Once dotted with stone companies, which caused severe air pollution, Anxi county in Fujian province, has shifted to innovation-driven, technology-intensive industries to achieve economic benefits and pollution cuts at the same time.

In recent years eight industrial parks were built on lands where hills were collapsing and stone mines had been left behind. In the aftermath of a once prosperous stone industry, these areas were not suitable for landscape architecture or farming.

With the cluster effects the parks created, emerging industries such as photovoltaic, biotechnology and equipment manufacturing developed rapidly, prompting Anxi’s regional GDP to grow at an annual rate of 7.37 percent from 2012 to reach 46.6 billion yuan ($6.9 billion) in 2016.

Anxi mayor Liu Linshuang said that the parks are considered capable of bringing a minimum of 80 billion yuan in output value during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).

The China International Information Technology (Fujian) Industrial Park was built in Longmen town, which was once heavily damaged by the stone industry. It is Fujian’s first major big data center that comprises cloud computing, digital media, service outsourcing, e-commerce and creative culture.

The China International Information Technology (Fujian) Industrial Park in Longmen town comprises cloud computing, digital media, service outsourcing, e-commerce and creative culture. [Photo/Fjsen.com]

Also located in Longmen, the Anxi 2025 Industrial Park focuses on new energy, new materials and equipment manufacturing. Machine tool manufacturer Zheng Feng CNC Technology started operations at the park in 2016. It is now expecting a minimum output value of 500 million yuan this year and planning expansion.

Zheng Feng CNC Technology’s factory buildings inside the Anxi 2025 Industrial Park are renovated from deserted stone processing factories. [Photo/Fjsen.com]

Traditionally the logistics and business hub of Anxi, Hutou town is now home to a photovoltaic industrial park that boasts a complete industrial chain. It has attracted Lightning Optoelctronic Co, an LED product producer to relocate from Shenzhen to Hutou in 2012. Now the company expects to realize 2 billion yuan in output value and is looking to double its workforce within the year.

The Lightning Optoelctronic Co hires 1,000 employees, 70 percent of whom are local residents in Anxi. [Photo/Fjsen.com]

Another company residing in the photovoltaic park is Sanan Sino-Science, a 7-billion-yuan collaboration between the Institute of Botany, under the Chinese Academy of Science, and Xiamen-based San’an Optoelectronic Co, that focuses on hydroponics based on photo-biology technologies.

The company grows vegetables through the use of light, water and nutrient solutions in a mere 35 days. The vegetables have entered markets in Xiamen, Fuzhou and Quanzhou and quickly became popular as they offer more fibre and better taste.

Vegetables thrive on light, water and nutrient solutions at the factory of Sanan Sino-Science inside the photovoltaic industrial park in Hutou town, Anxi county, Fujian province. [Photo/Fjsen.com]