Love to fight to win! Forty years of development and trials in Xiamen Special Economic Zone
From the five commercial ports more than a hundred years ago to one of the first four special economic zones established in the reform and opening up, Xiamen has always been a "window" for China to expand its opening up and has played an important role in the history of China's opening up.
Xiamen’s international style often makes people from other provinces forget his Hokkien accent.
Chen Yingdeng has kept an old contract more than thirty years ago.
In early 1982, Chen Yingdeng, an overseas Chinese from Indonesia who was born in Fuqing, signed a contract with Xiamen City to open an Indian-Chinese floor tile factory in the lake.
This is the first foreign investment contract in Xiamen Special Economic Zone.
The curtain of foreign investment in Xiamen was thus opened.
The data picture shows the home port of Xiamen Dongdu Cruise.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Dongming
The special economic zone has opened up to Xiamen for 40 years
"Make the special economic zone faster and better."
-Deng Xiaoping
The old tiles of the year can still be found in today's "Special Zone•1980" Huli Creative Industry Park in Xiamen.
Huli District, the birthplace of Xiamen's Special Economic Zone, can vaguely see the shadow of the roaring and hot industrial area 40 years ago.
Xiamen "Special Zone•1980" Huli Creative Industry Park
In October 1980, the State Council set aside 2.5 square kilometers in the lake in the northern suburbs of Xiamen Island to establish a special economic zone.
At the beginning of the establishment of the special zone, many enterprises attracted by the special economic zone policies gathered on 2.5 square kilometers, including the first wholly foreign-owned enterprise, the Indian-Chinese floor tile factory, and the Hong Kong-invested enterprise Xiamen Lianqiao Co., Ltd., which gave birth to a number of similar buildings. Brand enterprises such as Hua, Xiaxin, Jinlong, and Hongsheng gather to form industrial plants.
Over the past 40 years, Xiamen has gone from "introducing overseas Chinese" to "introducing Taiwan with overseas Chinese", from "introducing overseas Chinese to Taiwan", from Sino-foreign joint ventures to wholly foreign-owned enterprises, from concentrating on land and concessions to improving the international business environment, and from being closed. The small city of Haiphong has embraced the world with an open mind.
The data picture shows the Xiamen area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Dongming
Manufacturing is the focus of Xiamen's use of foreign capital.
With the injection of a number of major foreign investment projects such as Japan Electric Glass, Toyota Tsusho, Dell of the United States, and Taikoo Aircraft Maintenance of Hong Kong, Xiamen has become the world’s largest production and export base for tungsten products, China’s major computer export base, LCD panel export base, and China’s largest one. Station type aviation maintenance base.
From January to July this year, Xiamen's foreign trade imports and exports amounted to 370.08 billion yuan, accounting for half of Fujian Province.
40 years later, "going out" along the "Belt and Road" has become the new normal of Xiamen enterprise investment.
The integrated stainless steel smelting project invested by Xiangyu Group in Indonesia's Southeastern Sulawesi Province has already been put into production in some production areas. This is the largest scale of foreign investment projects since the establishment of Xiamen Special Economic Zone.
The picture shows the second phase of the construction of Delong Industrial Park in Indonesia.
Photo by Zhou Yuan
The picture shows Xiamen Xiangyu Group's participation in the construction of an integrated nickel-iron and stainless steel smelting project in 2017, starting the second phase of the Indonesian Delong Industrial Park.
Photo by Zhou Yuan
The "Silk Road Shipping" and "China-Europe Railway Express" both flew together and ran out of Xiamen's development "acceleration".
Last year, Xiamen Port's container throughput completed 11.1222 million TEUs, making it the 14th largest port in the world.
The data picture shows the Haicang Container Terminal of Xiamen Port.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Dongming
Chen Shulin, the crane driver of the operation department of the Haitian branch of Xiamen Container Terminal Group Co., Ltd., was born in 1981. He is a "peer" of the Xiamen Special Economic Zone. He has witnessed the leap from one million TEUs to ten million TEUs in Xiamen Port .
"In 2005, our bridge crane driver only operated for more than three hours a day, and the work was done. Now that the efficiency is high, the time is stretched, and the yard is full of containers every day."
Chen Shulin, the crane driver of the operation department of Xiamen Container Terminal Group Co., Ltd. Haitian Branch, witnessed the leap of Xiamen Port from one million TEU to ten million TEU.
Since 2018, the route cooperation platform named "Silk Road Shipping" has started operation in Xiamen, Fujian, helping Xiamen to build a "Sea Silk" hub city.
Now it has connected Xiamen Port with major ports in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Echoing the "Silk Road Maritime Transport" is the "acceleration" international train business.
Taiwan, Hong Kong, and neighboring countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia, India and other neighboring countries use the "sea + rail" transportation method to complete the transit transportation through Xiamen, which reduces the transportation time that originally required 30 to 40 days to 20 days.
Up to now, Xiamen International Express has opened routes between Central Europe, Central Asia, and China-Russia Express, which can reach Poznan, Poland, Budapest, Hungary, Hamburg, Germany, Duisburg, Moscow, Russia, and Almaty and Tashkent in Central Asia. More than 30 cities in 12 countries.
Known as the "Barometer of China's Economy", the 2020 Xiamen International Investment and Trade Fair and the Silk Road Investment Conference have entered the countdown.
The China International Investment and Trade Fair held in Xiamen on September 8th every year is the only international investment promotion activity in China aimed at promoting two-way investment.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Dongming
40 Years of Special Economic Zone, Xiamen Youth Song
"I know the mainland from Xiamen. I hope to become a ferryman and invite more Taiwanese youths to Xiamen."
—— Fan Jiangfeng
Xiamen, with its mountains, seas and urban feel, is a paradise for capital competition and a hot spot for entrepreneurship that is friendly to young people.
Huli District, the birthplace of the Special Economic Zone in the past, has now gathered clusters of emerging industries such as cultural creation, film and television, and e-sports.
As of July 2020, the 7 "Special Zone•1980" parks that have been put into operation have achieved revenue of approximately RMB 1.48 billion.
Yan Chi, a practitioner of creative short video, said that Xiamen, based on the mountains, the sea and the city, is facing the global market, and the emerging industries gathered here are booming.
Xiamen and Taiwan face each other across the sea.
Here, the first place in the mainland "60 Benefits to Taiwan" was promulgated, the "Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement" was the first to be implemented, the comprehensive supporting reforms of cross-strait exchanges and cooperation were intensified, and the cross-strait regional financial service center, trade center with Taiwan, and international shipping center Speed up construction.
Xiamen has continuously improved the policy mechanism for attracting employment and entrepreneurship of Taiwanese youths and the system of serving Taiwanese businessmen. It has innovated the establishment of Taiwanese service centers, stations for Taiwanese compatriots, homes for Taiwanese businessmen, and cross-strait youth entrepreneurship bases. Taiwan's judicial service "one-stop" mechanism.
At present, Xiamen has 30 cross-strait youth entrepreneurship bases, and more than 500 teams have settled in Taiwan. Among them, 7 bases including Xiamen Cross-Strait Youth Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Maker Base have been approved as "Cross-Strait Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship Base (Demonstration Site)" by the Taiwan Office of the State Council .
On June 7, Fan Jiangfeng, the first Taiwanese entrepreneur to win the "Fujian Youth May 4th Medal" and general manager of Xiamen Qida Taiwan Thinking Entrepreneurship Service Company, shared his entrepreneurial experience at the forum.
Photo by Zhang Bin
At the same time, the first cross-strait joint venture securities company "Golden Union Securities", the first joint venture consumer finance company "Jinmeixin Finance", the first Taiwan-funded insurance institution "Fubon Property Insurance", etc. have settled here; Xiamen is the first to develop The cross-border RMB loan business to Taiwan accounts for 85% of the total mainland business.
40 years of special economic zone, the sound of drums in Xiamen
"It (Gulangyu Island) is the epitome and precipitation of history for Xiamen, and it is Xiamen's'city nostalgia'."
-Cai Songrong
"My favorite is the leaning tide behind the moon, and the fishing fires on the river."
"Yundang Yuhuo" is how many people's "impression of Xiamen".
In the past, Yundang Port was surrounded by the sea and built a dike, which once turned black and smelly.
In March 1988, Xi Jinping, then a member of the Standing Committee of the Xiamen Municipal Party Committee and deputy mayor, proposed the 20-character policy of "lawful management of lakes, sewage treatment, dredging and building banks, invigorating water bodies, and beautifying the environment", and creatively established "the mayor must personally grasp The comprehensive treatment mechanism of "lake control" has launched a tough battle against this "old problem" in environmental pollution control.
In 2015, Yundang Lake launched the "Citizen Garden Chief" management model to guide residents along the lake to participate in voluntary management of the lake area.
Chen Pan, who retired from a middle school teacher post, participated in the first batch of "citizen principals" competition and became one of them.
He said that the "Citizen Garden Leader" model embodies the governance philosophy of "conspiracy, co-construction, co-management, sharing, and co-evaluation", which is exactly the style of Xiamen.
The picture shows the aerial photography of the beautiful Yundang Lake in downtown Xiamen on August 24.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Dongming
Xiamen, a national ecological garden city, has 150 parks of various types, realizing "300 meters for green and 500 meters for gardens" in the urban built-up area.
The picture shows aerial photography of the beautiful Yundang Lake in downtown Xiamen.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Dongming
"Xiamen's "Citizen Garden Chief" Performing Duties: Striving to Be a Woodpecker and Acting as Peace" (Reported by Li Siyuan, Qian Xiaoyun, Xiamen, Fujian)
Cai Songrong, director of the Gulangyu World Cultural Heritage Center, travels between Xiamen Island and Gulangyu every working day. When taking a ferry to and from get off work, he often imagines it as a "time shuttle".
Xiamen International Cruise Terminal.
Photo by Zhu Qingfu
"The 600-meter-narrow Lujiang Strait is actually the boundary between history and reality." Cai Songrong said, "every day ferry tourists and citizens from reality to history, or from history to reality."
On July 8, 2017, "Gulangyu Island: International Historical Community" was included in the World Heritage List and became China's 52nd World Heritage Site.
Gulangyu, Xiamen.
Photo by Su Huaqi
In participating in the application for heritage, Cai Songrong used his footsteps to measure the 1.88 square kilometer island over and over again.
"It (Gulangyu Island) is the epitome and precipitation of history for Xiamen, and it is Xiamen's "city nostalgia"." He said.
Gulangyu Island is known as the "Music Island" and "Piano Island". Family concerts are the most common way of life for residents of Gulangyu Island.
Gulangyu Music Festival, Gulangyu Poetry Festival, Scriabin International Piano Competition and other activities are also on the island.
"Leicuo" at 97 Zhonghua Road is the Leicuo band representing the family music culture of Gulangyu Island. It was formally established in 2012 and consists of 8 Gulangyu people with an average age of over 60.
Photo by Wang Dongming
For 40 years in the special zone, Xiamen has been brave
As China continues to open up to the outside world and the advantages of the special zone tend to weaken, Xiamen has taken the lead in launching the construction of a world-class business environment since 2015. The level of business environment has improved from 2014 to the 61st place in the global economy. To the 25th place in 2019.
In the five years since the establishment of the Pilot Free Trade Zone in Xiamen, a total of 416 innovative measures have been launched, of which 82 were national firsts, and 27 of Xiamen’s experiences were promoted nationwide, accounting for 1/4 of the country; in terms of service trade, Xiamen was approved nationwide in August this year. Pilot cities for innovative development of service trade.
Xiamen has also been on the way for the exploration of solving people's livelihood problems.
Xiamen citizens have fun in the park.
Photo by Wang Dongming
Looking at the development trajectory of the Special Economic Zone over the past 40 years, it is not difficult to find that Xiamen has always been a pioneering "experimental field" in various fields in China.
This beautiful seaside city continues to explore and practice unremittingly to find a successful road suitable for its own development.
The data picture shows the aerial photography of Xiamen Huandao Road and Shimao Strait Building.
Photo by China News Agency reporter Wang Dongming
Text: Yang Fushan and Huang Yong Silk Yan Xu
Picture: Wang Dongming
Video: Li Siyuan