—The Zero Kilometer Marker at Beijing
Mt Sumeru at the center of the world,
Please stand firmly,
As you turn with the sun and the moon,
Be sure to follow the right track.
—The Love Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama,
Tsangyang Gyatso
The Great Work of Zhongnanhai in the First Year of the New Century
The autumn night prepared an ambush in the surrounds of the imperial city, on the deep dome of the night sky, stars were drilled out from the cool whoosh of the hinterland—so close to the earth that it appeared that all dreams and longings were in arms reach.
The clamor of Beijing died down, and dropped away into the sound sleep of a long autumn night. The lights of the city extinguished one after another, however, the lights in the office of the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) still shone in Zhongnanhai.
The clock had already struck 10pm, but General Secretary Jiang Zemin was not the least bit tired, and he remained at work at his desk with a large pile of documents.
The report about starting the Construction of Qinghai-Tibet Railway from the Ministry of Railways had been sent to his office.
The soft lamplight illuminated this report of just six pages. Jiang, bent over at his desk, read the document once, and as though he had a thought, he removed his glasses, and changed them for another pair of glasses from atop his desk, and again read through some important passages from the document.
Only a month earlier, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 15th CPC Central Committee had been held in Jingxi Hotel.
On that day, the sun was comfortably warm. In the space of a night, the autumn breeze, which had sunk into Beijing, diluted the unpleasant summer heat, and touched Beijing and its surrounds with an ocean-like vastness. The arms of the clock above the imperial court spun to 3pm, and an oblique ray of light fell on a discussion of the Southwestern Regional Group of the plenary session. The leading officials of the five provinces of the southwestern border region had not been seated for long, when from the quiet corridor suddenly arose the sound of loud footsteps.
A pair of rotating doors opened with a crash, and two female service staff stood on either side of the door. Jiang Zemin, who had then been General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, wandered in leisurely, followed closely behind by Zeng Qinghong, Wang Gang, and Minister of Railways Fu Zhihuan. After the high officials of the southwestern region stood up to applaud, Jiang Zemin gestured with both hands for everyone to sit. Seeing that the General Secretary had taken his seat, Re Di, the deputy secretary of the Tibetan Autonomous Region who was seated in the front row, and the director of the National People's Congress, said, "Today, the great drama of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway makes its grand debut!"
After a few words of small talk, the then secretary of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, Guo Jinlong took the lead to speak first, and then shortly after, it was Re Di's turn. He continued the theme appropriately, saying, in unadulterated pure Mandarin: "In July 1990, General Secretary Jiang visited and inspected Tibet. He left his footsteps at Shigatse, 4,500 meters above sea level, and at Yangjiaoyong Lake. But more importantly, he left an impression of understanding the needs of the people, and the Tibetan people still remember as if it happened yesterday."
Jiang Zemin smiled and nodded his head.
It seemed as if Re Di had a wave of inspiration. He was not tall in stature, his skin dark and his square face outlined a noble appearance. When the officers and soldiers of the 18th army thundered along the road into Tibet, a grazer's slave child leapt from the fields of his master, leaving with the People's Liberation Army (PLA), becoming a scout, before entering the Central School of Political Science and Law, and after graduation he was appointed as a cadre in the labor committee of Nagchu. Later, he would enter the senior authorities of Tibet, and not only would all the previos party secretaries of the Tibetan Autonomous Region favor him, even leaders of CPC such as Hu Yaobang would see him as a friend.
With many years of political experience, his speech increasingly reached the heights of oratory feeling. His Mandarin did not have any trace of ethnic accent. He paused briefly, before saying beautifully, "We have not forgotten the summer of 1994, when the General Secretary hosted the Third Tibetan Labor Meeting, putting the 'preparation work for the railway into Tibet' which Tibetans had yearned for forty years into the minutes, and soon after, the Fourth Session of the Eighth National People's Congress again suggested that the 'Work Plan for a Railway into Tibet' be implemented, as per the '9/5 Plan and the 2010 Long-term Target Outline'. Now, the heavy curtain over the opening up of Western Regions has already been drawn open, and for us, the Tibetan people, our greatest aspiration is the railway into Tibet, the heavenly road which will fulfill a millennia of the dreams of the Tibetan people. The first and second generation of leaders of the CPC were most concerned with the establishment of a railway into Tibet, but I am afraid that it remained to the third generation of the CPC leaders to implement this plan in concrete. I have high hopes for the Tibetan railway."
In the quiet meeting room, a great round of applause issued forth at the words of Re Di.
Jiang Zemin raised his head to laugh, "Haha. Re Di's political work and ideological work has gone over my head!"
Jiang Zemin then waved a hand at Railway Minister Fu Zhihuan, who was seated faraway, "Zhihuan, come sit over here and tell everyone about the early stages of the railway into Tibet!"