On November 14th, more than one hundred business professionals were invited to visit the "Four New Districts" of Zhejiang Province, including Hangzhou Qiantang New District, Ningbo Qianwan New District ((hereinafter referred to as "Qianwan"), Shaoxing Binhai New District, and Huzhou South Taihu Lake New District. This tour is part of the 5th World Zhejiang Entrepreneurs Convention, which is arranged to introduce the “Great Bay Area” blueprint of Zhejiang.

(Photo/Ye Ke)

During the trip, we had the opportunity to visit Geely Research Institute, the R&D organ of Geely, one of China's leading automotive manufacturers. According to official statistics, by the end of 2018, Qianwan has attracted 22 of the world’s top 500 enterprises, and congregated a large group of leading automotive companies, such as SAIC Volkswagen and Bosch. What makes Qianwan a choice for these automotive giants? 

Liu Zongliang, chairman of Zhejiang Ginye Auto Parts Co., Ltd cast some light on the matter. During an interview, he said that the most attractive aspects of Qianwan are the unique location and the pragmatic style of local governance. In terms of the location, Mr. Liu said that thanks to the central position of Qianwan amongst Shanghai, Hangzhou and Ningbo, capital and talent are both much easier to flow in to this area and settle in Qianwan than any other place. " Most of my employees have purchased apartments here in Qianwan and have decided to settle down here". When referring to local governance, he gave a thumbs up and said, "we business people have much more space to develop our business as the local officials are down to earth and friendly in regards to industrial matters." 

From a global perspective, the "Bay Area" has become an increasingly important growth pole in world economic development as well as an indicator for global competitiveness. As a major urban agglomeration with strong urbanization, the "Bay Area" and "Bay Area Economy" play key roles in the regional integration and urban expansion. In respect to China, as known by most sinologists, Zhejiang’s Great Bay Area blueprint aims to integrate development of the Hangzhou Bay economic rim, the Ningbo-Taizhou-Wenzhou port industrial belt, and the Yiwu-Ningbo-Zhoushan open channel. According to official documentation, the economic output of the three areas is expected to reach 6 trillion yuan by 2022. Following the strategy, all the aforementioned new districts will be built featuring the integral development of industries and cities and the harmonious coexistence of people and nature. As one of the branches of the "Four New Districts", Qianwan is a rising star in the automotive world. 

Geographically, Qianwan is located in the northern part of Ningbo City in Zhejiang Province. It lies at the geometric center of Shanghai, Ningbo, Hangzhou and other cities, the gateway area for Ningbo to be connected with Shanghai and integrated into Yangtze River Delta. Qianwan is positioned as a world-class advanced manufacturing base, a great strategic platform for the integrated development of Yangtze River Delta, a leading area in high-level cooperation between Shanghai and Zhejiang, as well as the Hangzhou Bay city-industry integrated development of future city. For capital and technology intensive sectors such as the automotive industry, a steady flow of capital and a large talent pool is key to their success. Adjacent to Shanghai, the capital hub and one of the talent pools in China, Qianwan is positioned to be highly successful. 

(Geographic position of Qianwan, Photo/Ye Ke)

Economically, Qianwan focuses on developing automotive manufacturing, including key components, new energy vehicles, internet vehicles and automobile producer services. The city is forming a perfect automotive industry chain with two leading manufacturers SAIC Volkswagen and Geely at the center. In 2018, Zhejiang released the automotive industry development strategy that intends to invest 50 billion yuan to develop the industry chain along the Hangzhou Bay area of Qianwan. People who do business without knowning policies are green hands. Qianwan, such kind of government supports will lay a solid foundation of the growth of local automotive industry. 

The possibility that Qianwan will provide many more opportunities for automotive industry participants is already on the table. For investors and manufacturers who are considering to expand or reorganize their business in China, the Yangtze River Delta should not be missed and neither should Qianwan.