The population of the Yellow River Basin accounts for more than 30% of the total population of the country, and the regional GDP accounts for about 1/4 of the country, which is a very important position in China's economic and social development.
However, the development quality of the Yellow River Basin needs to be improved, the pace of transformation and upgrading of traditional industries is lagging behind, and the endogenous power is insufficient.
The "new chorus" of the Yellow River needs to proceed from reality, suitable water is water, suitable mountains are mountains, suitable grain is grain, suitable agriculture is agriculture, suitable work is work, suitable business is business, and a new way of high-quality development with regional characteristics is explored.
Laoniuwan, Shanxi Image source: Xinhua News Agency
Heavy status
The YELLOW RIVER BASIN ACCOUNTS FOR ABOUT 1/4 OF THE COUNTRY'S GDP
Since the ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin have been elevated to a national strategy, the development opportunities of the Yellow River Basin have never been seen before. Therefore, re-examining the "potential" and "field" of high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin, actively exploring the road of river basin governance and high-quality development, and winning new development opportunities can better make the Yellow River a happy river that benefits the people.
"Balancing the north and the south, coordinating the east, the middle and the west", the Yellow River Basin plays a very important role in China's economic and social development. Flowing through the Yellow River in Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan and Shandong, the total population of the provinces within the basin was 442 million at the end of 2019, accounting for 31.58% of the country; the regional GDP was 24.74 trillion yuan, accounting for about 25% of the country.
It is also an important economic belt in China, and there are many agricultural and animal husbandry production bases and energy bases in the basin.
The Huang-Huai-Hai Plain, the Fenwei Plain and the Hetao Irrigation Area are the main agricultural product producing areas in China, and the output of grain and meat accounts for about 1/3 of the country. The area through which the Yellow River flows is a traditional agricultural area in China, and the agricultural development model is distinct and diverse, including the alpine agricultural and animal husbandry system of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the agricultural system of the Loess Plateau/Basin of Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi and Jin, and the agricultural system of the mountainous hills, the arid agricultural system of Ningmeng and Mongolia, and the agricultural system of the lower reaches of the Yellow River in Yulu, which play an important role in ensuring national food security, the supply of high-quality agricultural and livestock products and export production.
Raw coal production along the Huangjiu provinces accounts for 80% of the country, which is China's "energy basin". The river basin is rich in coal, oil, natural gas and non-ferrous metal resources, with coal reserves accounting for more than half of the country, and 8 kinds of mineral resources reserves such as rare earth, niobium and molybdenum accounting for more than 32% of the country. It is also an important energy, chemical, raw material and basic industrial base in China, and has no small advantages in a variety of industrial equipment manufacturing, extra-large and heavy equipment manufacturing, electrical engineering equipment manufacturing and so on.
The first high-speed railway across the Qinling Mountains - Xicheng High-speed Railway. Image source: Xinhua News Agency
In recent years, with the large-scale development of the western region and the implementation of the "Belt and Road" initiative, the economic and social development of the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River has achieved remarkable results. The mileage of highways, civil airports and high-speed rail in the seven provinces and regions in the middle and upper reaches of the country has increased significantly, accounting for 33.54%, 31.58% and 23.73% of the national total, respectively. The gap between the central and western regions and the developed regions in the east in terms of infrastructure and other aspects is constantly narrowing.
disequilibrium
The per capita GDP of Yushu and Dongying differs by 10 times
Illustration of the night lights in the Yellow River Basin
Nighttime lights can more intuitively show the commercial and population activities of an area, and also indirectly reflect the level of development of the city. As can be seen from the above figure, the lights in the lower reaches of the Yellow River are brighter and denser than in the upper reaches. The side reflects that the spatial development of the upper, middle and lower reaches of the economy in the basin is uneven. Some scholars say that the economic and social development of the Yellow River Basin shows a stepped distribution pattern of "backward upstream, rising in the middle reaches, and developing downstream".
Changes in gdp along the Huangjiu provinces and regions
In 2019, the sum of the GDP of Shandong and Henan in the lower reaches of the Yellow River (12,523.67 billion yuan) was more than the sum of the GDP of the seven provinces and regions in the upper and middle reaches (12,208.088 billion yuan). The per capita GDP of Yushu Prefecture in Qinghai, the source of the Yellow River, is more than 10 times different from that of Dongying City in Shandong Province, which is at the mouth of the sea.
Zhengzhou, Xi'an, Jinan and other central cities and central plains and other urban agglomerations have accelerated the construction of cities and urban agglomerations in the region, but at present, the level of urbanization in nine provinces and regions and the radiation driving capacity of central cities still need to be improved. Only Inner Mongolia and Shandong, along the Huangjiu provinces, have an urbanization rate higher than the national average. From the perspective of central cities, the GDP of Zhengzhou and Xi'an in the basin is relatively backward among the nine national central cities. Xining, Lanzhou, Yinchuan and other provincial capital cities with relatively high degree of radiation driving capacity are also limited.
Compared with the eastern coastal areas and southern provinces, the innovation competition pressure in the Yellow River Basin is huge, and the trend of innovation elements "peacocks flying southeast" is grim. In 2019, only Shaanxi's R&D funding intensity in the nine provinces was higher than the national average. The outflow of key elements such as high-end talents, skilled labor, and industrial capital is still continuing, so the Yellow River Basin is facing difficulties in the conversion of new and old kinetic energy.
The degree of social informatization in some provinces and autonomous regions is not high, and the power system for high-quality development has not yet been formed. Many provinces have a strong willingness to transform and develop industries such as cloud computing and big data, but most of them still take energy and heavy chemical industry as an important pillar industry in the river basin, and the proportion of resource exploitation and processing industries such as coal mining and washing industry, oil and gas extraction industry, non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry is as high as 36.34%, which is 9.17 percentage points higher than the national average, and the transformation momentum is insufficient.
In addition, there is a significant gap between the level of opening up of the Yellow River Basin to the yangtze River Economic Belt. The total import and export volume and actual utilization of foreign capital in the Yellow River Basin are only equivalent to about 20% of the Yangtze River Basin, accounting for about 10% of the national proportion. The Yellow River Basin needs to actively participate in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", improve the level of opening up, and promote reform and development with opening up.
Look to the future
Shift from the accumulation of quantity to the improvement of quality
Measure the water, "How many soups and how many steamed buns." "The total water resources of the Yellow River Basin are less than 7% of that of the Yangtze River, but it is responsible for the water supply of about 30% of the country's population and dozens of large and medium-sized cities." According to some data, the utilization rate of water resources in the Yellow River Basin has reached 78%, which is the river with the highest degree of water resources development and utilization in China. Therefore, water resources are still the biggest rigid constraint in the Yellow River Basin, and the high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin needs to be fixed by water, land by water, people by water, and production by water, and promote the transformation of water use from extensive to economical and intensive.
China's first national agricultural high-tech industry demonstration zone - Yangling demonstration zone Image source: Xinhua News Agency
People-oriented, adapted to local conditions, and great efforts should be made to carry out great protection and governance. The situation in the Yellow River Basin is complex and diverse, and the development strategy of the upper, middle and lower reaches cannot "draw the scoop according to the gourd". An Lizhe, president of Beijing Forestry University and dean of the Yellow River Basin Ecological Protection and High-quality Development Research Institute, believes that in the specific development path, the most fundamental thing is to promote "ecological industrialization and industrial ecology". The upper reaches of the Yellow River are mainly to protect the ecology, conserve water sources, create more ecological products, discourage the development of large-scale industry and agriculture, and strengthen ecological compensation. In the middle reaches, it is necessary to give prominence to water and soil conservation and pollution control, and the main grain-producing areas such as the Hetao Irrigation District and the Fenwei Plain should focus on rural revitalization, develop modern agriculture with special characteristics, promote agricultural modernization, and improve the quality of agricultural products. The lower reaches of the Yellow River Delta should develop water-saving industries and water-saving agriculture according to local conditions, eliminate backward production capacity, concentrate on developing leading industries with advantages, and at the same time focus on ecological protection, promote the health of river ecosystems, and improve biodiversity.
Baijiagou Village, Jishishan County, Linxia Prefecture, Gansu Province, has moved 1,148 households living in remote mountain villages, disaster-prone and uninhabitable people out of the mountains through poverty alleviation and relocation. Image source: Xinhua News Agency
Promote industrial population agglomeration and improve the efficiency of economic development. In some areas of the river basin, where resources are depleted, natural conditions are harsh, and there is no relatively perfect living conditions, its population and industry are recommended to be transferred to areas with better conditions for development, which can not only reduce economic activities and environmental damage in ecologically sensitive areas, alleviate the contradiction between people and land in the basin, but also guide the centralized layout of industries, improve the spatial agglomeration of population and economic activities, and improve economic efficiency. Zhang Jianping, director of the Regional Economic Research Center of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, believes that the Yellow River Basin should move towards more efficient resource allocation. The process of regional integration is conducive to breaking down the barriers between different provinces and enabling the more efficient and optimized allocation of talents, capital, technology, information and other elements. In the process of improving economic efficiency, a synergistic mechanism can be formed in terms of ecology and environmental protection.
Inner Mongolia Dalat photovoltaic power generation application leading base Image source: Xinhua News Agency
Explore new ways with rich regional characteristics, and lead the transformation of new and old kinetic energy with innovation. Some people believe that the Yellow River region should more actively embrace the digital economy, explore a new industrial transformation and development model suitable for national needs and local characteristics, find the direction, determine the location, and build an industrial cluster or industrial chain suitable for local characteristics in a focused and step-by-step manner, so as to drive industrial transformation and upgrading. For the old revolutionary areas and ethnically populated areas in the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River, efforts can be made to accelerate the strategy of rural revitalization, steadily promote new-type urbanization, improve living conditions, and increase employment through the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and private enterprises. Along the Yellow Agricultural Belt, modern agriculture can be developed that focuses on green, brand and scale. Some of the energy raw material industries along the yellow area account for a relatively large proportion, and the problem of short chain disconnection of the industrial chain is more prominent. By promoting the upstream and downstream extension of traditional advantageous industries and the expansion of the left and right chains, we can cultivate and expand potential industries and form a new way of development. Guide all kinds of innovation elements to gather in enterprises, so that enterprises can become the main body of innovation decision-making, research and development investment, scientific research research and achievement transformation.
The "Chang'an" freight train in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, connects Central Asia and radiates Europe. Image source: Xinhua News Agency
Based on the domestic cycle, promote the "double cycle", the east-west two-way mutual benefit, land and sea linkage. In the process of accelerating the transformation of new and old kinetic energy in the river basin, it is advisable to actively embrace and adapt to the adjustment and upgrading of the industrial structure and enhance the level of regional integration. Urban agglomerations and metropolitan areas can also play an active role in leading regional economic transformation and upgrading, efficient allocation of resources, and the diffusion of technological innovation, and drive the optimization and upgrading of industries in surrounding areas. On the one hand, outside the basin, it strengthens cooperation with other regions in the country, especially the eastern coast and the Yangtze River Economic Belt, on the other hand, it strengthens exchanges and cooperation with countries along the "Belt and Road" to enhance the momentum of development within the basin. Ren Baoping, dean of the Graduate School of Northwest University and director of the Research Center for Economic Development in Western China, believes that while improving the quality of its own development, the Yellow River Basin should make full use of the free trade pilot zone and other active participation in the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", learn from the beneficial experience of opening up in the southeast coastal area, and improve the level of opening up according to the national strategy, so as to promote reform and development with opening up.
Resources:
1. "Coordinated Promotion of High-quality Development of the Yellow River Basin", China Social Science Network, June 24, 2020
2. "Strengthening Industrial and Urban Support for High-quality Development of the Yellow River Basin", Henan Daily, January 15, 2020
3. "Lu Dadao: Understanding and Suggestions on the High-quality Development of the Yellow River Basin", China Science Daily, December 10, 2019
4. Basic Conditions and Core Strategies for High-quality Development of the Yellow River Basin[J]. YANG Yongchun, MU Yanjie, ZHANG Wei. Resources Science, 2020, 42(3):409-423.]
5. Strategic Thinking on Promoting Ecological Protection and High-quality Development of the Yellow River Basin[J]. Keyun Zhang, Regional Economic Review, No.1, 2020.
6. "Promoting Ecological Protection and High-quality Development of the Yellow River Basin with Digital Transformation", National Information Center, March 10, 2020
7. "Strengthening Industrial and Urban Support for High-quality Development of the Yellow River Basin", Henan Daily, January 15, 2020
8. Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering: Controlling Water Intensity is the Primary Task of Ecological Protection in the Yellow River Basin, China News Network, July 17, 2020
9. "Planning to Promote Ecological Protection and High-quality Development of the Yellow River Basin", Gansu Daily, July 14, 2020
10. "(Henan) Promotes high-quality development of the Yellow River Basin with "Five Leads"", Dagong Net, April 9, 2020
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