Written by Cheng Libing / Translated by Li Xiaoting

Hepu: An Ancient County to Write a New Chapter Along the Maritime Silk Road

Written by Cheng Libing / Translated by Li Xiaoting

Hepu is a county where rivers come together and run into the sea. More than 2,000 years ago, as the departure port of Maritime Silk Road, Hepu was a port “bustling with merchant ships” that effectively drove the trade between China and foreign countries, and became one of the earliest cities opening up to the world in China; 2,000 years later, when the Belt and Road Initiative is prosperous, Hepu is now on the “marine road”.

As the major project of Hepu Marine Economy, at present,Tieshandonggang Industrial Park Construction is accelerated fast; Chinese culture tourist attraction and Nanguo Xingdao Lake Resort projects develop well; Furthermore, Beibu Gulf(Hepu) Forest and Industry Circular Economy Industrial Park and “Moon Cake Town” projects take shape, giving new impetus into the Marine Economy.

Forest and industry circular economy industrial park taking shape

As the hinterland of Beihai economic development, Hepu has the unique geographical location and good ecological environment, as well as abundant land, forestry and human resources, etc. With the Belt and Road Initiative, Hepu builds the Beibu Gulf (Hepu) Forest and Industry Circular Economy Industrial Park in the junction of Wujia Town, Shagang Town and Xindao Lake Town of Hepu County, accelerates interconnected development with Qinlian Forest Farm Base and Beihai Tieshandonggang Industrial Park, and opens the marine road of Hepu.

It is reported that the total planning area of the park is 15,000 mu. Based on the existing base, geographical advantages and the basis of wood processing and artificial board processing,the Park will drive supporting industry development, such as furniture, hardware, logistics, warehousing, trade exhibitions,etc. dominated by unique furniture, fl oor, wood products, etc.,and will build the largest modern center of wood processing,trade and hub in Guangxi.

At present, the Park has used 570 mu of industrial land and 1,900 mu of timber yard, has attracted Guanhua Artificial Board, Shuangyin Wood Industry, Reang Eco-Energy Crop Ltd., etc., and has initially formed the production scale of 1,000,000 m3of annually imported Pinus Radiata rough machining particle board, 100,000 m3of bucking, annual production of 320,000 m3of medium density fiberboard,etc. Meanwhile, the Park plans to develop land 5,000 mu(approximately 2,000 mu of industrial land) in 2-3 years to accelerate park infrastructure planning and construction such as water, electricity, roads, etc., and emphasizes on cultivating and introducing enterprises of particle board, plywood, ecological board, waste deep processing, etc., to be built into the key industrial park with annual production value of over RMB 20 billion yuan in Beibu Gulf economic zone.

“Moon Cake Town” already on its mark

Moon cake is a treasure of the Chinese food culture as well as a specialty food of Hepu. Su Shi, Song Dynasty literary giant,spoke highly to Hepu moon cakes and wrote the poet, “eating the small cake is like watching the moon, and it is crisp and sweet”. Nowadays, Hepu moon cakes production has been handed down for thousands of years, along with the formation of industry brand effect, “Big Hepu Moon Cake” has become a local business card and very famous. At the same time, with Hepu abundant resources of Chinese culture and Maritime Silk Road culture resources, Hepu will also build the Chinese fi rst theme tourist town of moon cake culture in Hepu Industrial Park.

It is said that Hepu “Moon Cake Town” will build small town living rooms, moon cake museum,scientific research and development building, Yuezhiyun Square, Yueyin Lake Park, exhibition center, product culture street, etc., in around 3 km2area. At the same time, the “Moon Cake Town” will be incorporated into Chinese culture tourist area, as a spot of the tourist area project “Back to Hancheng” and will be built into a town with industrial characteristics. In accordance with the standards of the national 4A level scenic spots, the town will take leisure food industry chain as the core, the moon cake culture innovation chain as the characteristic and business leisure tourism chain as the supplement, and will merge industrial production, science and technology research and development, creative design, product sales, learning experience, culture and leisure, travel sightseeing and highquality living together. The constructed “Moon Cake Town”will merge together with projects such as Longmen Leisure Park of Hepu County, Tourist Distributing Center, Nanzhu Ancient County, etc., to form new industrial tourism sector of Hepu.

It is believed that “Moon Cake Town” is a new try of Hepu to explore and implement the “special industry + tourism +urbanization” development mode, and it is also a beneficial initiative of Hepu to fully explore the Chinese culture and Maritime Silk Road culture resources and to accelerate the marine economic industry, which attracts many well-known enterprises.

At present, approximately 13 enterprises like Tangwang Jinguan (China) Food Co., Ltd., Hepu Gongguan Huang Food Co., Ltd., Hepu Honglin Hotel Co., Ltd., Nanning Maixianghuang Food Co., Ltd., etc. have signed cooperation agreements with the Park and the total project investment is more than RMB 2 billion yuan. With the construction of these enterprises, “Moon Cake Town” will show up to the world with its “industry, town, humanity and culture” characteristics.

Building platforms and innovate marine economy development mode

As one of the early departure ports of ancient Maritime Silk Road, Hepu has Shankou Mangrove Forest Ecosystem National Nature Reserve, which is one of China top 10 charming wetlands, and it also has the famous tourist attraction of Nanguo Xingdao Lake Resort, the longest coastline among the counties of Guangxi, the prestigious Nanzhu industrial chain...these rich resources advantages already give Hepu a good reputation as well as the confidence to build a good marine economy.

Therefore, in addition to the projects like Beibu Gulf (Hepu)Forest and Industry Circular Economy Industrial Park and“Moon Cake Town”, which are being promoted now, Hepu positively builds “marine” platform and develops blue economy.

“China is fully promoting the Belt and Road Initiative, Hepu,which possesses 308 km coastline, has the strengths and should do something more in the new historical conditions,”Wang Fanghong, secretary of the CPC Hepu Committee said. In order to adapt to the 21stCentury Maritime Silk Road construction and the demand of Beibu Gulf Economic Zone Development, Hepu county innovates the economic development mode and focuses on developing marine food industry, marine fi shery, marine equipment manufacturing and deep processing industry of resources, marine tourism, marine emerging industry and other marine economy industries.

In order to let investors learn Hepu deeply and share “marine economy” development opportunity, “2017 Guangxi Hepu Marine Economy Development Seminar and Investment Promotion Conference” was held in Nanning on September 11,2017, as one of the 14thChina-ASEAN Expo trade activities.On the same day, 13 projects were signed the contracts together, with a total investment of RMB 7.548 billion yuan.The projects include CSG Photovoltaic Glass Production Base project, Zhejiang Nanxun Wood (Hepu) Industrial Park project, moon cakes, processed meats and other baked food productions projects, CLP photovoltaic generation project, the Maritime Silk Road first port Tianliao tourist project, highend cakes R&D and production project, Panda photovoltaic generation project, liquid milk production project, etc.

In addition, because it is located at the opening frontier of Guangxi Beibu Gulf economic zone, Hepu will also introduce the ASEAN competitive industries and realize industry complementation. “The base of Hepu aquatic products and food processing industry is very good and it can strengthen the industry complementation with ASEAN and Build Hepu health food industry. On the one hand, Hepu can develop the market in ASEAN with its food industry; on the other hand,the ASEAN countries can expand the Chinese market with their food industry through the platform of Hepu industrial park. The investment and market are mutual,” Wang Fanghong said.