Source: Chengdu Qingbaijiang
Starting from Chengdu International Railway Port, a steel "dragon" carrying "Sichuan-made" cars, computers, tea, flowers and trees crosses the Chengdu Plain, crosses mountains and mountains, and reaches the world - at present, this is the ordinary daily life of Qingbaijiang. But 11 years ago, it was a picture that the interior of the country did not dare to hope for.
Times shape cities. In Chengdu, there is perhaps no better place to interpret the meaning of this sentence than Qingbaijiang.
Chengdu International Railway Port
It's glorious and heroic. As the oldest old industrial base in southwest China, Qingbaijiang has won the title of "Chengdu First Brother" by relying on the two leading enterprises of Pancheng Steel and Sichuan Chemical, and has become the first district (city) and county in Chengdu to break through the 100 million yuan mark in 1990.
It was also saddened. In the alternating stage of new and old kinetic energy, the two leading enterprises have been shut down, which directly led to the total profit of industrial enterprises in Qingbaijiang District in 2015 - 2.23 billion yuan. Qingbaijiang lost his "right-hand man" and briefly "fell behind".
Whether it is brilliant or gloomy, it will be turned into nutrients to nourish the future of a region.
At present, Qingbaijiang has already torn off the old label on its body, and with the new business card of "China-Europe Express", it has rushed forward and become an indispensable existence for Chengdu to the world. This happy galloping steel "dragon" has also allowed Qingbaijiang to return to the fast lane of development, and has been rated as an advanced area for county economic development in the province for five consecutive years.
Recently, the Sichuan Daily all-media research team walked into Qingbaijiang District, Chengdu City, to decode how this old industrial base is moving towards a "new" life and embarking on a high-quality development path.
In the external exhibition hall of Chengdu International Railway Port, on a huge digital map, with the Qingbai River as the coordinate point, the yellow and white lines shaped like railroad tracks extend in many directions, connecting Chengdu with the world - this map hides the code of the re-rise of the Qingbai River.
After the loss of the "right arm", how can we quickly grow new "bones"? Qingbaijiang chooses to keep up with the times.
In 2013, the "Belt and Road" initiative was proposed, and cities along the route ushered in new opportunities for development. As the starting point of the Southern Silk Road, Chengdu is the closest national central city to Europe. At that time, Chengdu's GDP was rising at a rate of at least 100 billion steps a year, and the "trillion" goal was close at hand. Chengdu is eager to link the world's resources and become an important part of the global supply chain system, so as to seek greater development and greater breakthroughs.
"No matter what era it is, access is the most core element of development. Chengdu, which is not along the border or the coast, wants to build an international gateway hub, and the fastest way is to start by land and air. And in trade transportation, especially bulk trade transportation, railways are the most important tools. In the view of Tang Jiqiang, director and chief research scientist of the Xicai Think Tank of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, this is the fundamental motivation for Chengdu to actively strive for the opening of the China-Europe Express in Qingbaijiang and the establishment of Chengdu International Railway Port with this as the core engine.
On April 30, the country's first "China-Laos-Thailand-Malaysia" all-rail express freight train departed from Chengdu International Railway Port. Bai Guibin/photo
April 26, 2013 was written into the history of Qingbaijiang's development. The first Chengdu-Europe Express Railway (the predecessor of the Chengdu China-Europe Express) departed from Chengdu and took 22 days to arrive in Lodz, Poland, 9,826 kilometers away. Chengdu and Qingbaijiang have opened a new chapter.
In the view of Wang Lin, secretary of the Qingbaijiang District Party Committee of Chengdu City, the opening of the China-Europe Railway Express in Qingbaijiang is the favor of the times. Geographically, this is the Izukawa fortress, and the railway transit time is longer than the construction time of the district. When Pancheng Steel and Sichuan Hua laid out the Qingbaijiang River, in order to facilitate the transportation of raw materials and products, 7 special railways were directly connected to the plant. In 2008, Chengdu Railway Container Center Station landed in Qingbaijiang, "which is the basis for China-Europe trains to gallop in Qingbaijiang." ”
Live up to the times. Over the past 11 years, Chengdu China-Europe Express has achieved "from scratch, from existing to strong, from strong to refined".
Back to that digital map. The Chengdu China-Europe Railway Express has realized the parallel connection of the north, the middle and the south: the northern line starts from Chengdu International Railway Port, exits through Erenhot or Manzhouli, and arrives in Russia and Belarus in Europe; The middle route exits through Khorgos or Alashankou and arrives in Poland, Germany, the Netherlands and other countries in Europe; The southern route exits through Khorgos, crosses the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea through rail-sea combined transport, reaches Georgia and other countries in Europe, and finally radiates Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany and other eastern and central European countries and regions.
"As of April 1 this year, the China-Europe Express (Chengdu-Chongqing) has operated more than 15,000 trains, and has become the China-Europe Express with the largest number of trips, the most balanced operation, the highest transportation value, the best supply structure, the most extensive regional cooperation, and the most stable transportation in the country." Pang Jianhua, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Chengdu International Railway Port Investment and Development Co., Ltd., said.
Accessible to the world, Qingbaijiang is not only China-Europe trains.
Up to now, Chengdu International Railway Port has established a Chengdu international train route network and a global land-sea freight distribution system with Chengdu as the main hub, westward to Europe, northward to Mongolia and Russia, eastward to Japan and South Korea, and southward to ASEAN, forming a multi-directional coordinated operation pattern of China-Europe (Asia) trains, western land-sea new channel trains, China-Laos (Vietnam) trains, etc., connecting 112 overseas cities.
Matching the increasingly dense lines is the increasing efficiency of traffic. Efficiency comes from institutional innovation: the country's first "China-Europe Express Consolidation and Transportation Model" was included in the fifth batch of replication and promotion experience in the free trade zone by the State Council; The country's first "China-Europe freight segment settlement and valuation management reform" as the only one in the province selected as the fourth batch of "best practice cases" in the country; The country's first "China-Europe freight train broad-gauge section integrated transportation mode" was issued by China State Railway Group Corporation for national promotion; The relevant achievements of "multimodal transport 'one single system'" were included in the case of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee as the only case in the economic field of Sichuan Province...... With the courage of reform, the people of Qingbaijiang have established its unique position in the national railway hub map.
Mountains and seas are not far away. The back-and-forth international trains not only make Chengdu leap from the "end" of the national railway network to the "starting point", completely change the history of Chengdu, an inland city that must rely on the port for the development of export-oriented economy, and make it advance from the hinterland to the forefront of opening up, but also make Qingbaijiang, a region full of the imprint of the times, become a bridgehead linking Sichuan and Chengdu to the world.
Why can a trip to the China-Europe train rewrite the fate of a region? The research team tried to start with the TCL story and uncover the mystery.
As the leader of China's color TV industry, TCL has set up a factory in Chengdu in 2004, but it is only used as a domestic production base. Europe is one of TCL's largest overseas markets, with an annual order volume of more than 4 million units. Before the opening of the Chengdu China-Europe train, TCL's goods exported to Europe basically arrived in Europe by sea.
"The biggest advantage of sea freight is that the price is cheap and the capacity is large, but the time is long, basically more than 40 days." Chen Hezhi, general manager of TCL Optoelectronics Technology (Chengdu) Co., Ltd., said frankly that the price of electrical products fluctuates rapidly, and some products have fallen in price on the road, so TCL has been seeking faster logistics speed.
TCL Optoelectronics Technology (Chengdu) Co., Ltd. production workshop
The Chengdu China-Europe Express, which debuted on the international stage, has entered the attention of the senior management of TCL Group. "Compared with sea freight, the China-Europe train is faster, taking Chengdu to Lodz, Poland as an example, it takes 45 to 50 days for sea transportation, and only 10 to 15 days through the China-Europe train; Compared with air freight, the transportation cost of China-Europe freight trains is less, which can save four-fifths. Pang Jianhua said that for many commodities that consider both transportation time and transportation costs, the China-Europe train has given the best plan and has become the choice for more and more enterprises to go to sea.
In March 2016, the Chengdu China-Europe Express "TCL Special Train" carried 41 FCL cargo and left Chengdu International Railway Port for the first time. This test was a great success. Since then, the two sides have entered the "honeymoon period" of cooperation. Chen Hezhi introduced that since the first launch of the China-Europe train TCL special train, the export volume and export volume of TCL Chengdu Qingbaijiang factory have achieved an average annual growth rate of 30%, and there are 3-4 TCL special trains sent to Europe every week.
In order to make the products reach the market faster, TCL put the production line directly next to the freight line. In 2021, TCL Optoelectronics Technology (Chengdu) Co., Ltd. landed in Chengdu International Railway Port Comprehensive Bonded Zone, becoming the first bonded processing trade enterprise in the bonded zone, mainly producing color motor cores, and preliminarily assembling the color TV LCD modules produced by TCL Chengdu High-tech Zone factory and color TV parts produced by Guangdong suppliers, and then transported to TCL's Poland factory for final assembly and sales through Chengdu China-Europe trains. Chen Hezhi said that since 2016, the sales of color TVs at TCL's Polish factory have quadrupled. In 2023, the output value of TCL Optoelectronics Technology (Chengdu) Co., Ltd. will increase by more than 30% year-on-year.
The Chengdu international class with extensive access provides more possibilities for TCL exports. On October 19 last year, the "Yue-Gui-Rong Europe Express" train debuted at Chengdu International Railway Port, and the "China-Europe Express + China-Vietnam Express" achieved two-way penetration, becoming another "Southeast Asia to Europe via Chengdu" full railway direct express line launched by Chengdu International Train after the "Lancang-Mekong Europe Express". In the future, the parts produced by TCL's Vietnam factory can be transported to Qingbaijiang in Chengdu through the "Yue Guirong Europe Express", a logistics channel in Asia and Europe, where they will be preliminarily assembled with key locally produced components and then transported to the Polish factory for final assembly.
The story of TCL illustrates the infinite possibilities of the China-Europe train, which can bring prosperous trade to Qingbaijiang: in the past 11 years, the foreign trade structure of the zone has changed from a pure production type to a trade-based and production-oriented steady growth model, and the import and export categories involve more than 30 kinds of parallel imported automobiles, milk powder, red wine, etc. Last year, Qingbaijiang's foreign trade import and export volume reached 41.97 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 37.5%.
It is more able to lay the foundation for its industry, especially the manufacturing industry. In Qingbaijiang, the research team saw many new faces of enterprises: China's new tea beverage listed brand Chabaidao is here, the world's largest single edible fungus factory is here, the trading companies covering all the hot scenarios of the current metaverse are here, and the leading enterprises in the domestic logistics field are here...... Their reasons for choosing Qingbaijiang are not exactly the same, but the "Chengdu China-Europe Express" is a common reason.
After seeing the high correlation between the channel and the industry, Qingbaijiang will naturally not miss this huge opportunity of the times.
In September 2017, on the south side of Chengdu International Railway Port, the construction of the European Industrial City began. Taking advantage of the core channel resources of the China-Europe Express, the European Industrial City is positioned as a major platform to undertake the industrial transfer of countries and regions jointly built by the "Belt and Road" and build a highland for port industries. Over the past 6 years, the European Industrial City has successfully gathered more than 60 major industrial projects with a total investment of 60 billion yuan around the import and export processing trade industries, forming a new material category with China Jushi as the main chain, a green and low-carbon category with Zhejiang Tianma and Huading Guolian as the main chain, and an intelligent electrical industry cluster with Chengdu Konka as the main chain.
Going around and around, Qingbaijiang's transformation and development road has never been separated from the manufacturing industry. Today, Qingbaijiang also proposes to anchor the goal of "strong manufacturing area" and rely on the hub function of Chengdu International Railway Port to accelerate the construction of an export-oriented advanced manufacturing base with important influence and competitiveness in the country.
Based on the goal, Qingbaijiang put forward a "three-step" development plan: by 2025, it will successfully create one national and two provincial small and medium-sized enterprise characteristic industrial clusters; By 2027, the proportion of manufacturing in GDP will increase significantly, and the "four beams and eight pillars" of the advanced manufacturing system will be basically built; By 2030, the high-quality development pattern of the manufacturing industry will be fully formed, and a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone will take shape.
Every step of Qingbaijiang's progress is hand in hand with the enterprise.
Panchenggang and Chuanhua, which have created brilliance, have experienced shutdowns, but they have not fallen. Pancheng Steel's original factory area has established an industrial park integrating steel warehousing, logistics and processing offline; Build an online trading platform for steel and other commodities to create a bulk commodity logistics ecosystem. Sichuan Chemical cooperated with Sichuan Energy Investment Group and Huading Fund to establish Huading Guolian, entered the field of automotive power batteries, and devoted itself to the new energy industry.
Another "veteran" member of the Qingbaijiang manufacturing enterprise cluster, China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Chengdu Ace Commercial Vehicle Co., Ltd. is also galloping on the track of "new energy". "From January to April this year, more than 1,000 new energy commercial vehicles were sold, an increase of more than 10 times over the same period last year, and it has exceeded the whole year of 2023." Wang Meixian, chairman of China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Chengdu Ace Commercial Vehicle Co., Ltd., said that the output value of new energy commercial vehicles is expected to increase by more than three times this year.
Production line of China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Chengdu Ace Commercial Vehicle Co., Ltd
In the field of new energy heavy truck vehicles, China National Heavy Duty Truck Group Chengdu Ace Commercial Vehicle Co., Ltd. has formed a "trump card" product. "Our pure electric new energy vehicles have great comprehensive advantages in safety and mileage time, and are currently in a leading position in the domestic heavy truck market." Wang Meixian said with confidence that new energy vehicles will be the biggest growth point for enterprises in the future.
On the road of transformation, this old industrial base continues to break the inherent urban impression and accelerate with a new attitude.
In the gallop, become the leader of innovation and breakthroughs. Focusing on the fields of new materials, new energy, and equipment manufacturing, Qingbaijiang has built three pilot demonstration bases of Wenlan Zhigu, 340 Science and Technology Innovation Park, and European Industrial City, built 51 innovation centers and laboratories, 7 pilot platforms, and incubated more than 60 local projects. Among them, 340 Science and Technology Park is located in the original factory area of Pancheng Steel, which focuses on the pilot transformation of new materials such as high-end titanium alloy seamless pipes, high-end titanium alloy wires, and 3D printing spherical titanium powder, and has built four scientific research pilot lines such as spherical titanium powder preparation, special wire preparation, and precision pipe preparation, and achieved sales of more than 10 million yuan last year.
In the gallop, become a practitioner of new quality productivity. The Millennium Chengxiang Ancient City integrates historical relics with cutting-edge technology, and joins hands with Beijing Qitian International Culture and Technology Development Group Co., Ltd. to jointly build the first metaverse digital cultural tourism industrial park in southwest China facing the "Belt and Road". The project empowers cultural tourism with science and technology, displays unique cultural resources such as Tianfu culture, New Silk Road culture, and Sanxingdui culture in an immersive and scenario-based manner, integrates cutting-edge digital technologies such as blockchain, 5G, VR, AR, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, and big data, and builds an industrial ecosystem covering dozens of sub-projects such as metaverse theme parks, immersive blocks, Huanzhen science and technology shows, metaverse experience convention and exhibition centers, digital property rights comprehensive service centers, metaverse content production and industrial incubation, etc. At present, the first phase of the project has been partially presented and is expected to be officially opened to the public within the year.
Metaverse Digital Cultural Tourism Industrial Park Wu Feng/photo
In the gallop, become the creator of new scenes and new lives. On the shore of Phoenix Lake, the flowing water is murmuring, the grass is green, and citizens and tourists are camping and surfing here; On the banks of the Changliu River, reeds and bamboos and sage are dotted among them, which is quite wild, and residents take a walk and rest on the greenway; In the Yarongou Country (Commodity) Pavilion, there are a dazzling array of imported goods from dozens of countries, one-stop to meet the consumer demand of "buying the world and selling the world"; The ancient city of Chengxiang "repairs the old as the old, revitalizes and renewes", and the Chengxiang Guest House borrows the shape of "flying eaves and tiles" to let guests see the charm of Tianfu, and the cultural heritage such as Xiuchuan Academy, Wumiao, Chengxiang Middle School Gate, Deng Gonglou, and the former site of Sanqingguan glows with the new charm of the times......
Phoenix Lake Scenic Area Bai Guibin/photo
In ancient times, there were bursts of camel bells, and now the whistle roars. Today's Qingbaijiang is like a series of Chengdu China-Europe trains, crossing mountains and seas, moving forward, and a modern and international northern center of Chengdu is rising strongly.