HU LINE: JOURNEY THROUGH CHINA’S HEARTLAND
In 1935, demographer Hu Huanyong traced a diagonal line through China, from the edge of Siberia to the steamy subtropics.
What he found was a frontier of asymmetrical growth between east and west.
After more than 80 years, despite the country’s tremendous economic and cultural transformation, the Hu Line still stands — and China must ask hard questions about its uneven development.
Stretching from Heihe on the Russian border to Tengchong on China’s southwestern border with Myanmar, the Hu Line divides China into two parts.
To the east, just over one-third of the nation’s land houses almost 94 percent of the country’s population.
Only 6 percent of citizens — but most of the nation’s ethnic minority groups — share the vast and varied terrain to the west.
Many places along the Hu Line rely on fading or fragile industries.
Yet an aggressive push for development and urbanization could also threaten the unique natural and cultural landscape west of the line.
Bringing balance to both sides is a test for China’s future.
Fu Danni, Zhou Pinglang, Colum Murphy, Liang Chenyu, Chen Xi, Wu Haiyun, Shi Yi, Wang Yun, Gu Yifan, Liu Chang, Daniel Holmes, Ding Yining, Tang Xiaolan, Qian Jinghua, Jessica Levine, Wang Yasai, Jiang Yong, Ji Guoliang, and Chen Ronghui.
