It is the devotion and hard work of Party members that make the miracle of business in Qingdao happen, according to businesses representatives.

Yin Jian, deputy general manager of Qingdao Port International and the Party secretary of New Qingdao Qianwan Container Terminal, said the mission of a Party member is to take a leading role in overcoming difficulties.

Yin is also the second Party secretary of a team engaged in the application of the automated wharf at the port. He said, "Before 2013, China took seven places in the world's top 10 ports, while none of the ports had an automated wharf."

To this end, the innovation team has been dedicated to developing the technology.

In three and a half years, Yin said his team has developed the 5G-based terminal, which is claimed to be the most efficient automated terminal in the world.

There are 23 Party members among the 25 core specialists, Yin said, recalling that his predecessor Zhang Liangang had come back to the team and led them to conduct research and development on the technology despite just having an operation for lung cancer.

"It is the mission of a Party member to take a leading role in overcoming difficulties when there is a need," Yin said.

Yin's beliefs are echoed by many Party members and businesses.

Meng Qingshang, Party secretary of Tsingtao Beer factory, said it is the aspiration and power of the Communist Party of China that empowers Tsingtao Beer to achieve its success.

In early 2020, Tsingtao Beer was asked to transform its production lines into intelligent ones as Qingdao had been tasked with developing high-level manufacturing.

At that time, it was hard to carry out the task due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Meng said. But the factory assigned all Party members to guide workers to complete the work during that tough period.

The move made Tsingtao Beer the world's first factory piloting digital manufacturing in the beer industry, Meng said.

Tan Lixia, executive vice-president of Haier Group, was awarded as an outstanding Party member in Shandong province in June.

In response to the high-quality development of microbusinesses, Haier Group has developed the industrial platform COSMOPlat to support the upgrading and digital transformation of microbusinesses in Qingdao.

"This is just an epitome of a platform empowering Qingdao's microbusinesses," Tan said.

In 2020, nearly 3,000 companies in Qingdao used the COSMOPlat, which helped increase their operation efficiency by 30 percent and contributed 11.7 billion yuan ($1.8 billion) in added output value, according to Tan.

Since 2005, Haier has been promoting its ecosystem innovation as part of efforts to become a world-leading company in the internet of things.

Taking a leading role in driving the company's vision and mission, Tan said that Haier's innovation secret is to mobilize and integrate resources.

"From producing low-temperature stockpile equipment to providing an IoT biosafety technological ecosystem that combines human resources, equipment, materials and services, Haier's biomedical branch has seen rapid development.

"Since being listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2019, the market value of Haier Biomedical has increased by 300 percent within two years, becoming the listed company with the highest stock price in Qingdao," Tan said.

Business representatives and officials attend a meeting discussing the experiences of model Party members in Qingdao on Aug 13. CHINA DAILY