Traditional buildings in a park-like setting provide a sharp contrast to the modern highrise architecture of the Zhongguancun area in the background. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The Zhongguancun Haidian Science Park is likely the first place that comes to mind when people talk about the development of China's high-tech zones because it epitomizes the history of innovative industrialization in the country while serving as a model for future development.

It became the birthplace of China's high-tech zones, when its predecessor, China's first national high-tech industrial development zone, was established in 1988 at the site of what is now the world-famous Zhongguancun electronics street.

Since then, it has served as an important driving force behind China's high-tech industrial revolution and also a guidepost for all high-tech zones around the country. Now, after 20 years of development, it has become the symbol of China's knowledge economy and an incubator for world innovation.

With the most-famous conglomerates and elites of all industries gathered in one place, Zhongguancun has risen as one of the most influential areas in China, and it is synonymous with advanced technology.

As for those pioneering entrepreneurs, they have meaningful memories about the technology hub.

In the 1970s, researchers from China's leading science and technology institutes located in the Zhongguancun area began to come out of the labs and start entities for commercializing research achievements.

This trend paved the way for success today, and since then, Zhongguancun has always been a center of reforms related to science, technology and private economy.

By the end of 1987, there were already 148 technology companies registered in Zhongguancun. The embryo of the Zhongguancun electronics street started taking shape, and a new trend toward marketoriented industrial development was established through the integration of technology, industries and trade.

In the following year, the State Council officially approved China's first national high-tech industrial development zone, a 100-square-kilometer area in Beijing’s Haidian district centered on Zhongguancun, which was known at the time as the Haidian Experimental Zone.

After a decade of expansion, the central government in 1999 made the development of Zhongguancun a national strategic priority. The zone was renamed the Zhongguancun Haidian Science Park, after which it became a center for the research and development of advanced technology as well as business and trade.

In March 2009, the zone became China's first national domestic innovation demonstration area, accomplishing its transformation from a research center into a source of original innovation. The Haidian Science Park emerged as the most important part of the area.

For more than 20 years, authorities of the Zhongguancun Haidian Science Park have fully utilized the advantages of local scientific resources, stressed innovation and continued to attract an everincreasing pool of talent. Now the park serves as a major driver of growth in Zhongguancun.