"Weifang is one of the few cities in Shandong and even the whole country where industry and agriculture go hand in hand."
▲Scenery of Bailang River in Weifang, Shandong. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhu Zheng
In 2021, the economic data of various cities will be released one after another.
Among the cities under the trillion GDP, Shandong Weifang has become the largest dark horse.
According to Weifang Daily, in 2021, Weifang will achieve a regional GDP of 701.06 billion yuan, an increase of 9.7%, ranking first in Shandong Province.
In 2020, Weifang's GDP was 587.22 billion yuan, and in 2021, it exceeded 700 billion yuan, directly skipping the order of 600 billion yuan, with an increase of 113.84 billion yuan.
In 2021, Shandong's GDP increase will be 996.69 billion yuan, and Weifang will contribute 11.4%.
Such results are really eye-catching.
Weifang's volume of 700 billion yuan is already in the same grade as Dalian, Xiamen, Shenyang, Kunming and other cities.
Jump two steps a year
At the beginning of 2021, Weifang City's key work breakthrough and service enterprise development mobilization conference proposed to "firmly determine that the regional GDP exceeds one trillion yuan, sprint to the top 30 comprehensive strength of large and medium-sized cities in the country, and accelerate into the ranks of domestic second-tier cities".
This goal was then written into the 2021 Weifang Government Work Report.
The "Kite Capital" shouted out the goal of setting a trillion yuan, which did not cause a big sensation at the time, after all, Weifang's GDP in 2020 was only 587.2 billion yuan, although it was the fourth city in Shandong Province, it ranked only 39th in the country.
▲ Shandong Weifang kite artists are making kites. Photo: Xinhua News Agency
In the past year, Weifang has not only shown eye-catching results, but also run with the posture of a dark horse.
Among them, the GDP station of 700 billion yuan not only reflects the significant improvement of the city's economic strength, but also means that the development level of the entire city has stepped onto a new level.
Because in China, a city's GDP of more than 700 billion yuan is often regarded as the reserve army of a trillion city, that is, a "quasi-trillion city".
In the list of urban GDP in 2021, Weifang ranked 34th (Changchun's GDP is close to 700 billion yuan, and the specific data has not yet been released), an increase of 5 places over last year.
Weifang also surpassed Shaoxing, Yangzhou, Nanchang, Yancheng and Shijiazhuang in one fell swoop, and was on a par with Xiamen, only lagging kunming and Shenyang by more than 20 billion yuan.
It can be said that in 2021, Weifang has successfully entered the reserve echelon of the "trillion club".
On the other hand, from the perspective of Shandong Province, Weifang's GDP exceeded 700 billion yuan, which also had a profound impact on the economic structure of Shandong Province.
At present, only two cities in Shandong Province have a GDP exceeding one trillion yuan, Qingdao and Jinan. After Qingdao, Yantai's GDP in 2021 is 871.1 billion yuan, and if there are no accidents, Yantai will be the next trillion city in Shandong Province.
At this year's two sessions of Shandong Province, Yantai Mayor Zheng Deyan said, "In 2022, along the target, Yantai has confidence and more ability!" ”
With Weifang stationing 700 billion yuan, it means that the trillion cities in Shandong Province will most likely reach four during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.
As one of the important indicators to measure the economic strength of the region, gdp of more than one trillion yuan is a milestone in the history of urban development, and the increase in the number of trillion cities will also boost the overall economic strength of the region to achieve a leap.
On the list of trillion cities, Guangdong and Jiangsu each have 4 trillion cities, with the "emergence of Weifang", in the trillion city competition, Shandong is also expected to be close to Guangdong and Jiangsu.
According to Shandong's regional development plan, in the future, the two trillion cities of Jinan and Qingdao will achieve joint development, and Weifang is in the middle of these two cities.
Some media pointed out that as a city in central Shandong, Weifang can make Shandong "stand up" after it is strong, and it can exert efforts from the two directions of Jinan and Qingdao, so that shandong's economic aorta is really strong.
City of individual champions
Speaking of Weifang, in addition to kites, outsiders' understanding of Weifang may be agriculture.
Shouguang, a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Weifang, is a famous vegetable town in the country, and nearly billions of kilograms of vegetables are transported from Shouguang to all parts of the country every year.
What is not known is that the manufacturing industry is the largest economic contribution industry sector in Weifang, and it is also an important pillar industry of Weifang's national economy.
Official data show that in 2021, the added value of industries above designated size in Weifang increased by 12.5% year-on-year, with an average growth of 10.4% in two years. The value added of the manufacturing industry increased by 12.5%, and the value added of electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply industries increased by 14.3%.
In terms of total industrial output value, in 2021, Weifang's industries above designated size achieved operating income of 1,092.91 billion yuan, an increase of 21.7%.
Among the 41 industrial industries in the country, Weifang has 37, including all 31 manufacturing industries in the national economic industry classification.
At the beginning of last year, Shandong organized a key project observation meeting for the "five-year breakthrough" of the province's new and old kinetic energy conversion, and Weifang was one of only two observation points.
▲Engines produced by Weichai Group. Photo/ Weichai Power's official Weibo
Weichai Group, the world's top 500 companies, is located in Weifang, and its revenue in 2020 will exceed 300 billion yuan, ranking first in the list of China's top 100 machinery industries.
The strength of Weifang's manufacturing industry is also reflected in the number of single champions in the manufacturing industry.
From 2017 to 2020, Shandong selected a total of 371 provincial-level manufacturing champion enterprises, including 57 in Weifang, 47 in Jinan, 37 in Yantai, 36 in Zibo, 32 in Tai'an, and 31 in Qingdao.
In addition to the number of individual champions ranking first in 16 prefectures and cities, Weifang also has 27 "specialized special new" small giant enterprises, 71 gazelle enterprises, 303 "specialized special new" small and medium-sized enterprises and 1,002 national high-tech enterprises.
In 2020, Weifang has 2 enterprises selected as one of the top 500 Chinese enterprises, 10 enterprises as one of the top 500 Chinese manufacturing enterprises, and 3 enterprises as one of the top 500 private enterprises in China.
By 2021, Weifang will be listed as one of The Top 500 companies in China, and 4 companies will be listed.
A careful review of weifang's manufacturing history will find that the first 10 years of the 21st century were the rapid growth period of Weifang's manufacturing industry.
During this period, Weifang formed industrial clusters such as machinery and electronic information, and cultivated world-renowned companies such as Weichai and Goertek.
Among them, Weichai has become the world's largest supplier of diesel engines, Goertek has become the world's largest Bluetooth headset foundry company and VR (virtual reality) headset equipment supplier, and the only Chinese company among the top ten microelectronics companies in the world.
Why can Weifang?
Weifang is one of the few cities in Shandong and even the whole country where industry and agriculture go hand in hand.
In 2020, Weifang's total agricultural output value reached 103.8 billion yuan, accounting for about one-tenth of the total number of Shandong Province.
In terms of agriculture, the Institute of Modern Agriculture of Peking University, jointly established by Shandong Province and Peking University, is located in Weifang.
It is understood that in accordance with the operation mode of "basic teaching in Peking University, scientific research in Weifang, and transformation of achievements in Shandong", the institute has accelerated the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and built a modern agricultural science and technology and talent "Silicon Valley" in Weifang.
Why can Weifang achieve industry and agriculture go hand in hand?
Some experts pointed out that in the division of labor in the Shandong Peninsula urban agglomeration, Jinan and Qingdao are more responsible for comprehensive functions such as politics, finance, science and technology, and culture, and prefecture-level cities like Weifang are more responsible for the function of industrial highlands, and the real economy is the core competitiveness of the city.
In the province, Weifang's status as an economically strong city is also constantly strengthening.
From a policy point of view, in the "14th Five-Year Plan" of Shandong Province, the Jiaodong Economic Circle was highlighted, which clearly proposed to support Weifang to lead the high-quality development of national agricultural modernization and build an international power city and an advanced manufacturing highland.
According to the "Shandong Peninsula City Cluster Development Plan" issued by Shandong Province, Qingdao will be the leader in the future to promote the development of strong nuclear clusters and groups with Yantai, Weifang, Weihai and Rizhao.
Geographically, Weifang is located between Jinan and Qingdao, and is an important node of Shandong's east-west economic corridor.
This means that in Shandong Province, the status of Weifang will be further highlighted, and the status of the central city of the Shandong Peninsula Urban Agglomeration will be highlighted.
Text | Zha Zhiyuan, a researcher at Xinjing Think Tank