Walking in Tonghe, the eco-town in Qingdao with hundreds of enterprises covered by green trees, you will find no one smoking pipes here. Though it is a northern town, it has the charm of a southern town. Today it is one of the second batch of pilot towns for reform and development in our country.

"Our goal is to build a unique modern town that is green, ecologically sound, and suitable for human habitation and entrepreneurship, so that people here will be vivacious and make a lot of money,” said Wang Fujun, secretary of the Tonghe Committee.

In recent years, Tonghe has sped up the construction of its modern eco-town. It has explored a new type of industrialization and rural development, making Tonghe a model rural town of China. In the past 30 years, the GDP of Tonghe has increased 173-times, while the fiscal revenue and rural per capita net income respectively increased by 56-times and 123-times.

More than 20 state and Provincial titles have been bestowed onto this town, including the State Model Town, second banch of Pilot Towns in Reform and Development, National Beautiful Environment Town, National Top Thousand Town, Well-off Town of Shandong Province, Civilized Town of Shandong, and Provincial Industrial Model Town.

The numbers don’t lie—Tonghe has accumulated 1.6 billion yuan in investment, its urbanization level has reached 55%, and of its eco-town boasts an area of 12 square kilometers, a reasonable layout, facilities, perfect functions and mesmerizingly distinctive features.

With the combined efforts of different social forces, Tonghe has become a multidimensional investment powerhouse. Today, every county in Tonghe has cement roads, tap water and cable TV. The sewage treatment rate has reached 100%; all the main regions, including the cultural center and cultural square, have been implemented by lighting engineers, with over 3000 lamps aside the road. The green coverage rate has reached 48%, covering 18 square meters per capita.

Tonghe’s good living environment attracts more and more foreign investment every year. Over 300 enterprises from all over the world are located in this small town, supplying jobs for more than 40,000 migrant workers and 62,000 local residents.

In addition to its environmental efforts, Tonghe has also invested more than 5 million yuan to rebuild and expand 45 country cultural compounds and cultural activity rooms, as well as 22 civilized streets to support folk art activities. Today, there are 28 folk art propaganda teams, 220 cultural centers of different kinds, 11 folk art teams and over 700 art backbones in this town.

By Ju Chuanjiang and Dai Yan (China Daily Shandong Bureau)

Editor: Li Jing