PR92232

HANGZHOU, China, Oct. 11, 2021 /Xinhua=KYODO JBN/--

In a recent Economist Intelligence Unit ranking of emerging Chinese cities,

Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Zhuhai stood out as the top five.

These cities in southeast China are estimated to boast the greatest economic

growth potential in the next five years and are expected to play an important

role in China's transition to a more technology-driven growth model.

Hangzhou, the pioneer city in China's digital economy development, topped the

ranking. According to the analysis, the eastern Chinese city will become an

important distribution center of the country's new digital resources and play a

more important role in the new round of global economic system reconstruction,

which is different from the globalization brought about by the last round of

goods trade and financial resources flow and a series of international cities

formed by it.

Hangzhou and other eastern coastal cities will benefit from the central

government's expected innovation and productivity drive under the 14th

Five-Year Plan, as they have attracted large inflows of skilled workers,

according to the report. Meanwhile, the pandemic has contributed to

transformative changes in business dynamics. E-commerce penetration deepened as

consumers developed a stronger preference for online shopping and businesses

adopted new marketing formats, like live streaming.

According to Hangzhou Municipal Government, Hangzhou's rise in China's emerging

market status and great potential for future economic growth are inseparable

from the surging power of the digital industry. Data showed that in the first

quarter of this year, the core industries of Hangzhou's digital economy

achieved a total added value of 112 billion yuan, up 28.1 percent year on year,

achieving an average growth of 16.6 percent in two years and accounting for

26.7 percent of GDP.

While continuously upgrading the level of digital industry, Hangzhou has

accelerated the development of industrial Internet, 5G and other new-era

infrastructure, with emerging digital applications such as smart workshops and

digital factories.

In Hangzhou, there are many digital enterprises dedicated to making factories

smart. At present, Hangzhou has gathered more than 400 digital engineering

service organizations, offering about 70 percent of digital transformation

service capabilities for Zhejiang and about 70 percent of cloud computing

capabilities for China.

With a booming digital economy featuring smart digital governance and

convenient digital life, Hangzhou, a city known for its beauty over the past

thousands of years, has made digitalization as its most distinctive symbol of

the times. Digitalization also makes Hangzhou a distribution center of new

digital resources in China, and plays a pivotal role in the new round of

transformation of China's economy facing globalization, driving the

reconstruction of various elements such as trade, manufacturing, artificial

intelligence development and design.

The upgrading and vigorous development of urban industry cannot be separated

from the support of talents. In terms of attracting talents, Hangzhou has a

dazzling performance sheet: for three consecutive years, the net inflow rate of

domestic and overseas talents and the net inflow rate of Internet talents

remain the first in China, and it has been selected as one of the most

attractive Chinese cities in the eyes of foreign talents for ten consecutive

years. Why is Hangzhou so charming?

"All the work to improve the quality of the city comes down to attract and

retain talents." This is Hangzhou's answer as well as its vision. In Hangzhou,

a consensus has been reached that talent is the most important resource, and

the major policies of the city must be coordinated with talent work in advance.

Issues related with talent work that need coordination will also be put on the

agenda for discussion and solution at the earliest opportunity.

More than 100 international students from more than 40 countries have entered

the first entrepreneurship park for international students in Hangzhou. So far

this year, Wei Shang, an Indian student, has won orders of nearly 400,000 yuan

to sell Chinese products to India. Anna Lu, a British student, founded an

education consulting company, introducing excellent foreign teachers to many

universities in Jiangsu and Shanghai...

Hangzhou's environment for talents is getting better. This city with a

population of over 10 million is providing fresh development opportunities,

attracting talents from home and abroad to settle in Hangzhou with a more open

ecological environment for talents and a more confident attitude.

Hangzhou citizens are the most fashion-conscious people I have ever met. They

stress civilization and courtesy, and their lives are full of the pursuit of

individuality and internationalization, according to Alan Wilkinson, an

Englishman who has lived in Hangzhou for many years.

The unique fashion consciousness of Hangzhou citizens can be said to come from

the cultural genes engraved in Hangzhou, a famous city with a thousand years of

history and culture. Today's Hangzhou, with prosperous culture, has become a

city of animation, exhibition and contest. The China International Animation

Festival, which has been held 17 years, has been held as a carnival for

animators in China and even around the world. More and more animation companies

and creators are racing to explore this rich mine in Hangzhou and promote the

integration of animation culture into every aspect of the city.

The 15th Hangzhou Cultural & Creative Industry Expo to be held this year will

continue to stimulate the endogenous power of Hangzhou's cultural industry and

let Hangzhou citizens enjoy the feast brought by global creative culture; The

14th FINA World Swimming Championships in 2018 showed the world Hangzhou's

comprehensive strength and ability to run the competition. Former FINA

President Julio Maglione once said that they spent a very unforgettable time in

Hangzhou, a city of vitality. In 2022, Hangzhou will host the 19th Asian Games,

and more and more top-level events will be settled in Hangzhou, which will

gradually brand the city with distinct sports marks.

Hangzhou is committed to building itself into a digital city to inject new

momentum into the construction of an innovative city, a green city to highlight

ecological civilization, a city of humanity with stronger historical and

cultural charm, a happy city as an example of Zhejiang's high-quality

development and common prosperity demonstration area, and an open city with

increasing internationalization.

Source: Hangzhou Municipal Government

Image Attachments Links:

   Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=403502

   Caption: The 17th China International Cartoon & Animation Festival was held in Hangzhou,

China from September 29th to October 4th, attracting many fans wearing various

gorgeous costumes.