China's railways: Railroaded

[John Ashworth]

China's railways: Railroaded

Aug 7th 2012, 16:13 by The Economist | BEIJING

WITH an important Party meeting this fall and the eyes of the world momentarily focused on London, the Chinese Communist Party appears to be taking a moment to put its house in order. While the sensational murder trial of Gu Kailai, the wife of Bo Xilai, Chongqing’s deposed party secretary, has garnered the lion’s share of attention, another high-profile case may also be nearing conclusion. Last week officials announced that they had completed their investigation into allegations of corruption by a former railways minister, Liu Zhijun. Mr Liu was sacked February 2011, after investigators found evidence of widespread graft during his eight-year tenure at the head of his powerful ministry. Last week’s announcement is a sign that he will likely soon face trial for a range of offences, from rigging bids to build China’s high-speed rail network, to womanising, to “belief in feudal superstitions”.

The construction of high-speed rail lines, seen as a showpiece of China’s economic development and modernisation, has faced various embarrassments over the past few years: cost overruns; widespread rumours of contractors and officials lining their own pockets; and safety concerns, after a deadly collision last summer killed 35 people.

Mr Liu, though he was five months removed from office at the time of the accident, came in for a fresh round of criticism both online and in the official press. Well known for his obsession with the construction of high-speed rail, Mr Liu was accused of having pursued his goals with a disastrous “Great Leap” mentality and of fostering a culture of corruption at the powerful ministry.

It is nowhere near as sexy as a murder trial, but the investigation into Mr Liu may be as big a blow to the Party’s image. It pulls back a curtain to reveal the ugly machinery of official patronage and commercial dealings at one of China’s most powerful ministries, as well as offering up salacious details of Mr Liu’s private life. (The exact number of mistresses maintained by the thrice-married Mr Liu is the subject of much gleeful speculation on microblogs.)

Railroads have been a politically explosive issue for more than a century, going back to the last days of the Qing empire. Every modern Chinese government has seen railroads both as a symbol of China’s economic independence and as a powerful force for national cohesion.

The first rail line in China was built in 1876, to connect foreigners’ settlements in Shanghai with the river docks at Wusong, but ripped up less than a year later by an irate local governor. By the start of the 20th century, China had just 370 miles of track, compared with 21,000 miles for Great Britain and more than 182,000 miles in America. Even after the Qing court became convinced of the usefulness of building railroads, the capital investment required was beyond the means of the perpetually cash-strapped government.

In the early 20th century, initial attempts to construct a nationwide rail network financed by loans from foreign banks were met with popular opposition. Efforts by local governments to finance rail construction through local investment took only slightly longer to fizzle. An ugly corruption scandal emerged in Sichuan after investors accused officials of embezzling funds earmarked for railroad construction. In 1911 the Qing court ordered that all railroads and railway construction be put under central control and once again sought foreign loans for rail construction. Popular protests erupted throughout the empire and public anger over the decision was one of the key contributing factors to the fall of the dynasty less than a year later.

The new leaders of China, especially Sun Yat-sen, knew their greatest challenge would be bringing all of China’s regions and people together as a single nation. Railroads were part of that project. One of Sun’s favourite pastimes was drawing maps of rail networks across China. He had been on board a train crossing the American continent when China’s revolution started. It was on such trips abroad that he realised the importance of the railroads to the development of the United States; he hoped they would do the same for his own country. In fact much of the current rail system closely matches a map drawn by Sun in the early years of the Republic of China.

Liu Zhijun, with his vision of a China as a set of nodes connected by high-speed rail, is (or was) the latest in a long line of believers in the power of trains. History gives the ministry of railways enormous significance. With thousands of miles of new lines set to open over the next few years, cleaning up the ministry would raise a clear signal that infrastructure development is to be kept on track.