Zunyi transformed by 60 years of progress

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-23 20:00

Zunyi is a city making rapid progress. Its development over the past six decades, especially the thirty years since the reform and opening up program, is a microcosm of the changes wrought across the whole country.

Zunyi's GDP reached 65.573 billion yuan in 2008 and its per capita GDP was 9,570 yuan. When new China was founded in 1949, Zunyi had a GDP of just 142 million yuan and 40 yuan per capita.

Behind this fast growth has been a deep change in Zunyi's economic structure. In 1949, agriculture represented 77.46 percent of its economy, while in 2008 it only accounted for 17.9 percent of the whole. Zunyi has shifted from being a traditional agricultural economy into one with a sound industrial base.

Economic progress

In 1949, immediately following the liberation, there were only 27 small factories within Zunyi. Sixty years later, Zunyi has developed a large industrial system and become an important industrial base in the Guizhou province. It now focuses on tobacco and wine, the energy industry, chemical engineering, electro-mechanics, new materials, pharmaceuticals and food processing.

In 2007, the total industrial output value of Zunyi reached 22.25 billion yuan, contributing more than 80 percent of its fiscal revenue.

The city intends to further enhance the sustainability of its industrial sector with the implementation of several key projects, including the development of the Goupitan Hydropower Station, the Tongzi Coal Chemical Plant, and the Xishui Erlang Thermal Power Plant.

Meanwhile, the private sector has developed equally rapidly, now accounting for some 40 percent of the city's economic turnover.

Considerable external investment has also been attracted into Zunyi. In the catering and entertainment businesses, the city's three branches of the Champs Elysees Avenue Caf are said to be doing well. These were originally backed by two Taiwanese investors - Li Guofu and his wife, Li Zimeng.

In addition to fast developments in its industrial and service sector, Zunyi has not lost its agricultural heritage. As the 'breadbasket' of northern Guizhou, its agricultural output is between a quarter and a third of the province's total output.

The city has also built several special agricultural bases, producing tea, bamboo, chili and traditional Chinese medicine. Its marsh gas production has also been widely promoted in rural areas.

The local government has now implemented several special policies to promote rural redevelopment, echoing the central government's strategy of building a new socialist countryside. By 2008, some 620,000 rural families, including about 2.55 million farmers, have benefited from this policy.

Urbanization

When new China was founded, Zunyi only had a population of 60,000 people. It now has a population of 800,000. The urban area of Zunyi has grown to 60 sq km, from just 4 sq km 60 years ago. The urbanization rate rose to 36.4 percent in 2008, an increase of 27.9 percent compared to 1978.

Zunyi transformed by 60 years of progress

In addition, Zunyi has won 11 national-level awards, including China's Excellent Tourism City, National Garden City, and National Hygiene City, marking a great improvement in the city's management capability.

The local government has renewed its commitment to infrastructure construction, making notable progress, especially in the transportation and water sectors.

The Guiyang-Zunyi highway and the Zunyi-Chongxi River highway have both now been opened for use. The Moutai highway was also completed in July. There are also several second-class highways under construction. The road network in Zunyi now stretches to more than 23,000 km. The figure in 1952 was merely 655 km.

The city has also built several new waterway passenger stations, ferries and ports, as well as refurbishing a number of existing ones. It has finished a major upgrade project for the Chishui River fairway and will shortly begin renovation work on the banks of the Wujiang River.

Direct trains to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou have also been introduced, all running from Zunyi station.

Living standards

Over the past sixty years, the local residents in Zunyi have benefited hugely from the progress made in the city's modernization and economic growth.

In 2008, urban residents' per capita disposable income was 12,525 yuan, whilst the farmer's net income was 3,300 yuan. Back in 1949, the urban residents' disposable income was only 133 yuan, and the farmer's net income just 38 yuan.

The people of Zunyi's average life span has also risen significantly whilst the city's mortality rate dropped to 5.53 per thousand last year, from 20 per thousand in 1949.

The city has also taken a lead in developing Guizhou's social security system. By 2008, 92.4 percent of rural residents, about 5.44 million people, were part of a new rural cooperative medical healthcare system, whilst 89 percent of urban residents, about 430,000 people, had adopted a trial medical insurance for urban residents. Local government has also actively carried out the experimental work with endowment insurances for rural families with only one child, which now covers 7,260 people.

In terms of compulsory education, the enrollment rate of school-age children in primary schools was up to 99.6 percent in Zunyi last year.

Environmental protection is now high on the government's agenda. It has implemented a 100,000-acre ornamental forest construction project in the inner city and a 300-Chinese mile-long bamboo corridor project.

The city now has a forest coverage rate of 49 percent, with a rate of 44.2 percent in the inner city. There are also five national ecological demonstration zones and 22 nature reserves, among which four are national-level nature reserves.

Zunyi also launched a rocky desertification control pilot program in seven counties, affecting some 148 sq km of soil-eroded land.