In Light of Economic Development, Suzhou is Evolving into a City of the Future
Among the major economically developed cities in China, Suzhou, a picturesque city in the southeast of Jiangsu Province, Eastern China and part of the Yangtze River Delta, took the lead in taking advantage of the globalization and the opportunity of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization to integrate into the global industrial chain in an all-round and large-scale manner. Relying on the export-oriented economy based on foreign trade and manufacturing, Suzhou has achieved tremendous development.
Suzhou, as a leading economic city in the Yangtze River Delta, has formed its own distinctive features in its manufacturing industry compared with other regions or cities in China for the past four decades of reform and opening up. In an extensive field research, we found that after the financial crisis in 2008, under the guidance of the market and the government, Suzhou’s industrial structure has formed a new pattern. Now in Suzhou, foreign-funded enterprises and local enterprises compete in a healthy way to jointly explore the market; traditional and emerging industries have also achieved coordinated progress.
Thinking Forward of Suzhou’s Future
The world today is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century. Such an unprecedented situation tests the resilience of the industry, the determination of the government, and the sustainable development capability of the Suzhou city. Starting from optimizing the business environment, Suzhou will provide sustainable and reliable “certainty” for various market players.
Wu Qingwen, mayorof Suzhou City, said in an exclusive sit-down interview with Caijing that Suzhou will enhance the city’s comprehensive competitiveness and sustainable development capabilities. As a national economic city and a strong manufacturing city, Suzhou has always focused on the real economy for economic development. In the interview, Mr. Wu also discussed how Suzhou will realize the high-quality development of the real economy, how to build a high-level industrial innovation cluster, and how to speed up the construction of a modern industrial system.
An In-Depth Look at Kunshan’s Focus on Emerging Industries
Against the background of the general downward pressure on the economy across the country, Kunshan’s economic performance in the first three quarters was relatively gratifying. In this process, the agglomeration of leading industries has been further improved, and the output value of electronic information and equipment manufacturing industries has exceeded 560 billion yuan and 280 billion yuan respectively. Electronic information and equipment manufacturing are the two main engines that drive Kunshan’s rapid progress.
With the accumulation of the past 40 years and the precious opportunities of a new round of industrial revolution, Kunshan is building a broader prospect and a new development path with a brighter future, namely a higher middle rank in the global value chain, production chain and supply chain. As a bridgehead for Jiangsu to connect with Shanghai’s resources, Kunshan will strive to become the vanguard of the integration of the Yangtze River Delta and the integrated development of the city, and hand over a marvelous answer sheet for Chinese-style modernization.
The Development Path of Suzhou’s Manufacturing Industry
After more than 40 years of rapid development, Suzhou will reach the mark of more than 4 trillion industrial output value in 2021. For the past four decades, Suzhou has always adhered to the development strategy of strengthening the city by developing manufacturing industry. And Suzhou always regards strengthening the “real economy” as the foundation of the city.
Suzhou has closely followed the development trend at home and abroad, and has not lost any opportunities to promote the transformation of its development mode. In our field research, all enterprises and corporations recognized the business environment in Suzhou as healthy and convenient, and executives of those businesses also mentioned the simplification of the process in the application of financial subsidy projects. In particular, it should be pointed out that functional departments from different levels all share the same spirit of initiative.
