Zhaoqing given new lease of life by Greater Bay Area

For the lesser-known city of Zhaoqing, inclusion in the Greater Bay Area Initiative promises the opportunity to catch up with other cities in Guangdong that developed faster during the reform area.

Located in the central-western part of Guangdong province, most of Zhaoqing sits north of the Xijiang River, nestled between plains and mountains. It has the largest land area of any city in the Greater Bay, coming in at just under 15,000 square km, with a population of 4.12 million. With a gross domestic product of RMB220 billion (USD31.93 billion) in 2017, it accounted for only 2.45 percent of the province’s GDP.

Zhaoqing is, along with Jiangmen, the least developed of the 11 cities. While both cities boast a per capita GDP above the national average in China, they fall well below that of Shenzhen and Guangzhou, as well as the unofficial threshold for developed countries. The two SARs, by comparison, have per capita GDPs well above many developed countries.

Although manufacturing is a staple for Zhaoqing, primary industry – agriculture, forestry, and fisheries – account for 14.8 percent of its GDP, more than any other city in the Bay Area. The service sector makes up a far smaller percent of its economy than its neighbors, at 38.3 percent.

Inclusion in the Greater Bay Area offers Zhaoqing the chance to develop more rapidly, partnering with its richer neighbors to offer complementary products and services. Each city belongs to a cluster of two to three cities centered around a stronger ‘core’ city to encourage stability and growth. Zhaoqing, along with Foshan, is clustered around Guangzhou, which boasts a GDP nearly nine times that of Zhaoqing.

Natural strengths

Zhaoqing not only has the largest land area within the GBA, its soil is less contaminated by industrial pollution. It can meet the demand of middle-class residents for high-quality and specialty foods. These residents also want new leisure activities, like weekends away, scenic tours, and second homes.

It has spectacular scenery. Dinghu Mountain, located in the southeastern part of Zhaoqing, was the first nature reserve in China and is listed by UNESCO as an international biosphere reserve. With its natural beauty and property prices among the lowest of the Greater Bay cities, Zhaoqing is well positioned to meet these needs.

The mountains of Zhaoqing also hold considerable mineral wealth. It is the most important gold producer in the province, with mines concentrated in Gaoyao district, and Huaiji and Fengkai counties. Its non-metallic mines include limestone for flux and gypsum, granite for overcoating and construction, porcelain clay, ink-stone, mineral and geothermal water. It leads the nation in production of ink-stone, a unique ornamental stone.

From ancient to modern Silk Road

When the West first encountered China, Zhaoqing served as the hub of the famed Silk Road. The county of Fengkai, part of Zhaoqing, was the earliest contact point for the Maritime Silk Road during the Western Han dynasty (206BC–9AD). As far back as 1,000 years ago, the county of Huaiji, also in Zhaoqing, was an important trading point on the Maritime Silk Road.

The first European-style map in Chinese originated from the city, published by a Jesuit priest named Matteo Ricci in 1584. The map aroused enormous interest among the residents who learned for the first time of countries of which they had never heard. Two years earlier, in 1582, an agreement signed in Zhaoqing established the Portuguese trading center of Macau.

Zhaoqing served as the seat of the provincial governorship of Guangxi and Guangdong, a position it held for nearly 200 years beginning in the 16th century. During this period, it was the center of southern China, largely due to the inland water navigation system that linked Zhaoqing at the Xijiang to waterways in Guangxi and the north and downstream to Guangzhou and the Pearl River Delta region. Its importance in trade stemmed from its prosperous agrarian and craft economies that had for thousands of years specialized in stationery, textiles and handicrafts, and later in sugar. Its local population density had been higher than that in the Guangzhou area for centuries.

Passed over by manufacturing boom

With the growth of trade in Macau, which linked Guangzhou and the Pearl River Delta to the intercontinental and trans-Pacific Ocean trade routes, the export economy of production and services in Guangzhou prospered at the expense of Zhaoqing. Over the following centuries, Guangzhou expanded into a world metropolis; it is the center of the Pearl River Delta and connected by railways, sea, and air to a much larger hinterland than the regional economy.

Meanwhile, Zhaoqing was relegated into a provincial town lying idle on the outskirts of Guangzhou. The Xijiang River and its tributaries were unable to help Zhaoqing modernize and industrialize.

The export-oriented industrialization drive of the PRD over the last three decades centered on the relocation of industrial processing manufacturing from Hong Kong and beyond, using an army of migrant peasant workers from all over China.

The export nature of the industrialization concentrated manufacturing in areas bordering Hong Kong; this made Shenzhen, Dongguan, and Guangzhou the ‘world factory’ for labor-
intensive products.

There was no significant industrial spillover to peripheral Zhaoqing. In recent years, when industrial processing has seen cost inflation and depressing external demand and many foreign-
invested firms in Dongguan, there was no chance for less competitive firms to relocate to Zhaoqing.

Its local cost structure and policy regime were not attractive enough to compete with overseas low-cost production centers like Vietnam, Indonesia and, more recently, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The miracle of the export-oriented industrial processing manufacturing never quite reached Zhaoqing.

Remaking its economic future

The development of the Greater Bay Area marks a new economic era in the region, one that promises Zhaoqing many new opportunities. It has been designated as the major supply base of agricultural products for the Greater Bay, capitalizing on its plentiful cultivatable land. Urban residents in the region have become affluent enough to become more concerned with food safety and freshness, making them an ideal market for organic and locally grown food products.

Another opportunity is leisure and holidays. Where Macau promises glitz and glamour, Zhaoqing provides a more relaxed getaway with its lower-density development and natural beauty, especially in the mountains surrounding the city. Perfect for weekends away or a second home, both high priorities for the burgeoning middle class in the Greater Bay Area.

The city will be greatly helped by its excellent transport network of inter-provincial high- speed railways and expressways. The city is only 70 minutes from Guangzhou and has major highways connecting to neighboring Foshan and Jiangmen, and a high-speed railway running to Guiyang, capital of Guizhou province, and west to Nanning, capital of the Guangxi region.

This wealth of land links may facilitate the arrival of visitors and tourists, as well as the delivery of Zhaoqing products to markets elsewhere. DB/Macauhub

Ho Iat Seng | Project attracts the best of China

The Chairman of the Macau Legislative Assembly, Ho Iat Seng, expressed his belief that the Greater Bay Area attracts the best from all of China, according to a report by Macao Daily News.

“It is rare that there is a bay area that attracts the best functions of China,” said Ho.

Ho believes that the Greater Bay Area will lead to simpler administrative procedures for China’s future reform.

Talking about the collaboration among the 11 cities, including Hong Kong and Macau, Ho said that there should be a singular standard applied to all cities’ legislation in terms of Greater Bay Area development.

“Each [city] establishes its own laws, but there needs to be a singular standard. If everyone has different standards, […] the Greater Bay Area will be useless.” According to Ho, Macau’s law will be consistent with the laws of other mainland cities in the cluster, mainly in the field of administrative regulations.

In his opinion, the best solution for the judicial differences of the 11 cities is coordination between them. By way of example, Ho said that Guangzhou can coordinate with other Greater Bay Area cities in drafting an overarching standard for all municipalities. JZ