Pace of progress never stops in Nanshan
City's Nanshan district making a name for itself as regional powerhouse and top business area
A bird’seye view of Shekou Sea World, a leisure and tourism destination in Shenzhen’s Nanshan district, which lures many visitors everyday. [Photo provided to China Daily]
Once a traditional agricultural town and now a modern coastal hub, Shenzhen’s Nanshan district in Guangdong province has made great economic achievements as the district looks back at the 30th anniversary of its founding.
In 2019, the district’s GDP totaled 610.37 billion yuan ($86.17 billion) — 78 times its GDP 30 years ago. Nanshan’s GDP has ranked No 1 for seven consecutive years among the districts of Guangdong province and accounted for 22.7 percent of Shenzhen’s GDP in 2019.
The district also ranked first in research into the comprehensive competitiveness of districts in China. A top 100 was released by CCID Consulting, a firm affiliated with a think tank under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in 2019.
According to Nanshan government, the district achieved good results on investment, consumption and export sectors amid the economic downturn.
In 2019, the district completed its investment in fixed assets of 159.31 billion yuan, up 19.4 percent year-on-year. Total retail sales of consumer goods reached 86.67 billion yuan, up 7 percent compared with 2018. Exports totaled 212.74 billion yuan, with an increase of 4.9 percent year-on-year.
Nanshan district is also making efforts to attract businesses, with 61 investment projects of registered capital totaling 64.5 billion yuan in progress.
The headquarters of IT company Xiaomi, ride-hailing service provider Didi and other companies are to settle in the district. Also, domestic IT companies JD, Meituan and Bytedance are to launch projects in Nanshan.
The district is home to innovation centers of a group of Global Fortune 500 companies, including European aerospace giant Airbus Group, global marketing consultancy Accenture and China Datang Corporation.
The newly-built Nanshan Science and Technology Finance Town, one of the six major financial bases in Shenzhen, is home to 21 key financial institutions including CMB Wealth Management.
Another highlight of Nanshan’s development is that the level of industrial modernization has been improved and the economic structure continuously optimized.
Strategic emerging industries are developing rapidly, with an added value of 338.91 billion yuan in 2019, accounting for 55.6 percent of Nanshan’s GDP.
The quality of industry and service in Nanshan district was improved, said the local government. In 2019, advanced manufacturing accounted for 65.7 percent of industry, 1.9 percent higher than 2018. The high-tech service industry also accounted for 72.3 percent of the service industry.
Enterprises in the district demonstrated a strong driving force for their innovation-driven development and made great achievements in 2019.
There were more than 4,000 national high-tech enterprises in Nanshan. The number of applications filed via the Patent Cooperation Treaty accounted for 12.5 percent of China. The number of patents owned per 10,000 people reached 394, which is 30 times more than the number of China.
Nanshan launched several strategic projects — including an international science and education center, a high-speed railway new city and construction of the Shenzhen Bay Central Business District in 2019 — with an eye on development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The pace of progress never stopped as the district began construction of another project in 2020. In early June, the central green axis project of the Shenzhen Bay Super Base broke ground in Nanshan district, showing the project has entered a new stage of construction from planning and design.
With a planned development area of about 5.2 million square meters, the Shenzhen Bay Super Base is expected to become one of the most important areas in the city and provide jobs for around 300,000 people.
According to the local governments, the base is to be built as a future city model with a global headquarters cluster, cultural district and international business exchange center.
The total investment in fixed assets is estimated to be 300 billion yuan. By the end of April, 47 billion yuan had been invested in fixed assets, including 19.57 billion used in 2019.
The Shenzhen Bay Super Base is also designed to be a central park that brings a new leisure experience to local people.
Since February, COVID-19 has spread across the world and had a negative effect on economies. Nanshan district has taken various steps to help companies resume operation and rev up its own economy.
Nanshan government has made efforts to learn about the difficulties of companies and provide support. The district set up an online meeting in February for government officials and companies’ managers to solve corporate problems of capital guarantee, transporting staff back to Shenzhen and the supply of prevention and control materials.
By mid-May, Nanshan had 936,000 employees from 45,000 companies resume work, including 7,527 companies with an annual revenue of 20 million yuan.
In late April, the district launched a series of consumption promotion activities. A total of 250 billion yuan in coupons were offered to locals. The event will last till the end of June.
