WONDERFUL WUHAN TO HOST 2019 CISM WORLD GAMES

Provincial capital's formidable international status as industrial, commercial hub, to be enhanced

The seventh world military games - a multisport event known as the Olympics for soldiers - will be held from Oct 18 to 27, 2019 in Wuhan, the capital city of central Hubei province.

Organized by the Belgium-based Conseil International du Sport Militaire - or CISM - the event was inaugurated in Rome in 1995 and is organized every four years by the body. This is the first time that a Chinese city is hosting the event.

Organizers said next year's event will see the participation of nearly 10,000 athletes from 100 countries in the 25 official competitive events and two noncompetitive events.

The CISM World Games is one of the most influential platforms for a city to engage in worldwide exchanges and enhance its internationalization and urbanization, according to a senior local official who added that Wuhan had been building on its profile as an international metropolis ever since the 19th century.

Hankou - one of three cities whose merging formed modern-day Wuhan - opened up to the rest of the world in 1861, a process bringing with it advanced industrial production methods and technology and boosting the local economy.

Thanks to the Yangtze River and Hanjiang River running through Wuhan, new opportunities at an international level were also introduced to the city.

During the 19th century, local people learned foreign skills and employed them to construct Wuhan into one of China's regional textile centers, educational centers and logistics and commercial centers.

Today, Wuhan is still a leader in the manufacturing industry, especially in the automobile sector. Known as the "city of vehicles", a number of global automobile giants - including Peugeot Citroen, Honda, General Motors, Renault and Chinese company Dongfeng - have operations in Wuhan.

Additionally, there are hundreds of spare parts manufacturers based here. The five automobile companies produced 1.89 million vehicles in Wuhan last year, with an annual output value of approximately 360 billion yuan ($52.19 billion).

A demonstration zone for intelligent connected vehicles is under construction. Officials said it will become a platform for research and development, and testing of next-generation vehicles.

In recent years, Wuhan has been working proactively to attract both incoming investment and talented personnel from home and abroad. As a result of the initiatives, six Nobel Prize winners were attracted to work and start up their businesses in Wuhan.

East Lake High-tech Development Zone is commonly known as "Optics Valley" due to China's first optical fiber and first fiberoptic transmission systems being produced here.

The world-class Artificial Intelligence Engineering Institute, funded by Beijing Megvii Technology Ltd, began operations in Optics Valley in July.

A month later, the main structure of the Synopsys Wuhan Global Research and Development Center was completed.

Synopsys is the world's number one provider of chip automation design solutions and chip interface intellectual property. Its Wuhan center is the first top level R&D center that Synopsys has invested outside the United States.

Synopsys' Chinese counterpart, the National Integrated Circuit Base, which is also in Wuhan's East Lake High-tech Development Zone, is expected to produce 3D NAND Flash chips by the end of this year.

In addition, Wuhan is also regarded as intellectual capital with 89 colleges and universities, and more than 100 scientific research institutions.

More than 40 national laboratories and national engineering research centers, an industry cluster of optical fiber, semiconductor, electronic information and AI are forming in Optics Valley.

Officials said that in 2018, Wuhan continued to deepen its ties with the rest of the world with visits paid by world leaders including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and British Prime Minister Theresa May. They expressed their interest in strengthening cooperation with Wuhan, the largest city in central China.

This year also marks the inauguration of the city's first direct flight to Africa. Nowadays, people can fly from Wuhan to 52 global destinations on five different continents.

In terms of rail, the China-Europe (Wuhan) freight train has established six transcontinental routes from Wuhan, covering 11 countries from Russia to France.

These traffic links help Wuhan to make more connections internationally. Wuhan has established sister city relationships with 108 cities worldwide, and it has attracted 30 international organizations and four foreign consulates to set up their offices there.

In addition, 256 Fortune 500 companies are investing in the city, while 231 local companies are trading overseas in 69 countries. More than 17,600 expatriates are living in Wuhan, according to an official.

During the current year, Wuhan witnessed a series of top-level events.

The Wuhan Open, a professional women's tennis tournament, continued to play on hard courts. Started in 2014, it has attracted the world's top female tennis players to compete. The 2018 Wuhan Marathon saw the event continuing to be more international with 24,000 contestants from 29 countries and regions running "the most beautiful track" in China.

During the 44th Wuhan International Yangtze River Crossing Festival, an annual event to commemorate former Chinese leader Mao Zedong's swim across the Yangtze River in Wuhan, a total of 4,700 Chinese and foreign swimming enthusiasts competed. Swedish swimmer Kristian Kron came first among the throng of competitors in the Yangtze.

The city is also rich in natural resources, adding to its attraction as a sporting venue. A total of 166 lakes are spread throughout the city, with mountains standing along their shores. To present its best face, for the CISM World Games the city will construct an athletes village which can accommodate 10,000 people near Huangjia Lake, with the facility set to be complete by April 2019.

Officials said that as the CISM event approaches, local enthusiasm continues to build.

They added that Wuhan is gearing up to host a dazzling and futuristic CISM World Games: a total of 35 projects related to venues and facilities are under construction or renovation; urban supporting construction and voluntary services are also being substantially improved.

Changjiang Daily Press Group contributed to this story.

(China Daily 12/26/2018 page6)