Dongying, China
Mr. Zhang Jianhua
Mayor of Dongying
Dongying city is located at the estuary of the Yellow River in the north of China’s Shandong Province. It is the central city on the delta. The main production areas of Shengli Oilfield, the second largest one in China, are within Dongying’s territory. It is the hometown of Sunzi, the ancient military strategist. The city covers an area of 8053 square kilometers with a population of 1.83 million.
Dongying is characterized with three features. The first is its favorable geographical location. It is located at the center encircled by Shandong Peninsula and Liaodong Peninsula, an intersection of Bohai Economic Ring with the Economic Belt along the Yellow River as well as a conjunction point of Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan Economic Region with city clusters in Shandong Peninsula. It is strategically positioned as the hub connecting several important economic regions.
Secondly, Dongying enjoys abundant resources, most prominently, land, oil & gas, and fresh water. In terms of land, there are over 333,000 hectares of wasteland to be reclaimed. The city has the largest land reserve and the greatest development potential along China’s east coast. In terms of oil & gas, Shengli Oilfield’s verified reserves of oil and gas stand at 4.6 billion tons and 221.3 billion cubic meters, respectively; 80% of Shengli’s oil reserve and 85% of its oil output are concentrated in Dongying’s territory. In terms of fresh water, the Yellow River flows through the city over 138 km with an annual discharge capacity of 30 billion cubic meters. At present, the one-time water storage capacity across the city reaches 1.3 billion cubic meters. In addition, there are vast stretches of sea flat, brine, salt mine, subterranean heat, tourist attractions, etc.
Thirdly, Dongying enjoys a fine environment. Dongying was awarded “National Sanitary City” in the country and a model in environmental protection. The city’s green coverage has reached 30.3%. To build up the city’s unique brand, a plan to construct Dongying into a “Water City along the Yellow River” is under way. A network consisting of “nine horizontal canals and ten vertical ones” will be in place across the city’s urban area.
Furthermore, transportation is very convenient coming in and out of Dongying. Dongying Port is a first class one open to the outside world. Its berths, with a handling capacity of 10,000 tons, are now under construction. With the construction and improvement of a three dimensional transportation system, Dongying will be conveniently connected with the rest of China, and subsequently with the rest of the world.
After two decades of development, Dongying has evolved into a prosperous diversified economy out of a solo industry structure. Apart from the traditional sector of oil & gas exploration and collection, the mainstay industries such as petro-chemical, oil equipment manufacturing, salt & salt chemical, paper making, textile, tyre, food processing, etc have taken shape. Modern agriculture is experiencing rapid development as well. Priorities have been given to advantageous industries, namely, animal husbandry, aquaculture, vegetable, cotton, etc. The tertiary industry which is mainly made up of tourism, logistics, banking & insurance, and catering is progressing and growing prosperous day by day.
Dongying has a bright future for development. Up to now, the development and construction of the Yellow River Delta has come to a new historical stage. The central government has incorporated “developing high efficiency eco-economy in the Yellow River Delta” into the nation’s “Eleventh Five-year Plan”. Shandong Provincial Government selected Dongying as the main arena to speed up the implementation of Yellow River Delta development strategy. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Dongying City gave its priorities to the plan and construction of “Four Mainstay-industry Zones” and a “Water City along the Yellow River”. Thus, the framework for further development and opening up has taken shape. In the near future, a modern city with harmonious ecosystem, beautiful environment, prosperous economy and progressing social undertakings will arise in Yellow River Delta.