Chongqing rises to national, international stages
Inland municipality makes huge progress in space of 20 years
Southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality has become a national success story in recent years, with one of the fastest- growing provincial- level economies in China and an increasingly prominent international pivot that connects China’s relatively underdeveloped southwestern region to the world.
All this took the megacity in the remote and relatively closed- off region of China just 20 years to achieve. Sunday will mark the 20th anniversary of Chongqing’s separation from Sichuan Province to become a provincial- level independent municipality.
Starting from almost nothing, with no particular geographic advantage or base of natural resources, Chongqing now has the fastest- growing economy among China’s 31 provincial- level regions. In 2016, its economy expanded 10.7 percent, significantly higher than the national rate of 5.7 percent. It was also the fastest- growing provincial- level economy in 2014 and 2015.
Chongqing, located in a mountainous region on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, has also become an international hub with robust transport links, including a cargo train that connects the city to Europe. It’s also a manufacturing base for many multinationals.
In 2011, the city started a freight train that runs through numerous domestic and foreign cities before reaching Germany’s Duisburg, carrying everything from personal computers to cars and to wine. As of this March, there had been a total of 1,000 trains, the largest number of freight trains between Chinese and European cities, according to customs data.
Global companies such as personal computer manufacturing giant Hewlett- Packard have opened plants in the city. Chongqing, which did not produce a single computer in 2008, when HP opened its plant, now makes 35 percent of the world’s total, or about 100 million each year, according to an article on the website of consultancy CKGSB Knowledge published on May 22.
Chongqing’s fast economic growth has led to great improvements in infrastructure
and living stan-
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Chongqing’s prosperity in recent years has been supported by favorable policies from the central government as well as its own measures, according to experts and local residents.
“After becoming a provincial- level municipality, Chongqing definitely got some policy and financial support from the central govern- ment,” Cheng, the resident, said. She added that other initiatives such as the country’s West Development and the “Belt and Road” initiative also gave the municipality opportunities.
But the municipality’s effective administrative structure played a larger role in its fast economic growth in recent years, according to Tian, who said that Chongqing’s government structure, which consists of a city government and several districts, helps streamline administrative procedures for doing business.
He said that the city’s policy to open up to foreign companies and markets by focusing on a railway- based transport system also greatly helped its economy.
However, that also presents potential risks as the local economy is becoming increasingly reliant on foreign markets. If foreign markets turn down and exports decline, it will hit Chongqing, Tian said.
“As long as exports remain steady, Chongqing can manage its debt and maintain stable growth,” he said.
“I’m not well- versed in economics, but as an ordinary resident, I feel transportation has become very convenient and living standards have greatly improved,”