This Week in WND (2024/12/30-2025/01/03)

On Dec 30, the expanded meeting of the CPC Wuxi National High-Tech District Working Committee and the Ninth Plenary Session of the Second CPC Xinwu District Committee were held. Over the past year, the authorities have coordinated and completed 10 types of tasks, achieving their primary economic and social development goals. In the new year, WND will implement new measures related to industrial scientific and technological innovation, urban construction and management, and key reform tasks. It will focus on tasks in eight categories, seeking to make a greater contribution to the overall development of the city, the province, and the country.

A grand Spring Festival-themed consumption promotion event kicked off at the square of Meili Ancient Town in WND on Jan 1. A winter-spring consumption promotion campaign spanning from New Year's Day to Chinese New Year will follow the event, featuring four district-level consumption promotion events, over 50 promotional discounts and offers by commercial entities, and four cultural tourism activities.

On Jan 2, WND secured two major integrated circuit projects – the Wuxi Xinyuan Precision Technology's semiconductor equipment parts project and Adaps Photonics' optical chips project. The former project will establish its headquarters in Wuxi as the main entity for listing, forming a base for the R&D and manufacturing of key semiconductor components. The latter project will integrate with the existing industries in WND.

An on-site promotional session for major projects in the first quarter of 2025, along with the groundbreaking ceremony for Unicomp Technology's headquarter park, was held in WND on Jan 2. During the event, various investment promotion units showcased their achievements and progress, presenting the advancement of project construction. WND has started the new year at full speed, focusing on critical opportunities to accelerate the pace, improve the quality, and boost the efficiency of major project construction.

Great news! LT-RS, China's largest thrust open-cycle liquid-propellant rocket engine, developed by WND-based Jiangsu Shenlan Space Co, has completed its first half-system test. This groundbreaking achievement boasts significant technological breakthroughs in its design, manufacturing and testing of the 130-ton open-cycle engine, and represents a major milestone in the development of high-thrust liquid-propellant engines.

A total of 421 WND enterprises were included in the 2024 proposed list of enterprises in Wuxi to be designated as eagle, gazelle, and unicorn enterprises. There are 262 eagle enterprises, 130 gazelles, and 29 unicorns based in WND, accounting for 30.97 percent, 25.49 percent, and 48.33 percent of the city's total, respectively. WND saw more enterprises included than any other administrative area in the city.

The groundbreaking ceremony for Jiangsu Tianyi High School's WND branch was held on Dec 29. The school is planned to accommodate 72 classes, and will be constructed on an approximately 92,579-square-meter site, with a total investment of 820 million yuan ($112.36 million) and a gross floor area of 117,000 sq m. Scheduled to open in September 2026, it will enroll 3,600 students, boosting high school capacity and balancing education resources in the region.

WND bade farewell to the old and welcomed the new with magnificent melodies at Wuxi Symphony Orchestra's 2025 New Year Concert at the Wuxi Grand Theater on Jan 1. One highlight of the concert was the debut performance of the Wuxi Youth Symphony Orchestra, which wowed audiences with a medley of world-renowned symphonic classics, including Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1, Beethoven's Symphony No 9 in D Minor, Op 125, and Bizet's Carmen Overture.