Jiangmen: City of Overseas Chinese

Jiangmen is a prefecture-level city located in south-central of Guangdong Province, west of the Pearl River Delta. It governs three districts: Jianghai District, Pengjiang District and Xinhui District, which are now part of Guangzhou–Shenzhen conurbation, probably the most important built-up area in the world called the Pearl River Delta Mega City with more than 44,78 million inhabitants at the 2010 census. And it is a well-known town of overseas compatriots. As early as the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the local people began to leave home and settle abroad.

In the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), bazaars began to be gathered in this area. In early years of the 17th Century, it gradually became a trade center in the Pearl River Delta, being a busy place of distribution in the middle and lower reaches of the Xijiang River. It used to be a dependency of the Xinhui County and became an independent city since 1925.

World Cultural Heritage: Kaiping Diaolou and Villages

As the only world heritage in the Pearl River Delta, Kaiping Diaolou and Villages feature the multi-storied defensive village houses in Kaiping, Jiangmen, displaying a complex and flamboyant fusion of Chinese and Western structural and decorative forms. They reflect the significant role of emigrant Kaiping people in the development of several countries in South Asia, Australasia, and North America, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the close links between overseas Kaiping and their ancestral homes.

These buildings take three forms: communal towers built by several families and used as temporary refuge, of which 473 remain; residential towers built by individual rich families and used as fortified residences, of which 1,149 survive; and watch towers, the latest development, which account for 221 of the buildings. Built of stone, compressed earth, brick or concrete, these buildings retain a harmonious relationship with the surrounding agricultural landscape.

Blessed Land for Business

Lying west of the Pearl River Delta, Jiangmen faces the most international city cluster which includes Hong Kong, Macao, Guangzhou and Shenzhen etc., and is backed by the resourceful economic hinterland in the west of Guangdong Province. It is an important transportation gateway to the Pearl River Delta and the most favorable region for the new round of industrial transfer from the Pearl River Delta. Also, it is the transit area of logistics in the west of the Pearl River Delta and is included in the provincial logistics development planning which centers on Guangzhou and Shenzhen. With the completion of Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, inter-city light-rail in the Pearl River Delta, and Guangzhou-Zhuhai Railway etc, Jiangmen’s regional advantages stands out increasingly.

Known as “City of Overseas Chinese”in China, Jiangmen has nearly 4 million compatriots spreading all over 107 countries and regions in the world. Among them are numerous historical figures, foreign politicians, scholars and film stars. This has provided favorable conditions for Jiangmen to attract capital, technology, information and talents.

Besides, Jiangmen is richly endowed with land resources. Developed construction land only occupies 11.24% of the total, one third or one fourth of the developed regions. There are still 666 sqm unexploited land in the city, accounting for 7.69% of the total land. The city is also China’s industrial base for electricity, with total installed electricity capacity reaching 19 million kilowatt.

Moreover, from the point of view of government services, the “one-stop”approving system, as well as the “12345”service hotline of the government has been approved by the authorities at home and abroad. And the pilot “free charge” policy on investment projects in the industrial parks of Jiangmen, which includes 45 projects, proves to be another attraction for investors.

Sister Cities to Enhance International Exchanges

Surabaya is the second largest city and one of the most industrialized and commercialized cities, as well as one of the most important ports in Indonesia. It owns the largest teak production base, the biggest and best shipyard nationwide. Meanwhile, it is where the Jiangmen-originated overseas Chinese converge.

Jiangmen and Surabaya share common ground in “development stage”, “open and inclusive regional culture” and the idea of “sustainable development”. More importantly, they are complementary to each other in economy. Surabaya’s main export products including copper, paper, paper products, wood, furniture, fish, chemical raw materials, rubber and metal products, as well as seafood could be sold to Jiangmen, while it could import machinery, equipment, food, plastics, organic chemicals, pulp and paper products, grain, sugar, electronics, audio and video products, salt and sulfur etc from Jiangmen.

In November 1-2, 2009, Mayor of Jiangmen Wang Nanjian led a delegation to visit Indonesia and meet the Mayor of Surabaya. An official friendly exchange and cooperation minute was then signed between the two cities, providing favorable environment and vast development space for their cooperation in the future. Ever since then, exchanges in all fields began to flourish in the form of mutual visits and projects.