Yunnan changes industrial drivers to promote economic growth

Wang Jingjun had planned to move his company from Shenzhen to his hometown of Chongqing. He never expected that he would instead choose Yanshan County in Yunnan Province’s Wenshan Prefecture.

Now, Wang Jingjun feels that he made the right decision. After less than three months of preparation, the relocated company went into operation. Its first batch of products, 1,500 vehicle-mounted 4G smart large-screen navigation sets, rolled off the assembly line and headed for markets nationwide. Better still, 16 upstream and downstream companies have also settled in the county.

Workers manufacture high-end equipments at a technology company in central Yunnan.

In recent years, Yanshan County, formerly dominated by agriculture, has become a strong location for industrial production. 58 companies including Mattel, Foxconn Technology, Zhongheng Technology and Jingdin Garment now have operations there.

“Our investment attraction efforts used to be indiscriminate. But today, by attracting specific industrial chains, we have accelerated the shift of our industrial structure from the low and middle end to the high end,” said Li Hong, secretary of the Yanshan county Party committee.

In order to blaze a trail of leap-frog development, the frontier province of Yunnan has sped up the development of its industrial infrastructure. The results are new breakthroughs in the development of intelligent terminals, new energy vehicles and other technology sectors.

Workers manufacture high-end equipments at the Dianzhong New Area in central Yunnan.

For a very long time, the economy of Yunnan Province was mainly based on tobacco, raw materials, energy production and other traditional industries. Intelligent manufacturing, information technology and other emerging industries now show strong momentum, but they account for a relatively small proportion of the province’s overall economy. Faced with the dual pressure of growing and upgrading the economy, the province strives to promote its own industrial transformation.

Five years into this process, Yunnan has cumulatively cut its pig-iron production capacity by 1.56 million tons and crude steel production by 4.26 million tons. The elimination of substandard steel production has been reduced by six million tons, while coal production has decreased by 37.76 million tons. Meanwhile, a total of 118 “zombie enterprises” have been eliminated. Over the same time, the province has actively looked to transform and upgrade its traditional industries while accelerating innovation-driven development.

A worker is on duty at the Watson pharmaceuticals company in Yuxi City.  

Last October, industry-leading intelligent robots equipped with facial recognition technology and immediate message features rolled off production lines in Kunming. Together with vehicle-mounted navigation systems, 3D printers, smart terminals, video surveillance systems and other products, these robots represent breakthroughs for the province’s manufacturing industry.

For example, since Xiamen Yiqing Group settled in south Yunnan’s Honghe in July 2016, LCD TVs, mobile phones, tablet computers, touch panels, LCD modules and other high-tech products have been designed and put into production. These goods are now exported to markets in the Middle East, Africa, South America, Southeast Asia and South Asia. 

A worker at the Honghe economic development zone in south Yunnan

Chinese reporting by Ji Zhepeng(Xinhua); Editor: Wang Shixue