A place where success is smooth as silk

Taicang is the biggest port on the Yangtze River for international trade. It serves 174 container shipping lines and is the biggest importer of timber in China. Photos by Wang Zhuangfei / China Daily and Wang Luxian / For China Daily

Manzar Naqvi (right), executive editor of The Financial Daily in Pakistan, signs a copy of his book which he presented to Xuzhou Mayor Zhu Min (middle).

A view from Nanjing's city wall, which was built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Naziba Basher, a reporter with The Daily Star in Bangladesh, asks a question during a visit to Suning, a giant of commerce, in Nanjing.

Journalists visit Suning's exhibition room.

Jiangsu has given rise to a number of modern business companies that can compete and lead their industries in the world market

It is still a Silk Road.

The Belt and Road Initiative launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013 is normally associated with high-tech manufacturing and an economic vision that, in its scope and potential, rivals that of the Marshall Plan that rescued Europe from the ravages of war.

But it is reassuring to know that the precious material that lent its name to the route still plays a role in linking so many countries, both culturally and economically.

When Kate Middleton strode so elegantly under the sweeping arches of Westminster Abbey to marry her prince in 2011, she was wearing silk from Jiangsu province, as was Prince William's mother, Diana, when she married in 1981.

The qualities of that precious fiber - exquisite craftsmanship, strength, durability and flexibility - seem to define the present silk, and indeed increasingly, the Silk Road.

These are the same characteristics that have built the province into one of the largest economies in China. Superbly placed, it has access to high-speed trains, airports and the ocean, and to trade along both the overland road and its maritime version.

With a population of 79.6 million, 1,000 kilometers of coastline and an area of 107,200 sq km, Jiangsu, the most densely populated province in China, is home to a number of companies that have become household names, not just in China, but globally.

Suning, Sanpower and XCMG have built brand recognition on distant shores, far from their places of origin, and in a very real sense are laying the groundwork for the initiative.

Jiangsu's capital, Nanjing, was the national capital for more than 450 years, and this has left a deep mark on a city that can trace its roots back 2,500 years. But the city, with more than 8 million residents, is not relying on past glories to forge a new path.

New opportunities present new challenges.

The Nanjing Jiangbei New Area, covering 788 sq km, and the Lianyungang Xuwei New Area, spanning 467 sq km, are examples of a comprehensive approach to the initiative that lacks nothing for foresight and ambition.

Strategically located at the intersection of the Yangtze River and the eastern economic powerhouses, Jiangbei New Area is the cradle of China's chemical industry.

In 1937, China's first chemical fertilizer was produced in a factory owned by Fan Xudong, "the father of the Chinese chemical industry".

It now boasts five State-level and provincial industrial parks with an industrial output of 380 billion yuan ($59.6 billion) in 2014 and can harness a port that allows cargo ships of up to 50,000 metric tons to directly enter Nanjing waters. Ships of 100,000 tons can enter at high tide.

Xuwei is also making its economic presence felt. Designated by the State Council as a pilot zone of the China Eastern Central Western Demonstration Area for regional cooperation, Xuwei's rail, roads and deep water port link it to mid and western China and the Huaihai economic region.

It is taking full advantage, as is the province in general, of the concept of "last mover", which means it is building on others' experiences to make it more efficient and avoid the pitfalls of other ports. It is expected to have an annual capacity of 500 million tons by 2020.

With a social fixed-asset investment of nearly 50 billion yuan and industrial investment of 20.7 billion yuan, 15 major industrial projects are in the pipeline or under construction.

Companies taking advantage of this development range across sectors, from commerce to heavy manufacturing. And despite their current size, some have humble beginnings that provide inspiration and lessons in how major companies grow from the smallest of beginnings.

One giant of commerce, Suning, with an IT staff of 5,000 and nearly 200,000 employees worldwide, started with little more than a founder's vision. Its four aviation hubs are constantly in use to satisfy national and global demand for the products of China's largest electrical retailer.

The company's name is derived from two roads in Nanjing, Jiangsu and Ninghai. The last two letters of the first combined with the first four of the second spell success.

The first shop started in the early 1990s selling secondhand air conditioners, some of which are on display at the company's headquarters with a price tag of 2,900 yuan, no small sum in those days. One that stands just under 2 meters high sold then for the princely sum of 26,000 yuan.

In 1999, Suning's first flagship store was opened and in 2004 it was listed on the stock exchange. Chairman Zhang Jindong damaged the wooden gavel used to ring the trading bell on the first day and the hammer sits proudly on display.

During the most recent Singles Day shopping bonanza on Nov 11, the company attracted 10 million customers in the first 10 hours.

While Suning has been focused on the region, the United States and Europe offer new horizons, and are firmly within its vision - expected to play an important role in the company's strategic planning.

The same applies to Sanpower, a conglomerate that controls 100 companies in sectors such as banking, retail, media and property, and has assets valued at 80 billion yuan and annual sales of 85 billion yuan.

The lobby of its Nanjing head quarters, completed in 2013, is dominated by a world map lit with the locations of existing and potential markets. Red lights mark current operations, while future ones are highlighted in white. The company already owns many iconic global brands, including the House of Fraser in London.

The company was created in 1993 by Yuan Yafei, its chairman, who started by trading goods from a satchel attached to a black bike.

In one of the most remarkable examples anywhere in the world of the ascent of a businessman, the company's display hall shows a 10-cm model of the bike at the far end of a 2-meter-long spectrum leading to cars and private jets.

The Belt and Road Initiative also places a great emphasis on maritime trade, and this is where Jiangsu has a keen geographical advantage.

Lianyungang port, currently being expanded, is a Sino-Kazakhstan logistics cooperation base and one of the national technical demonstration ports. Its location means that it is frequently mentioned as a bridgehead to western and central parts of China and beyond.

With 60 specialized berths, it can handle cargo throughput of 210 million tons and more than 5 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) of containers. Ore, grain, coke and liquid chemicals are shipped from here, but one of the key ingredients for Jiangsu's future success is unrelated to port facilities. Chemical processing plants are being built for both imported and exported products, a two-way street for trade that adds value to raw materials.

The biggest port on the Yangtze for international trade, Taicang serves 174 container shipping lines and is the biggest importer of timber in China. It has 78 ship moorings, 34 of which can accommodate vessels of more than 10,000 tons, and 10 that can serve container ships.

As China's second-largest railway hub, the Xuzhou train station is the meeting point for the Beijing-Shanghai railway and the Lianyungang-Horgos rail.

With a workforce of 5.8 million, the city, with a 9.5 percent GDP, creates 120,000 new jobs every year and has 12 institutes of higher learning.

The emphasis on education is a vital ingredient in the province's planning. The Nanjing University of Post and Telecommunications in Nanjing caters to both domestic and international students. In 2014, it had 44 international students. The figure rose dramatically this year to 116 students from countries as diverse as Russia and Cambodia.

But in terms of delivery for the Belt and Road, the city can vie with the best, thanks to the "X factor".

Xuzhou Construction Machine Group, or XCMG, is the leading company in its sector in China and ranks among the top five globally. Founded in 1943 during the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), it employs 20,000 in China and 25,000 worldwide. With 28 overseas offices and 10 spare parts centers in 170 countries and regions, it is literally building the road and paving the way for future generations.

It manufactures construction equipment: vehicles, cranes, as well as one of the world's biggest dump trucks, which is capable of disgorging 400 tons. Apart from quality, its efficiency is the envy of many. A mobile crane is priced at 9 million yuan and takes just 12 days to travel from the drawing board to the building site.

The shiny corridors and control panel of Jiangsu Sailboat Petroleum Co, another powerhouse, resemble a space station more than a chemical company. A 30-meter closed-circuit TV screen allows monitoring of all aspects of the chemical company's production in real time. It takes raw materials from the US, Canada and the Gulf countries and turns it into much-needed industrial chemicals.

Foreigners may find the tone separating Xuzhou from Suzhou difficult to get their tongues around. Though close, the cities have different characteristics.

Suzhou takes pride in being the "Venice of China".

Its economic success owes much to the vision of city authorities who teamed with Singapore to establish a tech park, referred to endearingly as simply "the park".

Modern trade requires instant communication, and it is here that Hengtong International Business Group has set up operations. The company makes two vital ingredients for Big Data and the Internet of Things: coaxial cables and fiber optics.

The largest fiber-optics company in China and the second-largest in the world, behind Konig, Hengtong produces more than 40 million km of 0.125 mm cabling ever year. It accounts for approximately 50 percent of the Chinese market and 12 percent of the global market.

The key raw material for fiber optics is glass, and its furnaces can make 1,000 tons every year. Item ploys 10,000 people with 10 China production bases and 45 global affiliates.

In theory, one single cable could span the entire length of the Silk Road. If one did, chances are that it would be used to transmit images of a royal wedding in London and the beauty of a glowing bride adorned in Jiangsu silk.

tomclifford@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/07/2015 page6)