Negotiation
Throughout early 1983 Li Chonghuai was busy publicizing his strategy for Wuhan's development. A series of articles in the local media and academic journals pushed the idea of Wuhan's relying on "liang tong," or liutong , meaning circulation (of commodities), and jiaotong , meaning communications.[26] Thus Wuhan should rely on its geographic position in China's center, equidistant along the main rail line from Beijing in the north and Guangzhou in the south and along the Yangtze River from Chongqing to the west and Shanghai to the east. By relying on this position, Wuhan could recapture the leading position it had early in the twentieth century as the core city of a central China economic region. It would once again become the "thoroughfare of nine provinces."
The central-cities program was a national policy, as was stated earlier. Separate listing in the state plan for central cities was not limited to Wuhan. Chongqing was granted jihua danlie in early 1983. Implementing the policy there, however, was much less difficult than in Wuhan because "Chongqing is not the seat of provincial government. Wuhan is, and that makes it much more difficult. The closer authorities are to each other, the more difficulties there are."[27] Wuhan was the first provincial capital to be
given jihua danlie status and, as such, drew special attention from central leaders. By early 1989 twelve other cities, in addition to Wuhan and Chongqing, were granted jihua danlie: Guangzhou, Shenyang, Dalian, Chengdu, Harbin, Xian, Qingdao, Ningbo, Xiamen, Shenzhen, Nanjing, and Changchun.[28]
At the start it appeared that implementation would be easy. The Center and Wuhan both used bargaining strategies designed to convince Hubei officials of the policy's benefits for all concerned. While Center, province, and city watched developments in Chongqing closely, municipal officials and the State Commission on Restructuring the Economy communicated the need to approach Hubei about giving Wuhan separate listing in the state plan.[29] With prodding from the commission's vice-minister, Zhou Taihe, Wuhan sent Hubei a proposal, which provincial officials accepted. "Hubei didn't know what it would mean, so with Zhou's encouragement they accepted the plan gladly. Hubei sent the proposal to the Center, which acted immediately, something Beijing intended to do anyway. The Center had given clear hints to Wuhan of its support [in this issue] and the city seized the opportunity."[30] According to other sources, Hubei's initial acceptance of the policy was urged by the provincial first Party secretary, Guan Guangfu, and the then governor, Huang Zhizhen, close associates of the former PRC president Li Xiannian, a former Wuhan mayor.[31]
The bargaining strategies used here fit Lampton's classifications of "foot-in-the-door" and "a little something for everyone."[32] Theoretically, separate listing would lead to increased economic activity by Wuhan, which in turn would increase the financial returns for city, province, and Center, all of which "had little money."[33]
The decision to grant Wuhan jihua danlie was made in May 1984 and announced to the nation on June 3 in a statement that Wuhan would be a test-point for a variety of urban economic reforms, including provincial-level economic management status, the establishment of trade centers, the invigoration of transportation and the opening up of the Yangtze River, and the creation of horizontal economic ties with other regions in China.[34] Once the decision was made to permit jihua danlie for Wuhan, the city and the province had to work out how to implement the plan before the separation could be formalized by the State Council. During
this period it was clear that separation would lead to a division of powers between city and province, which created a variety of problems to which Hubei objected. The Center, led by Zhou Taihe, had to negotiate a settlement between Hubei and Wuhan so the policy could be implemented beginning with the 1985 plan.[35]
At this juncture, the historically bad relations between Wuhan and Hubei became a critical factor. The major initial problem, determining what Wuhan's proportion of retained capital should be, along with what enterprises under provincial jurisdiction would be sent down (xiafang ) to the city's jurisdiction, had to be negotiated in an atmosphere of mutual mistrust.