Business park seeks industry/ecology balance

A rare blend of commerce and conservation, the Qingdao Tonghe Ecological Industrial Park is set to blur the boundaries between economic imperatives and environmental responsibility. Located in the eastern province of Shandong, the park seeks to combine apparently contradictory concerns.

On one hand it is looking to develop an integrated transport system and a number of conventional commercial concerns, whilst on the other it is committed to the pursuing a far greener agenda - including several ecological projects, an environmental protection industry, eco-tourism and a range of energy-efficient accommodation.

Wang Fujun, director of the Tonghe Park's Management Committee, which oversees the park, cheerfully acknowledges these apparent contradictions: "This eco-industrial park is a mixture of eco-industry and eco-nature. It has been designed to promote the co-importance of industry, commerce and the need to live a sustainable lifestyle."