Chapter 59 Development
China in the 21st century is an infrastructure madman.
From 2005 to 2017, more than 70,000 kilometers of Huaxia expressways were added, and the total mileage opened to traffic reached 30,000 kilometers, ranking first in the world. The railway mileage is 120,000 kilometers, ranking second in the world.
The best of all kinds of buildings in the world, such as the tallest bridge, the longest bridge, the longest tunnel, etc., are all in China.
Among the top ten longest cross-sea bridges in the world, five bridges from China are on the list. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge ranks first in the world with a length of 55km, which is nearly 20km longer than the second-ranked Seto Bridge in Japan.
The Beipanjiang Bridge has a vertical height of 565 meters from the bridge deck to the valley bottom, which is equivalent to the height of a 200-story building. It is the tallest bridge in the world.
The attributes of the infrastructure maniac that have attracted worldwide attention are the innate genes passed down from ancient times.
China has two world-class 5,000-kilometer-long rivers, the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. However, Chinese ancestors connected these two major water systems with artificial rivers as early as the Sui Dynasty more than 1,000 years ago. Today, from Beijing to Hangzhou, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is 1,787 kilometers long and is the longest canal in the world.
The Erie Canal built by the United States in the 19th century is the second longest in the world, with a total length of 584 kilometers, only one-third of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. None of the other canals in the world exceed 200 kilometers.
The Suez Canal is the third largest in the world, only 190 kilometers long. The Panama Canal, which is well known to foreigners, is only about 82 kilometers long.
The Great Wall has its own word "Great Wall" in English. Except for the Great Wall, other walls are not great.
Besides the Great Wall, which is the second longest city wall in the world? I believe not many people know.
In addition to the above two super projects that are still difficult for humans to build in the 21st century, there is also the Dujiangyan Irrigation Project, which is the only one that has survived in the world's ancient water conservancy history and is also the oldest existing one. It turned Sichuan into a land of abundance, with an irrigation area of millions of acres.
Dujiangyan was built more than 2,000 years ago. At that time, the world only had small irrigation systems and no such grand water conservancy projects.
Such genetic attributes passed down from generation to generation have also affected Yannick, causing him to always like to build city walls when playing strategy games such as Age of Empires. When playing Civilization 5, he obsessively connected every two cities with railways. , I wish there were railways in every grid.
And now that he has mastered an empire, he is even more out of control, turning the entire Germany into a huge construction site.
Yannick ordered that the main roads in Berlin and major cities should be built into two-way eight-lanes. With tram lanes, bus lanes, non-motor vehicle lanes, sidewalks, expanded spare lanes, and green lanes, the width of the road has reached 70 rice. You must know that the production of automobiles at this time was far less than that of later generations, and even the existing road with a width of about four lanes seemed very empty.
But Yannick knows that in less than twenty years, Germany will really be able to realize its ambition of everyone being able to afford a car. If it does not expand now, it will definitely be congested by then.
The most important thing is that the expansion will require the demolition of countless houses. Given the current poor living conditions of the German people, many people will obey the relocation arranged by the government for a few bags of flour or other daily necessities.
Do you want to demolish it in a few decades? At that time, the city government will have to conduct multiple hearings, involving the environment, transportation, education, residential buildings, commerce, municipal services, taxation, etc., and listen to the opinions of the community many times, negotiate changes, and bargain, which is extremely cumbersome.
Of course, now there are also those "nail households" who are stubborn and have no money to make money, and they are directly thrown into prison for obstructing official business.
I believe many people have heard the story of "the German Emperor and the Miller". This story is widely circulated in the Chinese world and has been interpreted in various versions. The more common version goes like this:
In the 18th century, German Emperor Wilhelm I built a palace in Potsdam. Once, he lived in the palace and climbed up to overlook the panoramic view of Potsdam, but his sight was blocked by a mill. The emperor was greatly disappointed. The mill was "an eyesore." He sent people to negotiate with the mill owner, intending to buy the mill for demolition. No, the miller refused to sell it. The reason was very simple: this is what my ancestors had left over from generation to generation, and it couldn’t be lost to me. No matter how much money it cost, he wouldn’t sell it! The emperor was furious and sent out his guards to demolish the mill.
The stubborn miller filed a lawsuit in court. Surprisingly, the court ruled against the emperor. And the emperor was ordered to rebuild the mill on the original site according to its original appearance and compensate the mill owner for his economic losses. The emperor obediently carried out the court's decision and rebuilt the mill.
Decades later, both William I and the miller died. The miller's son was on the verge of bankruptcy due to poor management. He wrote to the then Emperor Wilhelm II and offered to sell the mill to him. William II was filled with emotion after receiving this letter. He believes that the mill incident is related to the country's judicial independence and the image of fair trials. It is a monument that has become a symbol of German judicial independence and judicial impartiality and should be preserved forever. He wrote back in person, urging him to keep the mill to pass it on to his descendants. And gave him 6,000 marks to repay the debt he owed. The little miller was very moved when he received the reply. It was decided not to sell the mill to keep this memory in mind.
The earliest Chinese version of this story is the diary written by Mr. Yang Changji in 1914. It was later quoted and spread, and spread more and more widely. Finally, it was regarded by more and more people as an example in the history of Western legal system. Many people tell this story to emphasize the long-standing tradition of judicial independence and property rights protection in Western society.
Before traveling through time, Yannick thought this was a real thing. It wasn't until he inquired with the royal steward that he discovered that "the German Emperor and the Miller" was actually a false story. In German history, the emperor had never been brought to court for demolishing a mill.
The prototype of the story should be a legend about King Frederick II of Prussia that appeared at the end of the 18th century:
Frederick II built a Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, but there was a wind mill outside the palace. The creaking sound of the windmill affected the king's rest, so Frederick II ordered someone to buy the mill, but was criticized by the mill. When the owner refused, Frederick II threatened the miller: "You know I can use the power of the king to commandeer this mill without paying a penny." The miller said: "Your Majesty is powerful and powerful, but Berlin still has an appeal. The court is here." Satisfied with this answer, Frederick II graciously let the miller go and no longer insisted on requisitioning his mill.
Please note that this is also a legend and not true history. This legend also reveals a piece of information: the King of Prussia had the right to expropriate mills without compensation, but Frederick II was too generous to do so; moreover, there was no plot for the miller to sue the king. It may be a bit reluctant to use this legend to demonstrate the long tradition of judicial independence and property rights protection in the West.
When Mr. Yang Changji told this foreign story that was passed down by rumors, he also said with serious emotion. "Westerners respect the law and do not surrender to power. This is something that Easterners have never dreamed of."
If this Mr. Yang has done a deep study of Chinese history, he will find that there were similar stories in the Song Dynasty of China.
The first story: The Imperial City in Kaifeng City in the Northern Song Dynasty, formerly the seat of Jiedushi, was relatively narrow, so the emperor always wanted to expand the Imperial City wider. On September 17, the second year of Yongxi's reign (985), a fire broke out in the Chu palace in the imperial city. Song Taizong made up his mind to "expand the palace city" and had people survey and map it out. According to the drawings, many civilian houses needed to be demolished. The officials in charge of the project went to the residents within the demolition area to consult for opinions. As a result, "there were too many residents who did not want to move." Song Taizong did not dare to demolish the houses by force, so he had to give up.
The second story: During the Shaosheng reign of Emperor Zhezong of the Song Dynasty, the Empress Dowager’s natal family, the Xiang family, wanted to build a Ciyun Temple near their ancestral grave. Cai Jing, the Minister of Household Affairs, wanted to curry favor with the imperial family, so he dedicated a large piece of land to the Xiang family and ordered the "neighboring farmhouses" to be demolished as soon as possible. The demolished families were dissatisfied and went to Kaifeng Mansion to sue Cai Jing. Kaifeng Prefecture Judge Fan Zhengping made a ruling: "All expansions are civilian property and cannot be taken away." In today's terms, it means that residents' property rights are protected by law and cannot be taken away. However, the demolished households were still dissatisfied with Fan Zhengping's judgment and appealed again to Dengwen Drum Courtyard. Finally, Dengwen Drum Court punished Cai Jing for violating civilian property rights, "Beijing was fined twenty catties."
The first story is recorded in "Song Hui Yao Collection" and "Song History·Geography", and the second story is recorded in "Song History·Fan Zhengping Biography", which is much more sophisticated than Mr. Yang's fictional story.
In any case, thousands of kilometers of highways and railways are constantly being built, which is also driving the country's domestic demand and creating countless job opportunities. In addition to transportation construction, Yannick has not ignored social, sports, cultural and artistic venues, water conservancy and other facilities that improve people's quality of life.
And Speer's architectural dream was finally realized. The Nuremberg Arena, Berlin Airport, and Hamburg Railway Station that he personally designed have been approved and construction has begun.
However, he seemed to be a little too excited, and even proposed to build a building larger than the Soviet Palace in the center of Berlin, and to erect a statue of Frederick the Great on the top of the building. The entire building is planned to be 591 meters high and have a total of 200 floors. (Speaking of the Soviet Palace, the Soviet Union started construction of the Soviet Palace last year, bulldozing the Cathedral of the Savior and starting to lay the foundation)
Yannick rejected the plan with some laughter and laughter, but he was not so arrogant that he was confused.
Countless funds are rolling back and forth in such a huge construction site, pushing Deutschland onto the fast lane of rapid development.