CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Tuesday, December 18, 2018 | 19 LIFE ‘Taihu’s pearl’ shines anew Wuxi is known as ‘little Shanghai’ because of its village and township enterprises that boomed after the reform and opening­up. But unfettered growth produced a blue­green algae bloom that has since pushed the city toward innovative and green development, Erik Nilsson discovers in Wuxi, Jiangsu province. recently joined a fishing crew from Jiangsu province’s Wuxi to haul up nets on Taihu Lake. Editor's Note: This is Part 2 of I later underwent a tai chi the six­part Yangtze diaries Iphysical­therapy routine led by a series based on journalist Erik virtual instructor using the internet Nilsson’s recent 35­day, 2,000­ of things. And I also picked grapes kilometer journey to 11 cities to discover how the Yangtze River with a local entrepreneur, who Economic Belt abandoned his chemical company has trans­ for green agriculture over a decade formed over the ago. 40 years since I discovered how these seemingly the reform and disparate experiences are intercon­ opening­up. nected in the story of Wuxi’s rapid Scan the code to development, environmental crisis watch the video. and recovery, and industrial trans­ formation since the reform and opening­up. The 3,000­year­old settlement is today known as “little Shanghai” because of its advanced industries and flourishing businesses. The second­tier city has become a first­class economy. Its GDP exceed­ ed $145 billion — roughly $7 billion more than Hungary’s — last year. Decades ago, rural residents put down their farming tools to start col­ lective, cooperative and individual enterprises. They became leaders on the road from poverty to prosperity. Jiangsu province’s Wuxi is often called “Little Shanghai” because of its prosperity. CHINA DAILY NEW MEDIA CENTER Many of these startups were based in the city’s hinterlands. Some have grown into conglomerates, leave the relatively developed capi­ people without water around 2007. some ways, proved a blessing in dis­ vation Center to find out how IoT largely because of their early­mover tal to come here,” he says. People began to question “devel­ guise. It compelled the government technology is being used in health­ advantage. “It was very rustic then.” opment­at­all­costs” and to consider to support enterprises’ transitions care. Wuxi’s Shuangliang Group, for He designed machines that cap­ how to balance economic growth toward innovation. There, I did the tai chi routine, put example, started as a chiller produc­ ture and harness excess energy from with environmental protection. Zhoutie township, for instance, my face in a white box and stuck out er in Jiangyin, a county­level city power plants. This pushed the government to was once known for its chemical my tongue to get a facial scan that under Wuxi. It was founded by sev­ “It initially took us three months guide local enterprises toward industry. produced a basic health assessment en retired soldiers, who invested to make a small machine,” Ma says. green and innovative sectors. As we strolled along Taihu’s shore and played a kids’ fishing game on a their pensions. “Now, we can manufacture the Fisherwoman Gao Shengqiong near his orchards, entrepreneur tablet in which I had to use a nebu­ Today, Shuangliang operates with biggest one in two weeks. They can explained to me how the pollution Zhang Tao told me the township lizer or it’d turn off. The game is several businesses, including energy power a medium­sized city. We’re a and recovery of Taihu has affected hosted over 300 chemical compa­ intended to get children to use their production, dockyard services and world leader in this area.” her family when I joined them to nies in the early stage of the reform nebulizers by making it fun, since hotels. I also visited the headquarters of haul up squirming nets. and opening­up. many kids dislike the treatments. “Before the reform and opening­ Fasten Group, which produces steel “Nobody wanted to buy the fish “They were everywhere. But their The problem was, I started laugh­ up, we weren’t allowed to set up our cables used in over 800 bridges we caught during the algae bloom,” success came at the expense of the ing too hard and lost the game. own companies,” vice­president Ma around the world, including many she says. environment,” Zhang says. Operations manager Chen Xiaoy­ Above: A fishing crew sorts Fulin says. of the planet’s largest. “Our family has fished in Taihu “Only about a dozen still operate. an also showed me an ambulance catches on Taihu Lake. Wuxi “And there was a default policy The company — also founded by for generations. In my father­in­ Some are slated to also be shut equipped to diagnose patients has recovered from pollution that employers could hire no more seven retired soldiers in what was law’s time, they could catch hun­ down, which will further benefit our before they arrive at the hospital. that left a million people than seven workers. The change then rural Wuxi — began by making dreds of thousands of kilograms of environmental recovery. Maybe we “A lot of tests can be done within without drinking water a motivated people who were willing hemp rope for ships plying the fish a day. But now we can get tens of can soon swim … to cool down dur­ 20 minutes of boarding the ambu­ decade ago. Below: Wuxi is to start companies like Shuangliang.” Yangtze. It evolved to become one of thousands at most.” ing the summer heat — something I lance,” she says. about 3,000 years old. Many Ma moved from Beijing to Jian­ China’s first fiber­optic­cable manu­ Taihu’s three treasures are its did as a kid that we couldn’t imagine “The data are sent to the hospital ancient buildings have gyin soon after the reform and facturers. “three whites” — whitefish, river a few years ago.” via IoT technology before the survived. PHOTOS BY ERIK NILSSON opening­up in hopes of grasping its Today, it’s involved in the creation shrimp and silverfish. Zhang was an early mover to patients arrive. So, doctors can pro­ / CHINA DAILY AND CHINA DAILY NEW emergent opportunities. of international standards for steel I later helped the crew sort these change his business’ direction. vide treatments sooner.” MEDIA CENTER “Many people were surprised I’d cables and develops and produces fingerlings, tossing them into their He’d left farming to enter the IoT technology is also being used much of the equipment it uses to respective compartments beneath chemical industry and returned to in such industries as textiles. manufacture fiber­optic products. the deck until a dragon’s hoard agriculture — this time using green The century­old Wuxi No 1 Cotton Wuxi has indisputably boomed worth of silver ingots shimmered in methods to cultivate fruit — a few Mill Textile Group, for instance, since the reform and opening­up. the compartments beneath the years before the bloom. runs a huge factory with a fraction But, as a Chinese saying goes, deck. Larger fish, about the size of a “I made a lot of money in chemi­ of the workers previously required. “The water that carries a ship can forearm, blasted out of the water, cal production,” he explained, as we Today, IoT technology can monitor also capsize it.” sometimes punching against the plucked grapes that bejeweled his production conditions, reducing the Indeed, Taihu’s water proves this sides of the wooden boat. vines. need for humans to do so. to be true in terms of economic Back on land, I dined on the “But growing grapes brings in a Indeed, Wuxi has proved to be a development. “three whites” for lunch. lot of money, too. I feel good doing model in balancing the economy and The 1980s folk song, The Beauty of I’d enjoyed them during my many this because it’s environmentally environment by transitioning from Taihu Lake, describes the water body previous visits to Wuxi. friendly.” traditional to emergent industries as a source of fish and rice. Taihu is But they’d taken on a new mean­ Yet green agriculture is just one and shifting from quantity to quality. the largest lake in the Yangtze Delta. ing for me after catching them way in which Wuxi is innovating. And, so, Taihu’s pearl shines anew And Wuxi is known as its “pearl”. myself while talking with Gao about Many industries in the city are at the dawn of China’s new era. Unchecked growth produced pol­ how they fit into the story of Wuxi’s shifting toward such high­tech sec­ lution, especially a blue­green algae growing pains. tors as the internet of things. Contact the writer at bloom in Taihu that left a million The environmental crisis has, in I visited the China Business Inno­ [email protected] A place sculpted by porcelain culture By XU LIN ancient Maritime Silk Road in the circulated in the county. training in such areas as marketing [email protected] Song (960­1279) and Yuan (1271­ “China’s short­video­platform to help them realize short­video 1368) dynasties. boom offers a great opportunity to platforms’ potential. Zhang Nanzhang routinely films Italian explorer Marco Polo (1254­ better popularize Dehua porcelain “Consumers are more aware of short videos of porcelain statues 1324) mentioned the beauty of Dehua and reach a wider audience,” he says. the goods’ added value when they when he visits ceramics studios in porcelain in The Travels of Marco Netizens are particularly interest­ see how they’re made,” he says.