Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

The Geneva Agreement stipulates that the 17th parallel north is the temporary military demarcation line of Vietnam, and the French army will completely withdraw from the area north of the 10th parallel north within 17 months; at the same time, the Vietnamese army will also withdraw from the area south of the 17th parallel north.

American diplomacy was a failure at this conference.

Because the United States wanted to win over the countries of Indochina to blockade China, it consistently opposed the Indochina Peace Agreement, adding various clauses during the negotiations and acting as a troublemaker. However, Britain and France no longer wanted to invest any more forces in Indochina.

Britain and France are preparing to withdraw from Indochina, and both have coincidentally chosen to shrink their fronts on the colonial issue. Indochina is not where their core interests lie. Both countries understand that, with their current strength, they cannot maintain the status they held during the colonial era. Therefore, they must shrink their fronts to preserve their vital territories and core interests.

It mainly controls the Middle East and North Africa.

As long as there are no problems here, they will still have enough influence in the world to compete with the United States and the Soviet Union.

Therefore, despite the United States' continued opposition, Britain and France still agreed to the conditions proposed by China and finally signed the "Final Declaration of the Geneva Conference." It can be said that since the Geneva Conference, the United States has failed in all aspects.

This is also a continuation of the failure of the Korean War.

The United States, having risen to become the Western world's Big Brother after World War II, still lacked sufficient prestige in that position. Following the disastrous defeat in the Korean War, many of America's lesser comrades began to doubt its strength. They questioned whether the United States, which had swept across the world in World War II, was truly so powerful and could truly guarantee the safety of its lesser comrades. Otherwise, Thailand would not have dared to engage quietly with China.

As for Britain and France, the two former hegemons, although in decline, they still have strength. They will not go against the will of the United States on matters of principle, but for the sake of their own interests, they will not obey the United States in everything.

Just like this time.

They couldn't continue to waste time in Indochina for the sake of the United States' interests. So despite the United States' strong opposition, Britain and France still decided to withdraw from Indochina.

Seeing this, the countries of Indochina all rejected the US-proposed "Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty." Even Thailand, which had previously joined the treaty, wavered. The only country that firmly followed the US in joining the treaty was the Philippines.

Because of dissatisfaction with the Geneva Conference Declaration, the US representatives did not sign the final declaration of the conference.

Meanwhile, Chairman Mao was presiding over the 1954 Financial and Economic Conference in China, which mainly reported on the situation in the first half of 1954 and the adjustment of the 1954 budget.

毛泽民因为是分管财政部的国务院副总理,所以作为代表做报告，道:“年初在人大会议上做了1954年国家预算草案的时候,我们的准备是1954年的预算收入为377.857亿人民带,预算支出是396.2405亿人民币。把财政赤字控制在20亿人民币政内。”

“1954年已经过去半年时间。经过我们的计算，1954年1月到6月，国家预算收入207.44亿人民币,完成了全年预算收入草案的54.899%，相当于去年同期的115.934%。国家预算支出204.57亿人民币,为年度预算支出草案总数的51.6277%，是去年同期的106.881%。半年的收支相抵,收大于支2.87亿人民市。“

"Judging from this year's situation, our country's fiscal situation is trending towards balance. This data was obtained despite an increase in economic construction spending compared to last year."

The chairman interrupted and asked, "Where will the national income increase mainly this year?" Everyone had a report in their hands.

But the report was full of data, which was dizzying. So the Chairman asked Mao Zemin directly.

"This year's national revenue growth came primarily from three sources. First, many factories built with Soviet aid in 48 and 49 have gradually begun operations. After 1954, these factories were able to collect taxes and turn over profits. This represents an increase of 10.21 billion RMB over our previous budget."

"Secondly, light industry revenue has increased significantly. This is primarily due to increased trade with the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries, the opening of trade routes in Hong Kong, and strengthened cooperation with Chinese businessmen in Hong Kong, Macao, and Southeast Asia. As a result, the central and local governments have increased taxes and profit remittances from these light industrial factories. According to statistics, central and local revenues in this area have exceeded the budget by approximately 4.7 million RMB."

"The third aspect is the increase in grain production and livestock numbers in rural areas. After the unified purchase and marketing system was implemented, the budget for the first half of this year increased by 4.3 million yuan."

"Thanks to the growth in these three revenue streams, revenue from January to June this year increased by 1% compared to the same period last year, completing 6% of the budget. The Ministry of Finance estimates that revenue from these three streams will increase further in the second half of the year, and is likely to exceed the budgeted revenue by 15.934 billion yuan."

Currently, the national revenue of the central budget consists of central government revenue and local government revenue.

来料加工利润低,但多了之后,对于财政的支持是很大的。1953年中苏两国的贸易额超过了37亿美元，按照人民市超过90亿,比1952年增加了11亿美元。

However, the trade of processing with supplied materials accounts for US$16 billion, RMB 30 billion. You can imagine how large the proportion of processing with supplied materials is.

Adding Guangdong's light industry processing trade to the mix, the figures were even larger. After 1954, processing trade continued to develop, generating an additional 4.7 million RMB in revenue for the country within six months.

After listening to Mao Zemin's report, the Chairman asked Wei Hongjun: "How much more has this year's summer harvest increased than last year's?"

"129 billion jin."

What are the main reasons for the increase in production?

"There are three reasons for this. First, the ongoing management of rivers in the Yangtze, Yellow, and Huaihe River basins in recent years has resulted in the expansion of water conservancy facilities in many areas. This, coupled with the development of agricultural reclamation, has led to a continuous increase in my country's arable land area. Another reason is that people are becoming increasingly proficient in the use of organic fertilizers, further increasing per-acre yields. Finally, improved seed varieties are being promoted nationwide, further increasing the area of ​​arable land under these varieties."

Wei Hongjun gave a detailed introduction to the Chairman and the cadres present.

China's agriculture is still in its developmental stages. Because the fertilizer industry hasn't yet developed, Chinese agriculture remains traditional. On this basis, the development of water conservancy facilities, the further improvement of the scientific use of farmyard manure, and the gradual promotion of improved varieties are all contributing to increasing China's grain production.

However, this improvement is slow and has limits.

Ultimately, it all depends on the further development of the fertilizer industry and improved breeds. "What about livestock?"

"The number of livestock sold increased by approximately 720 million head compared to the same period last year."

After the adjustments in 1953, the number of livestock in rural areas recovered rapidly. After entering 1954, the number of pigs among livestock quickly exceeded 9000 million, returning to its peak.

The chairman nodded.

Looking at the data in his hand, he said, "Comrades, have you seen this data? Why must we unswervingly complete socialist industrialization? Because national accumulation depends on industry, and the pace of agricultural accumulation is too slow."

It's a really clear table.

Rural areas have been developing in recent years, and at a fairly rapid pace. However, their contribution to the central government's finances is not on the same level as that of industry.

Industrial investment is truly substantial, but industrial accumulation is also rapid. China's light industry has only been developing for a short time, and even without significant government investment, yet taxes and profits from light industry have already begun to soar.

As for the fiscal revenue brought by heavy industry, much of it was originally fiscal investment.

Take steel mills today, for example. They pay a considerable amount of profit and tax each year. However, the steel produced by these mills was previously primarily used for national construction. Funding for national construction is largely fiscal investment. After this money circulates, some of it returns to the treasury.

Of course, as light industry developed, it also began to demand steel. This meant that the income from steel mills no longer required government funding for construction. Regardless of how you look at it, the wealth accumulated by industry simply cannot compare to that of agriculture. That's why Marx said that over the past 100 years since the Industrial Revolution, the wealth created by capitalism has exceeded the wealth created in all of human history combined.

"Although the output exceeded the budget, it's not too serious overall. Construction investment this year is still very high. How are we controlling this part?"

This is what the Chairman is most satisfied with.

The government had been running a deficit for several years. Unexpectedly, in the first half of 1954, revenue exceeded expenditure—a truly unexpected outcome. This year, the government had already undertaken several major Soviet aid projects, increasing economic development spending by several hundred billion yuan. The government had been prepared for a fiscal deficit this year.

“主要是政治局会议通过了降低工资的计划,这部分非常成功。丢年上半年军费是37.1亿人民币左右,今年上半年只有22.43亿人民币,足足减少了近15亿人民吊。政府部门的行政费用和工资支出,上半年也比去年减少了7.3亿人民币。光是这两项就减少了22.3亿人民币。”

The Soviet aid project required billions of dollars in investment.

After all, they had to build seven fertilizer plants, six man-made fiber plants, and the Second Automobile Works. Fertilizer production was concentrated in provincial capitals, while man-made fiber production was concentrated in Hebei and Henan.

New China is truly short of cars. Although the First Automobile Works began producing cars, in 1953 it produced only a little over 4700. Production was so low that demand far exceeded supply. Even if China produced cars today, it wouldn't be enough to meet national demand.

The location of the Second Automobile Plant was the subject of considerable debate. The central government had three options: Beijing, Wuhan, and Changsha. Beijing was abandoned because its population had grown so rapidly in a short period of time, creating significant challenges for urban management. Since liberation in 48, Beijing's population has increased by nearly 400 million people.

The central government abandoned Wuhan because it believed there were too many factories there. If war broke out, Wuhan would easily become a target for enemy attack. Therefore, the central government did not want all the key factories to be concentrated in Wuhan.

So I finally chose Changsha.

Changsha became the second location for automobile factories in New China after Changchun. Some of these factories are still in the early stages of planning and preparation, while others have already started construction.

Furthermore, the Soviet Union sent nearly 500 experts and advisors, and the number of Chinese students studying abroad continued to swell. Their salaries were substantial. The Chinese government's annual salary expenditure for Soviet experts in China exceeded million yuan. The average Soviet expert earned over yuan a month, more than yuan more than the Chairman's monthly salary.

The government cannot provide this money.

At the Politburo meeting, it was decided to cut wages, and the effect was quite obvious.

Although fiscal spending has increased significantly this year, it's not too dramatic. The chairman said nothing more.

Mao Zemin continued, "Overall, the fiscal situation from January to June 1954 was in line with the budget and was operating smoothly. However, we believe there are still four areas that can be adjusted to further increase fiscal revenue and reduce fiscal expenditure."

"First, in the first half of 1954, various departments invested 67 billion yuan in capital construction, and in the whole of 1953, they invested 102 billion yuan. The Ministry of Finance believes that there is great potential for savings in capital construction investment. Comrade Ji Fuchun has conducted a detailed investigation into these capital construction investments."

Li Fuchun said: "Comrade Mao Zemin is right. There is indeed a lot of room for saving in capital construction investment. Because in recent years, the capital construction investment of various departments has mainly focused on factory construction, urban construction, and railway and road construction. We sent people to study it carefully and found that many of them were due to unreasonable planning and the fact that each department acted independently. This led to reduced construction efficiency, longer construction time, and higher construction costs, which in turn increased fiscal capital construction expenditures. Let me give you an example. Baotou has been developing rapidly in recent years, with hundreds of factories of all sizes built."

"But because there was no unified planning, each factory had its own construction plan, and each urban development had its own plan. This led to many problems. Several key state-invested factories had their own construction plans, and therefore their own infrastructure teams. Furthermore, to accommodate these industries and build the city, the Baotou municipal government organized its own infrastructure engineering units to carry out urban development. As a result, the total infrastructure team for industrial and urban development in Baotou exceeded the actual need by more than twice. These units only worked on their own projects, leaving Baotou's small and medium-sized factories to need replanning and new infrastructure teams. As a result, fiscal infrastructure spending was two times higher than it actually was. This was all due to planning problems, and there are many similar cases across the country."

"In terms of capital construction, within an industrial zone, unified planning and collaborative factory construction should be implemented, based on available conditions. This will allow for the unified use of manpower and material resources, reduce fragmentation and duplication, save the country significant funds, and expedite construction. We've calculated that if coordination is done well in this regard, the same construction costs could be reduced by at least one-fifth, or even half."

"Therefore, the Ministry of Heavy Industry and the Ministry of Construction Industry have already launched a nationwide study. Our ministries need to have a coordinated approach and not just focus on their own areas. They need to have a holistic view. The layout and planning of industrial construction, as well as urban development, must all be considered together."

To put it bluntly, China lacks experience and expertise in such large-scale construction.

None of the cadres in the new China had ever undertaken such large-scale industrial construction. Therefore, in their early industrial and urban construction, they only knew how to build one piece at a time, without knowing how to make overall plans.

There are still few talents in this area.

During the construction of the North China Pharmaceutical Factory, this very issue arose. Serious coordination issues arose between planning, design, raw material supply, and construction, hindering construction progress. This is why Wei Hongjun dispatched Zhang Liang to be the factory director to address these issues.

This is just a factory.

The development of a larger industrial zone and a city requires more overall planning.

Plan everything from a higher perspective.

This is the only way to save investment and increase construction speed. After six or seven years of industrial construction, many departments have gradually accumulated experience. Therefore, the Ministry of Heavy Industry and the Ministry of Construction Industry are conducting large-scale departmental learning.

Let's exchange ideas and improve our abilities in this area.

"The second aspect concerns commodity circulation. In the first half of 1954, commodity circulation costs for various commercial companies in my country reached 47 billion yuan. For the entire year of 1953, commodity circulation costs were 70 billion yuan. We conducted a thorough investigation and found that half of these commodity circulation costs were ineffective and unnecessary. The current high commodity circulation costs are due to overly complicated commodity circulation procedures and too many intermediate links."

“How to reduce the number of links?”

Money has made the first generation of leaders nervous.

The central government has always advocated "increase production and save money" because of the money problem, requiring all departments to be frugal. Therefore, the chairman is interested in anything that can save money.

"Let me give you an example. For example, if bicycles manufactured in Shanghai are to be sold in a city in Jiangsu, they first have to go through the supply and marketing cooperative network to Nanjing. After being distributed in Nanjing, they can then be distributed to cities throughout Jiangsu. All other provinces are the same: they must first go to the provincial capital, where they are sorted. Then, the goods go to the administrative offices below, and finally, they are distributed to the counties. This two-tiered process not only results in a serious backlog of goods, but also leads to high levels of waste and loss, and staggering distribution costs."

Supply and marketing cooperatives and commercial departments are all organized like this, layer upon layer.

From headquarters to provinces, cities, counties, and even townships in some places, there are too many links in the flow of goods.

Mao Zemin said, "So my suggestion is that commercial departments, especially supply and marketing cooperatives, should not be organized by province, but rather by major transportation centers as regional transfer stations. They should be directly responsible for managing the supply and marketing cooperatives of each administrative office. Materials should be transported directly from the regional transfer stations to the supply and marketing cooperatives of the administrative offices, and then they will be distributed to the various county towns. This will improve operational efficiency and significantly reduce operating costs. It will also reduce product backlogs and product waste."

This will require major adjustments to the operation of the supply and marketing cooperatives.

It involves cadre adjustments.

Mao Zemin could make the final decision on any general work related to the supply and marketing cooperatives, but precisely because this matter involved adjustments to the staffing structure and cadres, Mao Zemin brought it up at a financial and economic meeting.

"Improving operational efficiency is necessary. Comrade Chen Yun, what do you think?"

The Chairman asked Chen Yun directly.

Because Chen Yun was in charge of the State Council's daily work during the Premier's absence, he nodded and said, "I support Comrade Mao Zemin's view. Goods shouldn't be left on the road for too long. This will easily lead to a backlog of goods and tie up too much of the commercial sector's funds. Furthermore, to reduce losses in the middle, we must reduce the number of links in the circulation process."

"Comrade Mao Zemin, then you should draw up a detailed plan and have it discussed by the State Council now. I'll take a look at it after it's approved."

"Yes."

938 Free Market Under State Leadership

"The third issue is economic accounting. While we've been promoting economic accounting across all departments and industries, both existing government agencies and newly established factories still perform very poorly in this area. This is precisely because of these economic accounting issues that many project cost estimates are constantly flawed. Some projects incorrectly calculate the amount of raw materials needed, resulting in massive waste of raw materials.

Why do we say that even though education in the Republic of China had some bright spots occasionally, it was shit overall.

The real reason is that the direction of education is wrong. In 1931, a group of European educators came to China to study Cai Nianguo's education. Their findings were: "Most Chinese university students are unwilling to pursue a career in politics (at the central or local level). Unfortunately, those who fail in this endeavor retire to teaching."

The first goal is to become an official.

But how do you become an official? In the days of the imperial examinations, the obvious path was to take the imperial examinations, studying the Four Books and Five Classics. In the Republic of China, when there were no imperial examinations, the obvious path was to attend university. Studying literature, history, philosophy, law, and business at a university was crucial for government departments.

When Luo Jialun was president of National Central University, half of the students who were admitted to the university scored either zero or single digits on their math exams. They simply didn't care about their math scores. Of course, this was common in the Republic of China.

What is mathematics?