East China's Jiaxing pursues high-quality development

Jiaxing, in East China's Zhejiang province, has seen tremendous achievements in the 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, a top official revealed at a news conference on Friday.

Statistics from the conference showed regional GDP of the city jumped from 1.33 billion yuan ($186.11 million) in 1978 to 487.2 billion yuan in 2018, and its total fiscal revenue increased from 236 million yuan to 89.53 billion yuan over the same period.?

The per-capita income of urban residents grew from 507 yuan in 1983 to 57,437 yuan in 2018, while that of rural residents grew from 324 to 34,279 yuan.

"Jiaxing has stepped onto the road of high-quality development with a focus on coordinated development, environmental friendliness, opening-up and innovation," said Zhang Bing, Party chief of Jiaxing.

According to the official, the city boasts the strongest urban-rural coordinated development in the country. Its rural resident income has topped other cities in Zhejiang for 15 consecutive years, and in 2018 the ratio of urban to rural income was reduced to 1.676 to 1.

"We have resolved to control and prevent pollution and pursue green development in recent few years," Zhang added.

The city has taken measures to clean up wastewater and waste gas, purify the soil and restore blue skies and clear water. In recent years the quality of its air, surface water and drinking water have greatly improved.

Zhang said Jiaxing is actively seeking cooperation with neighboring Shanghai for further opening-up to the outside world.

The city currently houses more than 8,300 foreign-funded companies from nearly 100 countries and regions, and the total value of paid-in foreign direct investment totals $33 billion at present.

In the first seven months of this year, Jiaxing saw the signing of 13 projects worth more than 10 billion yuan, and introduced seven projects from Global Fortune 500 companies.

Relying on the Yangtze Delta Region Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Zhejiang, Jiaxing has introduced more than 370 innovative platforms and over 1,200 high-tech companies. Last year, its net high caliber professional inflow rate ranked fourth nationwide.

In 2014, Wuzhen, an ancient water town in Jiaxing, was selected as the permanent site for the World Internet Conference, an influential event in China attended by key internet figures from around the world.

Zhang noted at the news conference Jiaxing will continue to further carry out reform and opening-up, participate in the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta and promote high-quality development in the future.