Yangtze delta integration reaps rewards

National strategy takes shape, brings wide range of improvements

Three years ago, President Xi Jinping announced that China would support integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region, making this a national strategy, and he instructed that the new development philosophy should be implemented in earnest.

"We will build a modern economic system, and adopt higher standards for reform and opening-up," Xi said in his keynote speech at the inaugural China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Nov 5, 2018.

Since then, coordinated development has gradually taken shape in the delta, with roads that used to end at provincial borders being connected and new bridges built on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Coordinated policies have been introduced to ease talent mobility and business in the region, and guidelines unifying standards in construction and environmental protection have been brought in.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the region, which comprises Shanghai and Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui provinces, remains the nation's economic powerhouse.

Hua Yuan, director of the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission and also head of the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office, said at a news conference on Oct 25 that the region's GDP accounted for 24.5 percent of the national total in the first half of this year.

"The region has contributed more to the country's economic growth, as the proportion has risen by 0.4 percentage point when compared with that in 2018," he said.

"With all the cities and provinces making concerted efforts, the delta region has reached new heights on integration and high-quality development."

In the border area of Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, billboards announcing "Demonstration Zone of Yangtze River Delta Integration Strategy" have been erected along a highway, while a dredging project to connect waterways encircling a 35-square-kilometer area has been underway since last month.

The zone, known as the "Watertown Living Room", will feature a Yangtze River Delta exhibition and convention center in its core area, which will be surrounded by walking trails, residential areas and office buildings.

According to the blueprint for the zone, a paddy field, fishpond and a wetland conservation area will also be built to showcase green and smart agriculture.

Duan Jin, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who proposed the "Watertown Living Room", spoke in an earlier interview about the concept of bringing people from different provinces to work together on a model that other regions could learn from.

"The Yangtze River Delta region has rich industrial, cultural and livelihood resources, but in the past, these were not fully shared and used. In the future, they will be connected by an unimpeded transportation network," he said.

In the past three years, 71 bus routes connecting neighboring cities and towns have been introduced.

The Yangtze River Delta Institute for Sustainable Development is a 10-minute bus journey from the zone's core area.

Viewed from the outside, the institute looks like a traditional Chinese courtyard in the delta, with white walls and black tiles. However, inside, there is a wealth of high technology for ecological conservation work.

The institute was launched by Tongji University in April, and cofounded by eight leading schools, including Fudan, Zhejiang and Nanjing universities.

Liu Jianxiong, Party chief of the College of Environmental Science and Engineering at Tongji University, said the institute focuses on promoting green technologies throughout the Yangtze River Delta, with the aim of achieving carbon neutrality as soon as possible.

"Every detail at the institute represents some aspect of our scientific achievements. It is a laboratory and also an exhibition of our scientific and technological innovation," he said.

A real-time digital screen at the institute shows visitors' carbon emissions, the water quality of nearby rivers, and weather conditions.

The walls in the meeting room are made from two materials－one of them being recycled coffee dregs. The other material absorbs toxic substances, while at the same time releasing negative oxygen ions to clean the air.

The toilet next to the meeting room processes excreted matter, which is reused to flush the device, creating a "green loop" of zero emissions, Liu said.

The institute is powered by rooftop solar panels, with surplus electricity used to electrolyze water for carbon-free hydrogen in the daytime, which is transformed back to electricity at night to provide, for example, hot water for showers.

Rainwater receptacles have been installed under the black tiles on the roof to help irrigate the garden at the institute.

"We hope to bring scientific advances from university laboratories to the institute. Most of these have already been applied in the market," Liu said, adding that the institute also works with the UN Environment Programme and aims to "take these green applications to the world".

Urban-rural balance

In addition to showcasing sustainable and green practices, the Yangtze River Delta integration strategy aims to achieve urban-rural coordinated development, an example of which can be found in Henggang village, Jiashan, Zhejiang.

Officials in Henggang, which boasts picturesque scenery and is about a 40-minute drive from Shanghai, are working with villagers to build "the ideal back garden" for citizens from the metropolis.

This initiative, launched in 2016, has been accelerated since the delta integration plan was announced. The local government has built roads, installed street lighting and other infrastructure, helped renovate old houses into three-story villas in traditional Jiangnan style, and is attracting tourists with numerous farming activities.

The entire area is covered by the 5G network, and charging poles for electric cars have been erected for visitors from Shanghai and neighboring areas.

Henggang Party chief Zhang Lin said: "We used to be a village that raised pigs. There were 1,670 people and 24,000 pigs." Tourism has helped farmers earn more, Zhang added.

In an interview with Xinhua News Agency in July, Zhang said the village had more than 10 farm-stay hostels run by locals, creating annual revenue of 3 million yuan ($468,000).

Ma Dongmei, one of the hostel owners, said: "Many tourists from Shanghai return to our hostel. They greatly enjoy our home-raised chickens and ducks."

Her hostel can cater to 200 guests for meals. Visitors savor local dishes featuring organic vegetables grown by residents or the chickens and ducks raised by Ma.

The local government has also launched environmental projects, such as treating a foul-smelling river that flows through the village. Its water quality has been raised from Grade V, the lowest national level, to Grade III, Zhang said.

Strolling through a paddy field, Zhang said the village also holds cultural festivals to attract tourists. In May, the village organized the Henggang Day for Tourism, while on Sunday, a music festival will open in the village, staged jointly with a radio station in Jiaxing city.

"Last year, the music festival drew more than 100,000 clicks online, attracting some 3,000 tourists to the village," Zhang said. "The real point is that people who come to Henggang provide residents with opportunities for their businesses, such as selling agricultural produce and providing accommodations.

The most telling evidence of the benefits of Yangtze River Delta integration are arguably the way in which it influences people's everyday lives.

Since the strategy was launched, governments in the three provinces and Shanghai have started to reduce administrative hurdles for services related to pension programs, business taxation and other civil or commercial matters.

According to the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office, 119 public services that used to require local government registration or approval can now be processed in all 41 cities in the delta.

In Wujiang, Jiangsu, a government service center opened in May to help the public with matters that used to necessitate traveling to other provinces.

Luo Yiping, an accountant at the Canny Elevator Co, visited the center to complete tax returns for the company's branches in the Qingpu district of Shanghai. "To deal with such returns, I used to have to visit offices in locations where the company's projects were based," she said.

There are 35 comprehensive service affairs offices across the region－12 in Qingpu, 13 in Wujiang, and 10 in Jiashan, according to the Yangtze River Delta e-governance platform.

If people do have to travel, transportation services in the region are improving. The Yaoyang Highway, jointly built by the Jinshan government in Shanghai and the Jiashan authorities, opened in December, cutting traveling time between the two locations from 30 minutes to five.

Xu Lihua, who lives in Shanghai and works in Jiashan, has been commuting between the two cities since 2016, when her company launched new investment in Jiashan.

"The company's shuttle bus drivers now use this new route. It not only saves time, but also money. For every single trip, car drivers can save 10 yuan in highway toll fees, while there are higher savings for freight vehicle operators," she said.

Cards tested

A one-card-pays-all system is also being tested in the region, where the country's third-generation social security cards have been introduced. These cards can be used, for example, to pay bus fares and hospital bills.

The medical treatment partnerships program in the region's demonstration zone has made hospital visits easier.

Wang Xiaodong, who lives in Jiashan, recently went to the Qingpu Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Shanghai.

He had undergone basic medical examinations, including a blood test, at clinics near his home in Jiashan, before going to the Qingpu hospital for a telemedicine session with a doctor from Shanghai Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, who accessed the test result through the internet.

Wang paid his bill online with his Jiashan health insurance card, and the drugs he needed were delivered to his home.

He is just one of many people who are seeing doctors at hospitals away from their home districts.

According to the Yangtze River Delta Regional Cooperation Office, 1.55 billion yuan has been received in direct medicare payments for services used by outpatients at 9,000 hospitals and clinics away from their home provinces.

Wang said: "Integration has hugely benefited people's lives. It saved me the trouble of going to the downtown area and lining up."