Xiamen. Crazy 35 years

Xiamen, a city in Fujian Province in southeast China, wakes up early. At five in the morning, as the earliest birds begin to chirp, people wake up with them: they enter the balconies to take down drying clothes, to have a smoke, to assess the weather, after all; then they have a quick breakfast and go to work. The day becomes light and warm: it is summer all year round in Xiamen, winter temperatures are over 20°C. Bird songs are replaced by the sounds of transport: the road quickly becomes crowded with cars, buses, and trucks. Such lively traffic is not something extraordinary for China, but Xiamen has its own peculiarities. In 1980 the city got the status of special economic zone and, in addition to that, there has been a pilot project of implementing the free trade zone here going on for half a year. A few dozen square kilometers with a very favorable business climate for entrepreneurs from around the world – this is how that area is advertized by officials.

THE CLEAN LIFE

Garden City – this is how Xiamen is called by townspeople. Indeed, sidewalks are lined with palm trees and lush trees with purple flowers, and bridge pylons are thickly entwined with vines. Xiamen is one of the most beautiful and cleanest cities in the People’s Republic of China. “Locals like the city and treat it with care,” says Hong Chengzong, director of Foreign Affairs Office of Xiamen Municipal Government. “The system of city governance is well established. Also, people – both children and adults – have been taught since the 1990s to preserve the cleanness of the city. In the neighborhoods, volunteer teams of students and pensioners are gathered to remove rubbish and oversee the public order.”

Xiamen attracts professionals from all over China: factory workers, engineers, and information technology specialists arrive here to work. Now the city is home to about four million people, and each year this figure is up a hundred thousand. Visitors are happy because there is a shortage of labor – especially in areas that do not require high skills. Representatives of local companies even travel to less developed regions in order to invite employees.

City is being built extensively – one can see building cranes everywhere. But expensive hotels can neighbor with run-down, though fairly clean, slums. Smart city technologies are being implemented to the city as well. In particular, there is an information center, where the townspeople can check their pulse and overall health through special equipment – and then the data is collected electronically, and people can get advice on their health. The state of public health must be good – almost all year round the air in Xiamen is of good quality, which is very important for China with its powerful industry. The city looks for the cleanliness of the environment – some areas are closed for construction of industrial enterprises.

THE NOISE OF TRADE

Xiamen sits on the coast of the Taiwan Strait, occupying a group of islands and the edge of the continent. The contours of Taiwan, which has a long history if uneasy relations with China (in November there was the first official meeting of China and Taiwan leaders in 60 years), can be seen from the shore in a certain part of town. Within a 800-kilometers radius, 50 busy Chinese ports are located, which is extremely convenient. So, it is not surprising that 35 years ago Xiamen received the status of a special economic zone. The effect was felt quickly: by 1995 there was a threefold increase in GDP every five years, for the next 15 years the GDP has been doubling its amount every five years. Last year, the average per capita GDP exceeded 14,000 dollars. The average annual income of urban dwellers is almost 17 percent more than that in the rest of the country.

And since April 1, free economic zone has begun operating in the city. Since then and until today, Xiamen has seen 4,098 new businesses registered. In comparison, 551 new companies were registered in the entire 2014. The free economic zone is advertized as a good environment for investment. Key areas for development are port logistics and international trade. Foreign entrepreneurs can feel fairly free here, though they are not permitted to invest in strategic sector of the country: for example, communications, energy, and railways.

The registration procedure for business in the free trade area is simplified; a special website for this has been set up. Also various commercial procedures can be carried out in the Internet. In addition, customs clearance and guarantee checks have been facilitated for foreigners. Everything is simplified: before that, an application for trade through the railway took four hours – now it is ten minutes. In Xiamen there are mainly investors from Southeast Asia, the business also comes from the US, Canada, and Europe.

The building, where the government provides services for the business gets quieter with every floor up. On the first floor there are small queues to multiple windows – people slowly make out documents. On the second floor a few workers come here and there from time to time. And on the floor below the first, lively and expressive Chinese white-collar workers are located: there is a bunch of small tables occupied by clerks, mostly young people. Red pots, aquariums, cardboard boxes, the smell of cigarettes, laughter, and customers dexterously moving amid all of this – the area is brimming with life!

THE MOTLEY ECONOMY

Since 1980s, the system of Xiamen economy has radically changed. The share of agriculture has dropped significantly, industry’s share has declined, and the share of services has doubled. The main directions of economic development are trade, tourism, logistics, financial services, and medicine. Many large companies open their head offices here. The city wants to further develop the service sector and make the tourists stay here longer. Today Xiamen is visited by 40 million tourists annually – mainly from China, but foreigners also come in decent numbers. A plane to Amsterdam flies daily, the local airport is the fifth largest in China.

Xiamen has the largest aircraft repair base in Asia. There is also a big company producing buses, King Long. It sells 50,000 vehicles a year. Many are sold in China, exported to Thailand, Africa, and South America. This year, 12 buses were sent to Ukraine. The manufacturing facility, which is located in the suburbs, is noisy, smells of paint, and between production lines there are flower pots. In the assembly shop, dozens of workers bring travel, school, and city buses to marketable condition. They install chairs, windows, and doors, wire security systems, attach side mirrors – one would not be bored here.

The city is insanely ambitious. Many of the ideas are associated with the development strategy of “one zone – one way”: an economic zone, which will run the route of the ancient Silk Road. It is Xiamen that wants to become a master node in the “Marine Silk Road of the 21st century.” As part of the initiative, cooperation is being developed with the key partners: Thailand, Malaysia, Iran, India, Vietnam.

Revenues of Xiamen citizens are going to increase. By 2021, the centenary of the China’s Communist Party, per capita GDP of the city is planned to be brought on par with that of Taiwan. Catching up with the world’s leading economies is planned on 2049 – the formation centenary of the People’s Republic.

The disadvantage of this dynamic development is the increasing prices on housing. However, there are still a lot of those who want to work and live in Xiamen. But I am drawn back home. Xiamen provides many inspiring examples – what to do if one wants to improve the quality of life and work hard. It is time to study these lessons at home.