The Top 100 for China's National Industrial Parks

On December 17, the "White Paper on the Top 100 for the Development Competitiveness of China's National Industrial Parks" was released. The research on the Top 100 list is mainly for 375 State-level Economic and Technological Development Zones and National High-tech Industrial Development Zones. Comprehensive evaluation of five aspects: innovation capability, business environment, ecological livability and location transportation.The National High-tech Zone has an absolute advantage in the listed parks, with a total of 66 National High-tech Zones on the list, including Shanghai Zhangjiang High-tech Industrial Development Zone ranked first. Shanghai Zhangjiang High-tech Industrial Development Zone is located in Shanghai, the economic center of the country. Shanghai Zhangjiang High-tech Zone makes full use of Shanghai's excellent industrial base and development conditions, accelerates the gathering of innovative resources such as talents, capital and technology, vigorously cultivates high-tech enterprises, and actively develops high-tech industries. The park is divided into three leading industries of integrated circuits, software and biomedicine, focusing on building a public service platform, building and improving the industrial innovation chain, and focus on the major functional areas such as technological innovation zones, high-tech industrial zones, research and education zones, and living zones. At present, the integrated circuit industry of Zhangjiang Core Park has occupied half of the domestic market share and has become one of the largest software industry bases in the country, forming the most intensive biomedical R&D and innovation base in China. Through policy support, resource agglomeration, especially the construction of public service platforms, the innovation and entrepreneurial environment of Shanghai Zhangjiang High-tech Zone has been continuously optimized.The second is Shenzhen High-tech Industrial Park.Shenzhen High-tech Industrial Park was established in September 1996. It is one of the first Pilot Parks for the development strategy of “Building a World-class Technology Park” by the Ministry of Science and Technology. With the help of Shenzhen's innovative environmental advantages, the park focuses on the development of four major industries: electronic information, bioengineering, new materials, and opto-mechatronics.The third is Hangzhou High-tech Industrial Development ZoneHangzhou High-tech Industrial Development Zone is located in Binjiang District, Hangzhou City, Hangzhou. As a national high-tech development zone, Hangzhou High-tech Zone enjoys special national preferential policies. The Park focus on the development of communication equipment manufacturing, software industry, integrated circuit design and manufacturing, digital TV industry, animation and online game industry.

Shanghai Industrial Structure Adjustment Negative List

Recently, the Shanghai authorities released the latest version of the 2018 "Shanghai Industrial Structure Adjustment Negative List", involving more than 500 contents in 15 major industries, which will have a major impact on Shanghai's future economic development and industrial investment.This "Negative List" covers 15 industries including electricity, chemical, electronics, steel, nonferrous metals, building materials, medicine, machinery, light industry, textile, printing, shipbuilding, telecommunications, etc., a total of 541 items (337 categories of elimination, restricted class 204 (Item), can be used as a relevant unit to carry out structural adjustments and improve energy efficiency.Shanghai released the “Industry Negative List” to further clarify and strengthen Shanghai's industrial structure and future development.Shanghai has made a lot of efforts in expanding economic development in recent years. At the opening ceremony of the first China International Import Expo this year, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a speech saying that a new area of China's Shanghai Free Trade Zone will be added to encourage and support Shanghai's innovation and exploration in promoting investment and trade liberalization and facilitation. 

How China opened its doors to world

Plenum paved way for landmark reform initiativeForty years ago this week, the Jingxi Hotel in Beijing's Haidian district was the venue for one of the 20th century's landmark events.The Third Plenum of the 11th Communist Party of China Central Committee, held from Dec 18 to 22, 1978, saw the launch of China's reform and opening-up policy.This momentous initiative not only transformed the country－turning it from a largely agrarian and poor society to the second-largest economy in the world－but also the world itself, shifting its center of gravity eastward.Martin Jacques, the British academic and author of When China Rules the World, believes 1978 was the year in which the world we are living in today began to take shape."The reforms (of former leader Deng Xiaoping) not only transformed the whole of the Chinese economy, they transformed China's vision of the world and the world itself. It is an absolutely revolutionary shift. It was a momentous event, absolutely incredible. In my view, it marked the beginning of the 21st century," he said.The new policy began with reform of the economy's agricultural base.The 1980s saw Special Economic Zones set up in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, and other coastal areas, which became hives of manufacturing and the platform for China to become the workshop of the world.The policy welcomed foreign investment, with multinational companies from around the world launching operations in China through joint ventures.The economy has grown, at mostly double-digit rates, from $306.17 billion in 1980 to $12.25 trillion last year－a 40-fold increase, which has taken 800 million people out of poverty.Since the financial crisis of 2008, China has contributed a quarter of global growth.However, Kerry Brown, director of the Lau Institute at King's College London, said it would be wrong to see 1978 as a complete break from what had gone before.He views the nation's development as a continuation of the progress made in the three decades after the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949."The journey started in 1949. There was a modernization going on that was complicated and it was all part of a learning experience. Without what happened before 1978, you wouldn't have had the opportunities to do what occurred afterward," he said.The reform and opening-up initiative has shaped many people's lives.Jing Ulrich, managing director and vice-chairman for Asia Pacific at JPMorgan Chase, who is one of China's most prominent businesswomen, was 11 when it was launched."I remember as a child witnessing the economic reforms that placed China on a path of extraordinary growth and prosperity," she said."Every year I saw how the introduction of market principles allowed China to open up to foreign investment, and gave people the opportunity to set up businesses and build something out of nothing. The transformation created much-needed jobs, drastically raised living standards, and gave people the chance to build the lives they always wanted. It was the beginning of the Chinese dream," Ulrich said.Now 51, Ulrich has been ranked by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 most powerful global businesswomen. She was also one of the first students from the Chinese mainland to study at Harvard University at the United States."When I was studying in America, people didn't really know much about China. But over time, as the reforms continued to ripple through the market and focused global attention on 'the rising dragon', I knew it was my calling to interpret the 'China story' for the world," she said.One of the contentious issues with reform and opening-up is whether it receives the attention and recognition in the West that it deserves, if only by one criteria alone－for delivering so many people out of poverty.Former United Kingdom prime minister Tony Blair acknowledged this in an interview with China Daily earlier this year."It is a really significant event. If you were a Western student, you would study lots of things about the politics of the late 20th century. You would study the Soviet Union, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of apartheid," he said."You wouldn't probably study, in the same way, the opening-up of China, and yet it signaled that China was going on a new path of engagement with the world with the opening-up of its economy. The results have been staggering."Brown, although recognizing the significance of 1949, said the world we live in now derives from 1978."In terms of global leadership, nothing comes close to it in terms of its impact on one-fifth of humanity. This was a truly great event, and so many issues we are dealing with now, such as the shape of the global economy, all date back to that year."Jacques, the British academic, also believes there is insufficient acknowledgement of 1978 in the West."You barely see anything (about this) in the Western media. That tells you virtually everything you need to know about the inability to comprehend one of the greatest trends in the world. The West is now blind and does not have a sense of the future anymore. It has lost its compass and has moved into a siege mentality," he said.For Ulrich at JPMorgan Chase, the impact of reform and opening-up will continue to shape the world, with its ability to invest in other nations through moves such as the Belt and Road Initiative, which was proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013."China's economic reforms have paved the way for the nation to create some of the world's leading companies in e-commerce, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, financial services and biotechnology," she said."With China already achieving its goal of shifting from an export-oriented economy to a consumption-driven one, the nation's leaders are now on a journey to build and invest in its neighbors through the trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative."State direction has played a significant role in the success of the Chinese economy, from establishing SEZs in the 1980s to current initiatives such as setting up Free Trade Zones.Rana Mitter, director of the University of Oxford China Centre, said the reform measures developed a momentum of their own in the 1980s."You had the de-collectivization of the countryside. With the setting up of Special Economic Zones, Guangdong took off like a rocket," he said.Deng's Southern Tour in 1992, when he visited the Shenzhen SEZ, and famously said "to get rich is glorious", was also another important stepping stone, Mitter said."This is when you have the real beginning of the Made in China export-oriented economy," he said.William Kirby, T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies at Harvard University, said part of the reform dynamism was the return of family businesses, particularly after 1990."They had been the dynamo of China's economy up to the 1920s and (also drove) other East Asian economies," he said.Ulrich believes one of the most important ingredients in China's success has been the way it has managed to rapidly integrate itself with the global economy."China's unprecedented economic growth over the past 40 years is a testament to the importance of an economy embracing global business and international markets. Over the past half century, China has transitioned from a closed, agriculture-based economy to one that is vibrant and deeply connected across virtually every sector in the world," she said.Mitter, author of China's War With Japan, 1937-45: The Struggle for Survival, said part of the reform initiative's success was its timing."It coincided with the end of the Cold War, and the US was then buying a lot of stuff, although this was largely debt-fueled, while China was producing it. It created what the historian Niall Ferguson called 'Chinamerica', referring to the two economies becoming complementary."Kirby, the author of Can China Lead? Reaching the Limits of Power and Growth, said the reform initiative has not been without its problems, particularly widening the inequality between the rich coastal regions and poorer inland ones."Reform led to the extraordinary development of the south and east, but some other less-developed regions got left behind," he said.He believes this has particularly affected the farming community, which has not benefited in the same way as the urban population."It is the farmers who have not enjoyed these benefits. If you look at France, the UK, Germany and the US, the farmers have not been impoverished. For China to be an enduring rich country, it needs to have a prosperous agricultural sector as well."As the anniversary of the reform initiative is marked, China, which became a member of the World Trade Organization in 2001, is continuing to open up its economy.Mitter said: "People are looking to see what role China will play as a key actor on the international stage in the next phase of its development. That question remains to be resolved, and the way that China addresses it will do a great deal to decide what China's reputation, reach and power is."Ulrich also believes further opening-up will be important to the country's future success."There is still room for China to accelerate market liberalization. In addition, it can further open its financial system to foreign competition, encourage foreign direct investment and continue to lead in global trade. These reforms will take time, but we do see China making meaningful progress on every front," she said.As people look back to 1978, Brown, also author of China's World: What Does China Want?, said it is important to remember and reflect on Deng's leadership."Through his reforms China has emerged as a country that once again is a force in the world. It is innovating and creating its own technologies. It is becoming what the US was in the 20th century, but with Chinese characteristics," he said.Source: China Daily

Henan Province promote the foreign investment

In order to promote the steady growth of foreign investment in the Henan Province and build a new era of comprehensive opening up. On December 10, the Henan Provincial Government issued the "Notice on Actively and Effectively Using Foreign Capital to Promote High-Quality Economic Development", which will greatly relax market access and increase the financial support of foreign-funded enterprises and projects to attract foreign investment into Henan.Henan will accelerate the opening up of the automobile and aircraft industries, encourage foreign enterprises to invest in new energy vehicles, general aircraft manufacturing and key parts and components, and officially cancel the restrictions on foreign-invested shares in the automobile manufacturing industry and the number of joint ventures in automakers.In addition, Henan will relax the conditions for foreign investors to set up investment companies, and at the same time, will further relax or cancel the restrictions on the investment conditions of foreign-invested talent intermediaries, and eliminate the proportion of foreign technical personnel engaged in foreign-invested construction engineering design enterprises. In addition, Henan's support for new foreign-funded projects and capital increase and expansion has increased significantly. For newly established overseas  regional headquarters and functional institutions will award a reward of no more than 10 million yuan at a time; and a foreign-funded research and development institution that is recognized as a provincial-level major new research and development institution will be awarded a prize of up to 5 million yuan.Henan will further optimize the business environment, implement foreign-invested business filing and industrial and commercial registration with "in one window", and further reduce the restriction for foreign-invested enterprises.

China's Urban Business Environment Report 2018

At 3 pm on December 12, 2018, the Central Radio and Television General Station held the launching ceremony of "China's Urban Business Environment Report 2018" in Beijing. This is the first Chinese business environment evaluation report that be released by the national media, with independent third party preparation and authoritative characteristics.At the press conference, the Top Ten cities in China's urban business environment rankings were published in 2018, followed by Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Xi'an. And the seven evaluations factors were also announced.The evaluation results show that the overall business environment of the first-tier cities in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou is the highest, ranking the top four in the overall ranking.In the seven-dimension evaluation list, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou has six evaluation factors entered the top ten respectively, and five evaluations in Shenzhen entered the top ten. Specifically, in the establishment of a good business environment, the core cities with comprehensive strength are leading in the overall level, while other cities show their characteristics in their respective advantages.The First Dimension: InfrastructureGuangzhou ranks first in terms of continuous strengthening of urban hub network functions and leading services such as education and medical care in South China.The Second Dimension: Human ResourcesIn the dimension of human resources evaluation, it mainly evaluates the quantity and quality of labor resources supply, the basics of talent supply, urban treatment and salary attractiveness. Beijing ranks first.The Third Dimension: Financial ServicesIn terms of the dimension of financial services, Shanghai and Beijing are ranked the first and the second respectively, which has a large distance from other cities. The Fourth Dimension: The Government EnvironmentIn the dimension of government environmental assessment, Guangzhou topped the list. This is the embodiment of Guangzhou's continuous improvement of public service quality and administrative efficiency in recent years.The Fifth Dimension: The rule of law environmentIn the ranking of the legal environment evaluation dimension, Changsha and Jinan performed outstandingly, and they were ranked the first and the second respectively.The Sixth Dimension: Innovative EnvironmentIn the dimension of innovation environmental assessment, as the fourth National Independent Innovation Demonstration Zone approved by the State Council and the first National Innovative City, Shenzhen was ranked the first with unquestionable. Chongqing and Chengdu, which are located in the southwest, ranking third and fourth respectively.The Seventh Dimension: Social EnvironmentIn the dimension of social environmental assessment, Beijing was ranked first, and the construction of urban credit system is in a stage of comprehensive upgrading, which is much ahead of other cities.

Why New Energy Auto can be developed rapidly in China？

Chinese auto market in this year is likely to experience the first negative growth since 1990. From January to October, the total sales of automobiles is 22.87 million units, down 0.1% year-on-year; in October, it fell 11.7% year-on-year, the largest monthly decline since 2012.At the same time, however, the new energy auto industry has gone against the market, not only has sales soared, but also poured into dozens of new companies in just one or two years.Among them, Weilai Automobile was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Shanghai. In just four years, it has set up R&D, design, production and business institutions in San Jose, Munich, London, Shanghai and other 13 cities, assembled thousands of the world's top industry talent in automotive, software and user experience.In the same year, Xiaopeng Automobile was founded in Guangzhou. Also in four years, it established R&D and production centers in Silicon Valley, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Zhaoqing, Zhengzhou and other cities, and assembled more than 3,000 top talents from different cities, 60% of which are R&D personnel.In the downtrend of global automotive industry, domestic new energy vehicles are experiencing explosive growth. In the first three quarters of 2018, under the policy incentives, the production and sales of new energy vehicles were 734,600 and 721,500 respectively, up 73.05% and 81.05% respectively. By 2020, the sales of new energy passenger vehicles in the Chinese market are expected to be broken through 1.8 million vehicles.The rapid development of China's new energy auto industry is inseparable from the state's policy support. Before 2016, the central government allocated a total of 33.44 billion yuan in subsidies for new energy vehicles. On May 25, 2018, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology confirmed that new energy auto companies should value a total of about 18.972 billion yuan of subsidy funds in the 2016 and 2017, and the total subsidies totaled 52.4 billion. In addition to the direct subsidies, exemption purchase tax and license preferential policies also provide consumers with more reasons to choose new energy vehicles.As mentioned above, it is obvious that the business environment of new energy auto in China has advantage on the large extent.