In 1899, Zhang Taiyan met Sun Yat-sen while in exile in Japan, and the two had an in-depth discussion on the question of "where to set up the capital after the change of dynasty".
Sun Yat-sen proposed the three cities of Wuchang, Xi'an, and Ili. Zhang Taiyan recorded these discussions in his "Book of Promises", leaving this historic dialogue.
Sun Yat-sen profoundly realized the importance of the establishment of the capital: "The establishment of the capital has a direct impact on the survival and interests of the country. Therefore, for the setting of China's ** capital, Sun Yat-sen went through a deliberate process.
Kang Youwei once proposed: "The capital should be set in Shanghai. "At that time, Shanghai was the most densely populated and developed city. However, Sun Yat-sen did not list Shanghai as a candidate city for the establishment of the capital.
Although Shanghai was the economic and cultural center of China at the time, as the capital, Shanghai had a fatal flaw - a lack of strategic depth, which made it an easy city to attack and difficult to defend, unsuitable as the center and heart of a great power.
Why didn't Sun Yat-sen list Shanghai as the capital city? He believed that the Shanghai Concession was full of concessions and was vulnerable to enemy threats. He once cited Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing and other cities as alternatives, and put forward the idea of "one capital and four capitals" in Yokohama, Japan, that is, Wuhan as the capital, Beijing, Nanjing, Guangzhou, and Chongqing as the four sub-capitals.
In 1902, Zhang Taiyan further put forward his proposition, he believed that if he wanted to divide one side, Wuchang was the most suitable place; If you want to unify China, then Xi'an is the best choice; If one wants to conquer Asia, then Ili should be the capital.
These words confused many people, and some literati and writers even ridiculed Sun Yat-sen for being "crooked and clever and deliberately seeking innovation". However, since ancient times, the prosperity of Chang'an Avenue and the military status of Wuchang, the status of Xi'an as the ancient capital of the Thirteen Dynasties, and the uniqueness of Ili as a frontier in the northwest are indisputable.
Each of these places has its own unique charm and value, and all should be respected and cherished.
Although Sun Yat-sen later narrowed the scope of the capital, in a conversation in 1912, he said that in the future the capital might be located in Wuchang, Nanjing, or Kaifeng.
In April of the same year, Sun Yat-sen delivered a speech in Wuchang, expounding the advantages of building the capital Wuchang, he believes that Wuchang is located in the transportation hub, west of Bashu, Yunnan, Guizhou, north of Yiluo, has an important strategic position.
In October of the same year, Sun Yat-sen again discussed the advantages of Nanjing, which he considered to be located in the heart of China, and with the Yangtze River basin spanning 18 provinces, Wuchang was a better choice because of its geographical location, given its convenient transportation.
Sun Yat-sen's praise for Nanjing was overflowing, and he emphasized Nanjing"According to the danger of the Yangtze River, Zhenjiang and Jiangyin forts are embraced, and both offense and defense are prepared"ï¼›Economically, Nanjing is"The land of fish and rice", which is cheaper than Wuchang's rice and has less freight; In addition, Nanjing is also the foundation of the navy, and it is more economical to set up a manufacturing plant.
After weighing various considerations, Sun Yat-sen decided to make Nanjing the capital, but his praise for Ili remained the same, and he firmly believed that Ili could succeed"Continents"potential. He is committed to the development and construction of the western region, and hopes to restart the western gateway in the future.
However, in the end, he did not choose to move the capital to Ili, and the reasons are very complicated.
Yili, located in the western border of China, is the western bridgehead of the Eurasian Land Bridge in China, and is also an important window and international passage for China's opening to the west. Why did Mr. Sun Yat-sen choose it into the list of founding capitals in the border land?
This requires us to understand in-depth from the background of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's time, as well as his personal sorrows and vision.
In the seventies of the 19th century, the crisis in China's borders became increasingly serious, and the social revolution and the movement to change the law and try to strengthen the country began to flourish. As a leading figure of the revolutionary faction, Sun Yat-sen was highly concerned about the revolutionary state-building of the modern state, and any factor that could trigger a subversive revolutionary struggle was in his sight.
Ili, an oasis in the vast southeast of Lake Balkhash in China, is rich in water and grass and has a mild climate. When Sun Yat-sen drew up a blueprint for the country's economic construction, he did not hesitate to praise Xinjiang's Yili and put forward many specific development proposals.
For example, we should take advantage of the agricultural location advantages of abundant water and grass and vast grasslands in the Ili River Basin to develop animal husbandry. In addition, he proposed to cut off the desert in the lower reaches of the Tarim River, a route lined with abundant water and would be the most valuable colony if a railway could be built.
In the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society at that time, Sun Yat-sen actually placed high hopes on Ili to revitalize the country's economy, which surprised many scholars in later generations.
The Ili region is rich in mineral resources, and 86 kinds of minerals in 9 categories have been discovered, including gold, copper, iron, coal, lead, etc., some of which occupy an important position in Xinjiang.
In addition, the Ili region has a wide variety of products, which provides good conditions for the development of industry, agriculture and animal husbandry. As early as the Qing Dynasty, people had experience in the utilization and development of resources such as coal, clay, and building materials in Yili.
For example, lead, a metal mineral mined earlier in the Ili region, is mainly used to make lead pellets for munitions. In 1776, Qianlong set up a lead factory in the Grand Canyon of the Salbuqun in present-day Turksdaban, and people "regarded the prosperity of its seedlings and dug deep holes".
Forty years later, Ili was not only responsible for coinage, but also developed heavy industries such as copper, iron and coal mines in addition to lead mines. Yili's mining industry was a key part of the Yili economic system during the Qing Dynasty, and with the help of mining, Yili formed a self-sufficient feudal economy based on a good agricultural foundation.
From Qianlong to Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty, the development of minerals in Yili played an important role in reducing the financial burden of the Qing Dynasty and promoting the local economic development and currency circulation of Yili.
The two large-scale mineral resources, the Ascher Copper Mine and the Ashi Gold Mine, have made Yili the largest copper mine in China and the largest gold mine in Xinjiang. As a result, Yili's mining industry has occupied an important position in the history of mining development in Xinjiang and even throughout the Qing Dynasty.
It can be seen that Yili's deep industrial foundation is an important reason for Sun Yat-sen's high praise for it.
Yili is not only a treasure trove of mineral deposits, but also a frontier city with the reputation of "Saiwai Jiangnan". The state's surface water runoff accounts for 41% of Xinjiang's total and 37% of its reserves.
Sun Yat-sen had long imagined that if railways and water conservancy projects were built here, what a spectacular scene it would be! Although it was not realized at that time, in the 21st century, the water and soil development of the Ili River and Irtysh River basins has received unprecedented attention.
In 2010, Yili vigorously promoted the construction of water conservancy infrastructure, and completed a total of 32 investment in the construction of water conservancy and hydropower projects700 million yuan, and 107 water conservancy projects above designated size have been implemented.
Development does not happen overnight, it requires careful planning and hard work. As early as the first period, Mr. Sun Yat-sen had seen the potential of inland development and set his sights on the frontier.
Ili Quanzhou, as a border with Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and other countries, has 8 national first-class ports, such as Bakhtu, Jibunai, Khorgos, etc., of which Khorgos and Baktu ports rely on Yining and Tacheng are open cities along the border, and Khorgos is the largest highway port in Northwest China, they face the west, showing infinite vitality and vitality.
Ili, as the bridgehead of the Eurasian Land Bridge, with the road transport network, Chinese vehicles can directly drive into Aratu, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian countries, similarly, vehicles from Central Asian countries can also go directly to China, and even deep into Chinese mainland.
To do this, we need a dedicated cross-border management department, and the approval procedures and specifications need to be implemented one by one, although this process is cumbersome and lengthy, but nearly a hundred years ago, Sun Yat-sen's blood boiled when he thought of this kind of scene where things are connected.
At the end of the 19th century, the empire's invasion of Chinese territory from the Heilongjiang River valley to the northwestern land frontier of Xinjiang caused Xinjiang, an important region in northwest China, to be constantly invaded by foreign enemies.
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen put forward the concept of "national unity" in the "Provisional Declaration", emphasizing the importance of national unity and emphasizing the status of the northwest region in China.
In 1912, Sun Yat-sen warned in a telegram to the Mongolian princes that Tsarist Russia was carrying out subversive activities on the northwest border of our country, and we needed to pay enough attention to it.
In this context, the potential of Yili, as the "representative of the northwest", is not inferior to that of Wuchang and Nanjing, and has been highly valued by Sun Yat-sen.
In June 1912, Sun Yat-sen had stepped down as the Provisional Grand Commander of China, but he did not remain silent, but actively devoted himself to the construction of national railways. He criticized the Qing ** railway plan for being too conservative, taking into account only the transportation needs of the hinterland, but not the development of the border areas.
To this end, he proposes forward-looking"True trunk road"Conceive. The first road starts from the South China Sea, crosses Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, crosses Yunnan and Sichuan, and reaches **, surrounding Tianshan South Road; The second road starts from the mouth of the Yangtze River, passes through Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Shanxi, and ends in Gansu and Xinjiang, and finally reaches Ili; The third road starts from Qinhuangdao, follows the Liaodong Peninsula, turns into Mongolia, and leads directly to Outer Mongolia.
This idea reflects Sun Yat-sen's consideration of the overall situation of the country and his care for the border areas, and indicates a new direction for the development of China's railways.
Sun Yat-sen put forward a unique idea in terms of railway planning, and he advocated that the railway should run through the east and west, and the construction should be realized from the northwest first. He particularly emphasized the important arterial line from Shanghai to Yili, believing that the distance between Yili and Shandong should be as if it were only a short distance away.
He stressed: In order to consolidate the defense of the northwestern frontier and resist the invasion of foreign enemies, it is necessary to change from passive to active. He encouraged the people of Xinjiang and even the whole country to realize that Outer Mongolia and Xinjiang are the population centers of the two continents of Central Europe, and that these places are not China's weak points, but can become powerful national defense bases, and through the development of economy and transportation, a solid model of the trinity can be formed to change the dangerous situation in which Tsarist Russia is rampant in Xinjiang, Japan is wreaking havoc in the South China Sea, Britain is doing evil, and France is clamoring for in Yunnan.
In China in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the development of Xinjiang was urgent, which was an important reason why Sun Yat-sen considered the capital of Yili, because it was closely related to the ethnic crisis in China's northwestern frontier.
In the multi-ethnic Xinjiang region, the reactionary rulers in history have implemented policies of racial discrimination and oppression, resulting in long-term turmoil and backwardness in Xinjiang, which has provided an opportunity for imperialist aggression against Xinjiang.
Mr. Sun Yat-sen saw this, and he realized the importance of Yili to the great cause of the Chinese nation and the great cause of the reunification of the motherland, and at the same time saw the economic location advantages and transportation potential of Yili.
He believed that using Ili as the capital could unify Asia, and although Beijing was occupied by the Qing court, Sun Yat-sen preferred to find a place where he could escape the interference of domestic political forces.
Although Ili was far away from the Qing court, it was not far from the established radiation area of Sun Yat-sen's faction. Ili is a treasure and a blessed land, but Sun Yat-sen's foresight is too forward-looking and requires the efforts of generations to achieve.
Therefore, Sun Yat-sen's view of Ili as a place to "seek a great continent" is not just out of consideration of geographical advantages, but out of deep concern for the nation and the country. February** Dynamic Incentive Program