Gu'an New Industry City

Gu'an County in Hebei province ranked third in the top 50 Chinese counties list with excellent innovation ability and achieved 10th place in the top 100 counties with great potential for economic growth in China and was also listed among the top 100 Chinese countries in terms of economic competitiveness, according to the Report on the Development of County Economy in China (2015), which was released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, being the first of its kind in China.

With the technical advantages and talent resources of Tsinghua University, Peking University and Zhongguancun, a high-tech hub in Beijing, Gu'an is vigorously building an innovation center in south Beijing and is stepping towards the goal of being a global technological industrialization center.

Thanks to the China Fortune Land Development Co (CFLD), the country's industrial zone developer and operator, the county has entered a fast track for development. Its fiscal revenue in 2002 was no more than 100 million yuan, achieving a low rank among the 10 counties (prefecture-cities and districts) of Langfang city in terms of fiscal revenue and economic development.

In 2014, the county's fiscal revenue and public budget revenue rose to 4 billion yuan ($589.97 million) and 2.54 billion yuan, respectively, ranking fifth in Hebei province. It is turning into a new innovation-driven industry city with intelligent ecology and favorable environment for living and working from a traditional agricultural county over more than past 10 years.

International vision helps Gu'an integrate into global industrial upgrading

Gu'an New Industry City is 50 kilometers south of Tian'anmen and holds a core position in the Greater Beijing Area. It was a typical agricultural county more than 10 years ago with four key industries -- fishing tackle, casing for sausages, filter element and plastic.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the Gu'an Industrial Park was held on June 28, 2002, marking the participation of the CFLD in its construction. The CFLD helped enhance the development of Gu'an, bring in more high-end industries to settle down and promote its economic aggregate to achieve a geometric growth through introducing global talents and industrial upgrading.

During the initial phase of construction, the CFLD invited over 40 experts in urban strategy, industrial research and spatial planning from nine countries and regions to make plans for the Gu'an Industrial Park based on successful international practice and the reality of the county.

Gu'an New Industry City is committed to promoting the coordinated development of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries with international vision and developing five advantageous industrial clusters -- aerospace, biomedicine, high-end equipment, e-commerce and productive services while advancing modern agriculture, hoping to realize rapid regional economic growth in an all round way.

It strives to attract leading enterprises to settle down and is building four platforms featuring financial service, talent service, sci-tech innovation and entrepreneurial service by taking capital intervention as a tool and the big data strategy as a guarantee. A group of industrial parks, including Gu'an Peptide Valley Biomedical Industrial Park, Gu'an Aerospace Industrial Park, New Material Industrial Park, Auto Part Industrial Park, Robot Industrial Park, Smart City Industrial Park and Environmental Protection Industrial Park as well as Rail Transport Industrial Park in it are progressing well.

By the end of June 2015, the CFLD had brought in about 440 enterprises to the New Industry City, including the Deyi Yangguang Biotechnology Co, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, China Aerospace and Industry Corporation and BOE Technology Group Co. It has attracted more than 100 billion yuan of investment in contract value.

Focusing on infrastructure facility construction and service improvement

Besides industrial upgrading, Gu'an New Industry City also attaches great importance to improving urban life. According to its plan, Gu'an will be developed into a medium-size city with a population of 1 million and be home to various urban functions and services in its downtown area, which will realize high-end development of modern service industry that will lead the county's economic transformation and upgrading.

By the end of June 2015, the CFLD had invested more than 27 billion yuan, built 21 factory stations, 112 roads with an area of 4.34 million sq m, 60 landscaping projects with 3.41 million sq m, as well as infrastructure networks of drainage, water supply, heating, gas supply, power supply and communication.

A financial block on the Central Avenue, a SOHO office block on the Jinxiu Avenue, a high-end headquarter office commercial block on the Yingbin Avenue, with a floorage of more than 1 million sq m has already been built or are under construction.

A group of high-quality supporting facilities, such as star-rated hotels, buildings for entrepreneurship, Gu'an Campus of Beijing No 8 Middle School, the Happiness Harbor commercial complex, an urban planning museum, a sport park, a bicycle sport center, a hospital have been built in Gu'an.

Thanks to the intelligent thinking in urban management and operation, a center for smart city operation and an intelligent platform for the New Industry City and infrastructure facilities, Gu'an has realized the optimal allocation and efficient utilization of resources, promoted the application of information technology in urban transportation, urban management and disaster warning, as well as improved its environment with the help of intelligent approaches.

In addition, it has constructed a 140,000-sq m Central Park, a 2 million-sq m pergola, a 130,000-sq m Kongque Lake (Peacock Lake), a 500,000-sq m greenery belt, and a 1 million-sq m bicycle sport center. The total area of greenery in Gu’an is about 5 million sq m.