, post offices and tax bureaus have been set up one after another. For a time, it became a paradise for adventurers.
It is also in this process that caravans, which have become the main means of transportation between Yunnan and the outside world since the Qin and Han Dynasties, declined rapidly due to the impact of railways. This caused dissatisfaction among the local people. After the failure of "blocking the foreign road", gentry and businessmen from Mengzi, Gejiu and Shiping began to form railway companies and built the first private railway with the most complete sovereignty in China-Bishi Railway. The total length of this railway is 1 17 km, connecting several richest cities in southern Yunnan, and it joins the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway at Bise Village.
From 19 10 to 1923, 55 factories of various types have been built in Yunnan, and the number of enterprises has increased by 3.7 times compared with 1909. Among them, Gejiu Tin Mining Company enjoys the reputation of "Tin Capital" in the world. At the same time, the first hydropower station in China, the Shilongba Hydropower Station in Kunming, was completed, and Siemens generator sets imported from Europe were transported to Kunming by Yunnan-Vietnam Railway. After the power plant was put into operation, Kunming established a waterworks in 1920, and entered the power era from age of steam.
China's "Dunkirk"
1937 In July, the Japanese launched a war of aggression against China, and soon, half of China fell. At the beginning of the war, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway once became the only overseas transportation line in the southwest rear area, and a large number of military, industrial production, medicine and other materials were transported into the China rear area through this line.
Kunming, as the capital of Yunnan Province, the southwest rear area, has attracted many enterprises. A large number of funds, equipment and talents entered Kunming through the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, which not only accumulated strength for China's industrial development, but also effectively promoted the process of Kunming's industrial modernization, thus laying the foundation for the layout and development of Kunming's modern industry in one fell swoop.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the National Government, there were 80 major factories and enterprises in Kunming during the period of 1940, and the number of workers in factories and mines increased from more than 2,000 before the war to more than 30,000.
Teachers and students of National Southwest Associated University, known as "the best university in China", also moved in through the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway. After the fall of Nanjing, the temporary university composed of Tsinghua, Peking University and Nankai University in Changsha decided to move to Kunming, Yunnan after repeated research. Yunnan was chosen instead of Guangxi and Chongqing, which were warmly invited at that time. First, Kunming is located in the southwest, far from the front line, and at the same time, it can stay away from the capital Chongqing and maintain academic independence. Another reason is the existence of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, which enables schools to keep in touch with overseas countries and facilitate the purchase of books and equipment.
1Feb. 938, teachers and students of Temporary University left Changsha and entered Yunnan. Most of them arrived in Kunming by Yunnan-Vietnam Railway and established the National Southwest Associated University. The Law School of Union University once settled in mengzi city's foreign firm, Mengzi Customs, Zhou Jia Mansion and other places on the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway.
At that time, China's most famous writers and scholars gathered in Kunming in large numbers, making it a cultural fortress in China during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period.
1940, due to the Japanese invasion of Vietnam, in order to prevent the Japanese invasion of Yunnan along the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, the National Government ordered the bombing of the Sino-Vietnamese Hekou Bridge and the demolition of the railway track from Hekou to Bise Village. 1946, after negotiation between China and France, France handed over the sovereignty and management right of Yunnan section of Yunnan-Vietnam Railway to China. After the founding of New China, the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, which was interrupted for more than ten years, resumed operation on 1957 and has been running ever since.
In the first 30 years after the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway was opened to traffic, it became the main channel for Yunnan to communicate with the outside world, which not only directly promoted the modernization process of Yunnan, but even became the "Dunkirk" of China during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period and the life channel of the national war of resistance.
It can be said that without the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, the modern history of Yunnan may be another process.