In the new year, Guangzhou captures another No. 1: the first in Chinese investment environment ranking list. It is a new step on Guangzhou’s way toward forging itself a “super city”. As a greater city, Guangzhou is fairly powerful and even has “12 dimensions” in power. In a universal dimension, i.e. time tunnel, time is fixed. Once entering the time tunnel, you may live in any point of time, past, present or future. That is the supreme 12-dimension space of the universe with shuttling available at any time assumed and deducted by human beings.

On December 26, 2016, at the 11^th CPC Congress of Guangzhou, the city demonstrated its energetic ambition to the world: Guangzhou will intensify its global resource arrangement ability, strive to play a more important role in global city network, and attend global competition and cooperation on behalf of China. As an important central city, China’s Third Biggest Economic City and one of China’s seven extremely-big cities, Guangzhou has focused on a greater and broader time and space dimension for a long time and advanced toward the aim of “super city”.

 

Why does Guangzhou match the title “super city”?

A city’s position is not groundless.

The Main Functional Area Planning issued by the State Council in 2010, and the latest Overall Urban Planning of Guangzhou (2011-2020) approved by the State Council, clearly identify Guangzhou as a national famous historical and cultural city, China’s important central city, international business and trade center and comprehensive traffic hub, comprehensive portal city and regional cultural and education center.

Guangzhou is not only a national central city, but also an “important” one. The new definition in last February highlights Guangzhou’s position, increases Guangzhou’s attractiveness to strategic resources and high-end production elements, and shows Guangzhou’s possession of the strength to attend international competition on behalf of the country.

 

Fantastic business environment! Foxconn invests 61bil. yuan.

Guangzhou has won numerous No. 1s. Recently, it captured another No. 1. On Dec. 26, 2016, the 21^st Economic Research Institute issued the 2016 Investment Environment Index Report. According to the calculation of China’s investment environment, Guangzhou, Jiangsu and Shandong rank the top three in China. Indicators show Guangzhou boasts the best soft environment and is convenient for opening enterprises.

It can also be proved by an event on Dec. 30, 2016. On the last working day of 2016, Foxconn President Terry Gou made a great move. Gou’s sub-company SDP signed an agreement with Guangzhou People’s Government to invest 61 billion yuan in Zengcheng to build a 10.5-generation 8K display full ecological industrial park. The project will start construction this year and mass produce in 2019 with annual output value of nearly 100 billion yuan.

The 61-billion-yuan project is another giant investment to Guangzhou after Cisco, COSCO Shipping and GE Bio-park, and also the biggest foreign-funded single project of Guangzhou since the opening-up. Why does Gou select Guangzhou? “Guangzhou has been better than Beijing and Shanghai in accepting new technology all along.” Data shows that the bandwidth of Guangzhou’s Internet international portal exceeds 2000G, the biggest in Chinese mainland. In 2015, Guangzhou had 187 Internet enterprises with main business income of more than 100 million yuan. Tianhe District alone pools 1,600 Internet enterprises. Renowned enterprises WeChat, Netease and UC have grown up in the district. The number of Tianhe’s IT and Internet practitioners is only less than that of Zhongguancun.

 

Achieving N No.1s in economy

Guangzhou’s developed economy is visible to each of its visitors. In 2015, its per capita GDP exceeded $20,000, marking its entry into the level of middle and upper-class developed countries. 

Financing ability is one of the important references for economic level. In the first half last year, Guangzhou’s direct financing balance exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan, up 52% year on year, ranking China’s first in growth rate.

Thus, more and more enterprises select Guangzhou for development. Since last year, Guangzhou has had 2800 new high-tech enterprises, or 7 new enterprises opened per day in average. In 2016, Guangzhou has 345 enterprises listed in the new third board, ranking the 1^st among all capital cities. Also, the “average value of net assets” of Guangzhou’s newly-listed enterprises ranked the first among Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

 

Unshakable position as a transport hub

As an extremely big city in the south of China, the country gave another historic mission to Guangzhou years ago. Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai are three “international traffic hubs” of China. In August 2015, Guangzhou itself proposed an ambitious Three Year Action Plan for Building Guangzhou into an International Shipping Center and deemed the shipping center as an important platform to give play of the functions of a national central city.   

So far, the Baiyun Airport, one of China’s three international aviation hub airports, has opened 136 international air routes and 150 domestic air routes. In the first three quarters of 2016, a total of 323,000 flights had taken off and landed in the airport, up 5.3% year on year; and the passenger throughput reached 44.17 million trips, up 7% year on year; and mail and goods throughput reached 1.19 million tons, up 6% year on year.

As China’s major hub port and container port in artery routes, so far, Guangzhou Port has made shipping transactions with over 400 ports of more than 100 countries and regions across the world. In the first three quarters of 2016, Guangzhou ranked the world’s 6 biggest port in goods throughput and the world’s 7 biggest port in TEU throughput. The deep-water sea-route broadening project, started in August, ushers Guangzhou Port into the large-ship, dual-route era.

With the opening of three new subway lines on Dec. 28, Guangzhou’s total subway mileage reached 308.7km, ranking the 3^rd in China and 10^th in the world. The daily average passenger flow is expected to be 7.77 million trips, ranking China’s first in passenger flow intensity.

 

Guangzhou pools “most powerful brains”

When talking about reasons for investment in Guangzhou, Terry Gou said, “one more important reason is that Guangzhou boasts numerous talent.” Guangzhou is indeed a place with large gathering of talented people. In 2015, six Nobel laureates and 77 academicians of CAE and CAS had worked in Guangzhou. In Guangzhou Development District alone, there were more than 3,000 returned students, and 56 people of the National 1,000 Talent Program in 2015.  

In the Opportunity City 2016 evaluation, Guangzhou ranked No. 1 in total score of 10 aspects among 24 domestic cities. This is reason why Guangzhou is favored by so many people.

Talent also brings rapid development to Guangzhou’s high-tech industry. It is expected that the number of high-tech enterprises in 2016 increased 3,500, the finance’s added value doubled and headquarters enterprises increased 100 comparing with that of five years ago.

 

Great happiness in livelihood

Urban development will finally be embodied through livelihood. Guangzhou people have experienced the happiness from the city. On Dec. 1, UNDP issued 2016 Sustainable Development Report on Chinese Cities : Evaluating Ecological Investment and Human Development in Beijing. Guangzhou ranked No. 1 in human development index of 35 major and middle cities. In addition to the input in medical care, health, education and other livelihood “software” and “hardware” facilities, Guangzhou has another two key indicators ranking the top among Chinese main cities.

First, air quality. Guangzhou takes the lead in air quality among Chinese main cities, and ranks the top among national five central cities. Azure sky, white clouds, colorful flowers are often highlights and best photo presentations in the friend circles of Guangzhou people. Second, online service facilities rank first in China. Guangzhou is China’s first city that formulates online service methods in a governmental regulation. Guangzhou comprehensively carries out online civil affair services, which is another China’s No. 1 among all cities.

 

Source: Translated from Invest Guangzhou, Jan. 2, 2017