Nanshan seeks people-oriented high quality growth

2019 HITS2 Summer Program [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Nanshan district in Shenzhen, a costal city in South China’s Guangdong province, was awarded for its people’s high happiness index in 2019 during the Forum of the Happy Cities of China, which took place in the provincial capital city of Guangzhou on Nov 25.

 The selection evaluated cities countrywide using a variety of indexes, spanning employment, public safety, education, and medicine.

Established in 1990, Nanshan's robust developments in a range of areas have helped justify this honor. The GDP of the district has grown from 7.8 billion yuan($1.1 billion) to 501.8 billion yuan in 2018, an increase of more than 64 times in three decades.

Registering a GDP of 400.24 billion yuan in the first three quarters of last year, it made a notable year-on-year increase of 7.6 percent. Of this growth, the added value of the secondary industry was 166.44 billion yuan, an increase of 8.8 percent; and the added value of the tertiary industry was 233.73 billion yuan, an increase of 6.4 percent.

This remarkable economic development has been accompanied by an optimization of its industrial structure, which has been transformed from labor-intensive sectors to high-tech and strategic emerging industries.

Cultural activities are thriving, with popular festivals held in education, music, sports, and museums attracting people from in and around the area.

Education has been a top concern of local government. It has increased investment from 2.49 billion yuan in 2013 to 6.56 billion yuan in 2018 - a near doubling in five years. This year's budget reached a significant 7.3 billion yuan.

At present, the district has 98 registered primary and secondary schools, 208 kindergartens, a total of 20,000 teaching staff, and nearly 200,000 students.

Medical facilities and resources in the area have grown notably in recent years. A total investment of 11.41 billion yuan has increased the number of hospitals to eight, with a citywide capacity of 6,320 beds.

Local government also regard a pleasant living environment with abundant trees and clean rivers as indispensable for increasing people's happiness.

Following the construction of green spaces and efforts to clean rivers, Nanshan has a total of 136 parks at present, and the green coverage rate exceeds 50 percent.

Through housing renovations and upgrading, it has managed to provide more than 5,000 apartments to skilled workers and people in need for free, and has subsidized 495 million yuan of housing rents, benefiting 25,000 people.