Since The Reform And Opening Up Yihe Residents On Both Sides Of The Investigation To He History Of Life Change

Yi River, the second largest river in Shandong Province, mainly runs through southeasternShandong Province and is also an important river across Linyi City. Local residents of both sidesof the river, who used to depend mainly on the barren lands, had been suffering from poor andmiserable lives. Fortunately, China adopted reform and opening-up policy since the ThirdPlenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in 1978. And such a period of great historicalchange has witnessed that the lifestyle of local residents is converting to modern mode fromtraditional mode thanks to joint efforts from all corners of society. And during the period, LinyiCity has created economic miracle in pioneering the way of shaking off poverty and forming afresh outlook of developing economy along the river, and what’s more, residents’happinessindex ranked second nationwide in 2011.Based on the changes in the local resdients’standard ofliving on both sides of Yi River, this paper aims to probe into the major profound changes in thelocal residents’standard of living from the beginning of reform and opening-up to now.Living, can be defined in a narrow sense, as the inevitable livelihood activities to ensure thesurvival and reproduction during one’s existence, mainly consisting of food, clothing, shelter,transportation.”Based on the changes in the daily lives of the residents of both sides of YiRiver, and especially in the lives of Linyi citizens, the paper aims to explore the greatchanges in the following aspects: clothing, food, shelter and transportation. As to clothing,the residents of both sides of Yi River experienced such a transitional stage fromstruggling against being shabbily dressed to focusing on keeping warm and now to payingattention to dressing smartly, such a change reflecting the image of the certain times. Asto food, the residents experienced from a starving period to a full fed period and nowwelcome a healthy diet, such a change indicating substantial improvement in the livingstandards of residents. As to shelter, the residents had lived in thatched cottage and usedto live in adobe house and now tile-roofed house, some even are moving to modern storey building. The change of living conditions and the decoration inside demonstrates thegradual improvement in the living standards of the residents. As to transportation, theresidents have witnessed the modern construction of highways, railroads, bridges, airportand means of transportation as well out of an out-of-the-way place.After analyzing the changes in the lives of local residents for the past thirty oddyears, the paper aims to bring some reference and enlightenment for the other freshwaterriver basins and old revolutionary base areas through absorbing the above constructivereasons, experiences and lessons.At present, the cities and towns of both sides of Yi River are developing at great speed withfull use of great advantage of Yi River. And among the cities, Linyi City is becoming a boomingcity with strong economy in Shandong Province, famous as the commodity distributing center insoutheastern Shandong Province and a logistics center. Under the guidance and encouragementof the government’s policy, the economy of Yi River’s both sides is energetically push forwardjust like painting a fresh picture scroll, adding beauty and strength to the historical backgroundof urbanization and modernization. As a result, local residents’lives are strikingly different fromthose prior to reform and opening-up and such a change is making a great difference to thedevelopment of local politics, economy, culture and society. In retrospect, the thirty odd years ofreform and opening-up, is the thirty odd years of rapidly rising income for the residents of bothsides of Yi River, is the thirty odd years of great improvement of their living standards, and isalso the thirty odd years of boons most frequently gained by the local residents. Furthermore, tocomprehensively review the modernization process of the local residents’lives, and to grasp thelaw of history’s development, will surely play a guiding significance when the startup of theprogram called the construction of the Great Beauty of Linyi City is taken into consideration.