Wang Ming-shen points out that in the early eighties these two cities were suffering serious environmental problems and an exodus of people and jobs, as well as a shrinking tax base and dropping productivity as a result of industrial transformation. The cities were virtually bankrupt.
汪明生指出，這兩個城市在一九八○年代初期因為產業轉型困難而導致環境汙染嚴重、生產力降低、產業與人口外移、稅收減少，整個城市幾乎要破產的地步。