Hydropower Station Construction And Local Economic Development In Zhejiang Province During The Socialist Revolution And Construction Period,1949-1978

Electricity is an important source of power for the development of modern human society,and hydropower is an important part of China’s socialist modernization.As a province with rich water resources and rich provinces and cities,in the first thirty years of the founding of the People’s Republic of China,that is,the socialist revolution and construction stage,it attaches great importance to the development and utilization of hydropower resources and vigorously develops modern hydropower.The first large-scale hydroelectric power station(Xin’anjiang Hydropower Station),which was designed,built and self-built by New China,was built in Zhejiang.In the socialist revolution and construction stage,the construction of hydropower stations in Zhejiang Province has experienced four stages: the starting period,the two climaxes,the low tide development period,and the recovery and development period.In terms of quantity,by 1978,there were five large-scale hydropower stations and medium-sized hydropower stations in Zhejiang Province,and nearly five thousand small hydropower stations.As far as the region is concerned,due to the limitation of hydropower resources,large and medium-sized hydropower stations in Zhejiang Province are mainly distributed in Lishui and Quzhou in the west of Zhejiang and Wenzhou in the south of Zhejiang.Small hydropower stations are widely distributed throughout the province.In terms of installed capacity,hydropower installed capacity accounts for about seventy one percent of the province’s total power capacity.From the perspective of power structure,hydropower has gradually become the main force.After 1961,hydropower generation accounted for more than half of the province’s total power generation.In just thirty years,Zhejiang Province has established a system of public hydropower stations at the national,provincial,regional,county,and commune levels,which fully demonstrates the superiority of socialist public ownership.The hydropower station system of socialism and public ownership and the rising power industry have had a tremendous impact on the development of local economy in Zhejiang Province.First,the output of hydropower has ensured the use of industrial electricity,which has promoted the vigorous development of socialist industries such as the electronics industry and home appliance industry in Zhejiang Province.Second,the output of hydropower ensures the use of electricity in urban transportation and public utilities,and promotes the development and prosperity of modern cities.Third,the output of hydropower provides electricity for the production and processing of agricultural and sideline products,improves the living conditions of farmers,and benefits the agricultural and rural areas.Fourth,the construction of hydropower stations has created new conditions for the more rational and effective use of water conservancy in Zhejiang Province,increased the irrigation area of farmland,ensured the stable supply of fresh water in the city,promoted the development of freshwater aquaculture in Zhejiang,developed the shipping industry,and enriched tourism resources.Fifth,the construction of hydropower stations mitigates flood submergence losses and reduces the use of coal fuels.The overall optimization of the ecological environment in Zhejiang Province has also destroyed the natural ecology of mountain forests,farmland,rivers and other areas in Zhejiang,and the social ecology of immigrants moving out of the land.Overall,the construction of hydropower stations in Zhejiang Province during the socialist revolution and construction period outweighed the disadvantages and laid a solid foundation for the construction of socialist reform and opening up after 1978.Reviewing the history of hydropower station construction and local economic development in Zhejiang,it is not difficult to find that hydropower station construction itself is not only an important part of Zhejiang’s socialist public ownership economy,but also the main engine of the province’s socialist public ownership economy,which has effectively promoted the development of Zhejiang’s socialist economy.At the same time,it also reminds us that the socialist economic construction with Chinese characteristics in the new era should take into account issues such as electricity and water conservancy,coordinated economic development and ecological protection,and vigorously develop green new energy.Only in this way can a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics be a better path for sustainable development.This is the revelation that history has given us.