A few days ago, several friends asked me, it’s been 15 years since the 5/12 Wenchuan earthquake. I was a journalist who arrived at the scene on the day of the earthquake and stayed in Sichuan for the following year. Would I write something to commemorate it?
I replied, of course I would. Because the earthquake in 2008, in a great sense, also changed my “life”: from my career choices to my outlook on life and values.
In May 2018, on the tenth anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake, I wrote two articles, “The Wenchuan Earthquake and My Ten Years” (Part 1 and Part 2). The first part can still be seen, The Wenchuan Earthquake and My Ten Years, while the second part is “gone”.
Over the years, vertical media focusing on the media industry, student media from university journalism departments, or assignments from journalism students, have occasionally asked me about my experiences during the Wenchuan earthquake. Recently, for example, this article written by students from the Journalism Department of Shandong University in December 2022 Media Interview Record 2022④｜Li Wei’ao: Rebellious, Brave, and Moving Forward.
But today, this time, what I want to write is:
The ugliest scene that occurred during the post-earthquake reconstruction of the Wenchuan earthquake.
This is the demolition of the new teaching building of Mianyang Zijing National Middle School.
Hong Kong compatriots donated 4 million Hong Kong dollars to build the new teaching building of Mianyang National Middle School
In the early 1990s, Sichuan built Mianyang National Middle School in Fucheng District, Mianyang City, mainly to receive students from ethnic minorities such as the Tibetan and Qiang ethnic groups from the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan.
In the May 12, 2008 earthquake, the teaching building of Mianyang National Middle School suffered significant damage and was later identified as a dangerous building by a professional appraisal agency.
In the post-earthquake reconstruction, the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers raised 2 million Hong Kong dollars from the Hong Kong education sector, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government allocated an additional 2 million Hong Kong dollars from the “Trust Fund for Supporting the Reconstruction of the Sichuan Earthquake Disaster Area”, and the Mianyang Municipal Government invested another 2.56 million yuan. The three parts added up to more than 5.8 million yuan at the time, and a new teaching building was built on the original site.
——By the way, after the Wenchuan earthquake, Hong Kong compatriots donated more than 20 billion Hong Kong dollars for the Wenchuan earthquake relief and post-disaster reconstruction work. I have always been grateful for this great act of kindness.
The new teaching building of Mianyang National Middle School started construction in June 2009 and was completed and put into use in March 2010.
To thank the Hong Kong compatriots for their assistance, Mianyang National Middle School was renamed “Mianyang Zijing National Middle School”.
In July 2010, representatives from the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, the Hong Kong Association of Senior Education Workers, and the Hong Kong Alumni Association of Chinese Universities jointly went to Mianyang, Sichuan, to officially unveil Mianyang Zijing National Middle School.
(Photos from the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, where “Jing Wenzhong” should be “Jing Dazhong”)
The new teaching building was demolished only 2 years and 2 months after completion
However, what was unexpected was that the land where “Mianyang Zijing National Middle School” was located—the Nanhe area of Fucheng District—had already been eyed by Wang Jianlin’s Wanda in 2009. Wang Jianlin wanted to build a Wanda Plaza there.
Wanda has a special connection with Mianyang. Wang Jianlin was born in Mianyang in 1954.
On October 16, 2009, just over four months after the new teaching building of “Mianyang Zijing National Middle School” started construction, Mianyang City signed an agreement with Wanda Group for the Mianyang Wanda project.
At the signing ceremony, Wang Jianlin said, “Mianyang is where I was born, and I am willing to do my part for the prosperity and development of my hometown.”
The construction of Wanda Plaza (project name: Mianyang Fucheng Wanda Plaza) gradually progressed. Mianyang Normal University West Campus, which was adjacent to Mianyang Zijing National Middle School, was relocated in early 2011.
Before that, Mianyang Zijing National Middle School and Mianyang Normal University West Campus “shared water, electricity, gas, sports fields, laboratories, libraries, bathrooms and other facilities”.
After the relocation of Mianyang Normal University West Campus, these original facilities were also demolished. Mianyang Zijing National Middle School “lost the supporting facilities for running the school, causing inconvenience to the school’s teaching and students’ lives, and the school’s teaching was greatly disturbed in the environment of the demolition and reconstruction of the old city.””
After learning about the situation, the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers communicated and negotiated with Mianyang and Sichuan Province many times, requesting to improve the school environment of Mianyang Zijing National Middle School.
As a result, the solution proposed by the Mianyang Municipal Government was:
To relocate the new Mianyang Zijing National Middle School, which had only been used for more than a year; and then choose another location, “investing 70 million yuan to design and build a brand-new Mianyang Zijing National Middle School”.
70 million yuan is more than ten times the amount of money donated by Hong Kong people to build the school! How “generous”!
In October 2011, Mianyang Zijing National Middle School moved from its original site.
At this time, it had only been 1 year and 7 months since the new teaching building of Mianyang Zijing National Middle School was completed and put into use in March 2010.
Although the students moved away, what about the new teaching building built with donations from Hong Kong compatriots?
I looked through my interview records at the time:
On May 19, 2012, it was raining that night, and the new teaching building was quietly demolished; by May 22, the demolition work was “completed”—this new teaching building, built with millions of donations and completed only 2 years and 2 months ago, was now “only a pile of broken bricks and tiles”.
Wanda Plaza also forced the Mianyang airport to suspend night flights for six months
The demolition of the new teaching building built with donations caused an uproar in public opinion at home and abroad! Wanda was pushed to the forefront.
Wanda and Wang Jianlin couldn’t sit still.
On May 24, 2012, Wang Jianlin said to the Beijing News:
“What does this have to do with Wanda? We did indeed obtain the land through a bidding process, we didn’t even want to bid when the demolition wasn’t completed, the local government took the initiative to introduce Wanda Plaza and kept promising that there would be no problems, but after we got the land, the demolition went wrong. A basic common sense, which company would do the demolition now? The land and resources department stipulates that the land must be clear before bidding, and it is a violation of regulations to transfer the land without meeting the relevant standards.”
On May 24, 2012, the same day, the Chief Secretary for Administration of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Lam Woon-kwong, said that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government would recover the 2 million Hong Kong dollars in donations and allocate the funds back to the “Trust Fund for Supporting the Reconstruction of the Sichuan Earthquake Disaster Area”.
On May 27 of the same year, the spokesperson for the Sichuan Provincial Government stated in an interview with Xinhua News Agency:
“(Sichuan) The provincial government does not agree to demolish and relocate Mianyang National Middle School, and the attitude is clear. The provincial government has always adhered to the principle of respecting the wishes of donors and builders, and emphasized that any major changes to donation and construction projects must respect the opinions of donors and builders. It is very wrong for Mianyang National Middle School to be demolished without the explicit consent of the relevant parties in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government. Currently, the provincial government is investigating and handling the incident.”
I was working at Caijing magazine at the time and interviewed for a relatively long time on this matter, and I also contacted Wanda for an interview.
The Wanda staff who were interviewed said that the responsibility lay with the local government of Mianyang. The land that was put up for auction should be “clear land” before it could be put up for auction—the so-called “clear land” means that the demolition work has been completed, and even the “three connections and one leveling” (water, electricity, and road connections, and the land has been leveled) has been achieved.
However, what I didn’t expect was that while Wanda was explaining to me, they also found some unknown “gods” to conduct “public relations”. As a result, my article was not able to be published at the time.
But don’t think that the trouble caused by Mianyang Wanda Plaza (Mianyang Fucheng Wanda Plaza) was just this one.
(Photos from the internet)
Also in April 2012, this Mianyang Fucheng Wanda Plaza under construction, because of its excessive height, actually forced the Mianyang airport at the time to close its night flights—that is, the Mianyang airport could only take off and land during the day, and had to “take a break” at night.
According to the approved plan of Mianyang City, the height limit of Mianyang Fucheng Wanda Plaza was 100 meters, while the maximum building control height within that distance from Mianyang airport was 47.2 meters.
For a while, the only solution was for Wanda to demolish the excessive height of the building.
In October 2012, after night flights were forced to close for six months, Mianyang airport resumed night flights.
Those officials in Mianyang back then
Around 2012, in my understanding, Wanda should bear the main responsibility for these bad things.
As I have grown older, and with more experience and knowledge, I increasingly believe that the local government departments should bear the main responsibility, whether it was the demolition of the new teaching building built with donated funds only two years ago, or the forced suspension of airport night flights.
In October 2009, when the contract was signed with Wanda, the secretary of Mianyang was Wu Jingping, and the mayor was Zeng Wanming; Yi Jie, then member of the Standing Committee of the Mianyang Municipal Committee, and Liao Ming, the deputy mayor, also participated in the signing.
In July 2010, Jing Dazhong, then deputy mayor of Mianyang City, participated in the unveiling of Mianyang Zijing National Middle School with representatives of Hong Kong donors.
In May 2012, when the new teaching building of Mianyang Zijing National Middle School was demolished, the secretary of Mianyang was still Wu Jingping, and the mayor was Lin Shucheng.
What happened to these people later?
Wu Jingping, at the end of May 2012, when the demolition of the school was the most talked about, was promoted to member of the Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee and Minister of Propaganda; later he became a member of the Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee and Secretary-General; member of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee and Minister of the Organization Department; member of the Standing Committee of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee and Executive Vice Governor. Today, he is the Vice Chairman of the Jilin Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
Zeng Wanming left Mianyang in December 2011 and became the Secretary of the Neijiang Municipal Party Committee of Sichuan. In November 2013, he was promoted to Vice Governor of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and later served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region Party Committee and Minister of the Organization Department; Minister of the Organization Department of the Guangxi Autonomous Region Party Committee; Minister of the Propaganda Department of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee. In September 2021, he “unexpectedly passed away”.
I know some details about Zeng Wanming’s death, but I won’t elaborate here for the time being.
When the new teaching building of Mianyang Zijing National Middle School was demolished, Lin Shucheng had just taken over as the mayor of Mianyang for about a month. Later, he became the Secretary of the Liangshan Prefecture Party Committee of Sichuan Province, and is now the Vice Chairman of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
Jing Dazhong was the county magistrate of Beichuan County, Mianyang City, when the 5/12 earthquake occurred. Beichuan was one of the counties that suffered the most damage and the largest number of casualties in the earthquake. In February 2009, CCTV selected “People Who Moved China 2008”, and “Jing Dazhong, the county magistrate of Beichuan who led the masses to fight the earthquake and provide disaster relief” was among them.
In 2010, Jing Dazhong was promoted to deputy mayor of Mianyang City; later he served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Mianyang Municipal Committee, deputy mayor; member of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee, Minister of the United Front Work Department. Now, he is the Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Mianyang Municipal People’s Congress.
Yi Jie was transferred to the Minister of the Organization Department of the Deyang Municipal Party Committee of Sichuan Province in October 2012, and later served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Deyang Municipal Party Committee and Executive Vice Mayor; member of the Standing Committee of the Dazhou Municipal Party Committee of Sichuan Province and Deputy Secretary. In June 2016, Yi Jie was arrested by the Discipline Inspection Commission.
In July 2018, Yi Jie was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the Ziyang Intermediate People’s Court for the crime of bribery, and he did not appeal. The amount of bribery Yi Jie was accused of was 14.738368 million yuan, and his bribery occurred during his tenure in Mianyang.
Liao Ming was arrested earlier, in May 2011, that is, before the new teaching building of Mianyang Zijing National Middle School was demolished, he was arrested.
Before being arrested, Liao Ming was in the Mianyang Municipal Government, in charge of urban and rural construction, planning, housing management, town construction, and environmental protection, and was in charge of investment promotion and post-disaster reconstruction.
In September 2012, four months after the demolition of Mianyang Zijing National Middle School, Liao Ming was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Meishan Intermediate People’s Court for the crime of bribery. He was found guilty of accepting bribes of 11.91 million yuan, 20,000 Hong Kong dollars, 3,000 euros, and 3,000 US dollars.
Simple comparison:
The money Liao Ming received in bribes was not as much as Yi Jie’s. But why was Liao Ming sentenced to life imprisonment, while Yi Jie was only sentenced to 12 years?
…………………………………………
Postscript:
In late April this year, in Jiaxing, Zhejiang, news came out that the “Jinyong Library” donated by Mr. Jin Yong in the 1990s was to be demolished.
For a time, public opinion was in an uproar.
Later, the Jiaxing official stated:
“As a cultural carrier with special value, the Jinyong Library is irreplaceable. The city and district have been promoting the protection and utilization work with a highly prudent and responsible attitude. Currently, the specific protection and utilization plan is being optimized and demonstrated”.
Forgive my stupidity, I think that the Jiaxing official’s remarks are still vague. And, the name of the Jinyong Library has indeed been demolished.
It was also at that time that I once again thought of this old story that happened in Mianyang Zijing National Middle School in 2012.
In my opinion, compared with those simple corruption incidents in the post-earthquake reconstruction of the Wenchuan earthquake, the demolition of the new teaching building of Mianyang Zijing National Middle School is more malicious and more worthy of our reflection:
At the very least, should we maintain the most basic respect for the donated funds?
Regardless of whether the donation is 4 million yuan or 400 yuan; regardless of whether the donor is a compatriot from abroad or a citizen of the mainland; regardless of whether the donor is a celebrity or a commoner?
……
I would like to commemorate the victims and those affected by the Wenchuan earthquake, and sincerely thank everyone who participated in the Wenchuan earthquake rescue work and contributed to the post-disaster reconstruction.
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