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Setting ambitious long-term goals

By Xie Chuanjiao ( China Daily )

Updated: 2016-09-04

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Port city is ready to cash in on its assets and become a leading national coastal tourist and resort center, as Xie Chuanjiao reports.

In 1930, Crown Prince Frederik and his cousin Prince Axel from Denmark boarded the MS Fionia to travel to the Far East.

Arriving in Qingdao, Prince Axel was impressed by the beauty of this coastal city, and built a summer house for his wife Princess Margaretha.

Setting ambitious long-term goals

With well-preserved heritage sites, breathtaking natural beauty and spectacular skyscrapers, Qingdao is fast becoming an international metropolis. Innovation, marine economy, high-end manufacturing and a thriving service sector are likely to dominate the city's future development landscape. Li Xueliang / For China Daily

 

Painted a deep green, it is a four-story villa straight out of Hans Christian Andersen's Fairytales and locals have referred to the house as "Villa Princess" ever since. 

With its white beaches, European-style architecture, well-preserved heritage and sacred Laoshan Mountains overlooking the sea, Qingdao has been famed as a tourist destination and health resort since the 1920s.

It was the favorite summer destination of the founding fathers of the People's Republic of China, including Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

Dignitaries, celebrities, and writers who lived there have added to its allure and legend, and now it is one of China's major ports and a metropolis attracting millions of visitors and investors from across the globe.

Before the ongoing G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou, Qingdao was the host of this year's Civil Society 20 China 2016 Conference, or C20.

Many delegates have expressed similar views regarding Qingdao's attractions.

"The charm of Qingdao makes everybody fall in love with the city. Qingdao has made a great contribution to the C20 conference. It has provided strong support to the meeting, thanks to its state-of-the-art infrastructure, thriving service culture, beautiful coastal views, and dynamic innovation," said Sun Jiazheng, vice-chairman of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and president of the China NGO Network for International Exchanges, during the C20.

With a green coverage of 39.4 percent, it has recently been recognized as a "national forest city", with walkways and bike trails that wind through the city's many green spaces and parks. 

Tsingtao, the beer that bears the city's name, is taking the lead in marketing Qingdao's rising home grown brands to the world, in concert with the boisterous and ever-popular annual Qingdao International Beer Festival.

Last year, Tsingtao Brewery sold 8.48 million kiloliters of beer, with revenue reaching 27.64 billion yuan ($4.15 billion). It exports to more than 90 countries and regions, and is now ranked sixth globally in the sector in terms of production, according to the Barth Report, an authoritative beer industry compilation.

Appliance manufacturer Haier Group, also Qingdao-based, recently ranked fifth on a list of China's most valuable brands - and first among domestic appliance brands. In June it completed the purchase of GE Appliances for a staggering $5.58 billion.

Qingdao Port, the world's seventh-largest, has trade connections with more than 700 ports in over 180 countries and regions.

With a population of 9 million, it is stepping up development towards its goal to build a modern international city with a livable environment and a high rate of satisfaction for residents.

Its latest development plan was recently approved by the State Council, China's cabinet.

The new strategy has positioned it as a major national central city and a coastal tourist and resort city at State level, an international port city and a national historic and cultural city.

"Circling around our goal and the new position, Qingdao will build three (functional) centers and one base to realize the central city concept," said Zhang Xinqi, mayor of Qingdao.

The functional centers referenced by Zhang are a significant innovation center in East China, a major regional service center, an advanced international marine development center and a high-end manufacturing base with global competency.

Marine

As a coastal city, Qingdao aspires to generate 30 percent of its gross domestic product from its marine economy, which has a projected annual marine GDP growth rate of 10 percent by 2020. Among the marine output, revenue generated from high-tech sectors must hit 42 percent, with major breakthroughs in basic research and core technology segments, indicating Qingdao's leadership in ocean technology development and China's marine economy.

The city's marine strategy is mainly driven by three development zones: Blue Valley, a leading high-tech zone for marine research; the Hongdao Economic Zone, a significant part of China's innovative development strategy; and the West Coast New Area, which is pursuing several goals, including a deep-sea exploration logistics base and a center for global marine economic cooperation.

The Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology officially started operations in October last year. Scientists from 11 marine-related organizations will be involved in the laboratory's research. With investment of 1.3 billion yuan, the laboratory has eight main labs focusing on research into marine and climate change, evolution and the protection of marine environments, and the sustainable use of marine biological resources.

Innovation

The city aims to complete the framework buildup for the innovation center by 2020, with productivity per capita reaching 228,000 yuan, and a talent pool of 2 million people.

The percentage for research and development expense versus gross domestic product is planned to reach 3.2 percent, and the revenue generated from strategic emerging industries must exceed 700 billion yuan.

Once these targets have been hit, it is anticipated that the city will become a hotbed for innovation, startups and the manufacturers of technological and cultural products.

The Qingdao High-tech Zone has made great strides in research and development in robotics and the 3-D printing, graphene and virtual reality sectors. Dubbed "blue, high-end and emerging", the zone's industry structure strategy has been developed on a "1 plus 5" model - one for technological service, and five for software and information technology, high-end smart manufacturing, marine biomedicine, oceanic equipment research and development, and energy conservation and new materials development.

Service

Qingdao's goal for the regional service center is to ensure the service sector accounts for 57 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, while manufacturing-related service sectors should account for 60 percent, and foreign trade volume will break the $100-billion mark. Market entities involved in service sectors are to exceed 1.5 million.

The State Council approved the establishment of the Qingdao Wealth Management Financial Comprehensive Reform Pilot Zone in February 2014. In April, Qingdao ranked 79th among the world's leading financial centers. It is the first time that the city has been in the global top 100.

During the first half of this year, Qingdao's export volume reached 130 billion yuan, 2.3 percent higher than the national average.

The city is also a pilot zone for national cruise liner tourism development, and is the fourth national cruise liner tourism development zone approved by the National Tourism Administration following Shanghai, Tianjin and Shenzhen.

It aims to receive 79 million domestic and foreign tourists this year, an increase of 7 percent year-on-year, with an annual total tourism consumption of 143.5 billion yuan.

Manufacturing

With CSR Sifang securing a string of overseas orders including 846 railcars from the Chicago Transit Authority in March, the city's manufacturing sector is rapidly rising to the top of the global rankings.

By 2020, its large-scale industrial output is expected to surpass 2 trillion yuan, with 45 percent of this revenue coming from high- tech sectors. Its degree of industrial clustering is planned to reach 65 percent and it aims to focus on cultivating 233 large enterprises each capable of driving a value chain and 131 small and medium enterprises with unique expertise and technological excellence in their own sectors. It is also striving to become a model city for the 'Made in China 2025' program.

Contact the writer at xiechuanjiao@chinadaily.com.cn