CHINA DAILY SEPTEMBER 8-9, 2012 weekend • zhanjiangspecial 13

Panoramic view of coastal , province PHOTOS PROVIDED TO DAILY City basks in tourist vision for its beaches, islands

NUMBERS By LI WENFANG said in August. 9 e city government is also in Zhanjiang, Guangdong A sub-bureau formed to working on a plan for cruise [email protected] draw investment into tourism ships visits to the islands. was set up last year. As the host of the 14th pro- 45 To strengthen tourism is a A7 er competing with other vincial sports competition in priority industry in Zhanjiang, cities in western Guangdong 2014, the city is getting a face- billion yuan total investment in the sector is for funding, the Zhanjiang li7 and turning the Haidong investment in tourism over fi ve years expected to top 45 billion yuan government received 300 mil- New District into a landmark ($7.09 billion) by 2015. lion yuan in capital support area. Positioned as an important last month from the provincial Construction is underway future tourism destination in government to develop its sea- on a provincial-level seaside western Guangdong, the city is side tourism. resort in the Jizhao Bay in forging links with the interna- Centers for tourism devel- Wuchuan. Covering an area 43 tional tourism island Hainan, opment will be the islands of of 13.7 kilometers, the resort is million visitors expected by cities around Beibu Bay and Techeng, Nansan, Donghai, A anked by 11.2 kilometers of the end of 2015 the Association of Southeast Naozhou and Nanping along coastline. Asian Nations, according to a with Zhanjiang Bay and the At a cost of 4.5 billion yuan, provincial tourism blueprint . initial developments include for 2011 to 2020. 9 e city government is mak- hotels, a water park, a conven- Local authorities said the ing improvements on Nansan tion center, a wetland park and 25 plan will help make the city Island — the country’s seventh yacht berths. a seaside resort hub in South largest — and Techeng Island Other tourism projects in billion yuan ZOU ZHONGPIN / CHINA DAILY China for both domestic and to make them top convention Zhanjiang include a resort at Slated for greater tourism development, Techeng Island has more than 67 hectares of natural in projected revenue from the international visitors. and leisure resorts in western Sandun in Xuwen — a point tourism sector annually by mangroves. 2015, more than 6.5 percent It has set a goal of attracting Guangdong. Already a tourist along trade routes dating back of the city’s GDP. 43 million visitors a year by the destination, Techeng has more to the Han Dynasty (206 BC- source markets. interest to both leisure visitors cial days. end of 2015, with annual rev- than 67 hectares of natural AD 220) — and Tianchengtai and scientists. The city government will enue from the sector projected mangroves. resort in Leizhou. Other attractions Xuwen county in Zhanjiang boost spending to promote to hit 25 billion yuan, or over Donghai Island is the ; 7 h- 9 e city also plans to contin- With 2,100 kilometers of is home to the country’s largest its local Leizhou culture as the 6.5 percent of Zhanjiang’s GDP. largest island in China and has ue to forging links with other coastline and 130 islands, shallow-sea red coral area. fourth major culture in Guang- Some 26 major tourism 28 kilometers of beaches. One cities in Guangdong, Guangxi Zhanjiang has many attrac- 9 e sunset in the Tiancheng- dong along with the , 26 projects including 10 hotels 20,663-meter stretch is recog- Zhuang autonomous region, tions to draw tourists. tai resort is also a top tourist Hakka and Chaoshan groups. major tourism projects under are under construction at a nized by the Guinness Book of Hainan province, Southwest- Its Huguangyan geopark has draw. Dragon dances — which The city hosted 18.12 mil- construction at a combined cost of 19.62 billion yuan. combined cost of 19.6 billion World Records as the longest ern China cities, and Hong the world’s largest crater lake are actually men in elaborate lion visitors last year, up 28.1 yuan, the city’s tourism bureau uninterrupted beach in China. Kong and Macao to expand in a volcanic valley, a locale of costumes — are staged on spe- percent from 2010. Prawns a golden harvest, but challenges also grow Rising tide of

By ZHENG YANGPENG in Zhanjiang, Guangdong ocean-related [email protected]. cn industries With 1,243 kilometers coast- line and more than 100 bays, By LI WENFANG in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Zhanjiang has long been a [email protected] nationally important center of aquaculture in China. Zhanjiang is poised to reap strong returns from More than half of the prawns the country’s push to build its ocean economy. harvested in its home province 9 e e orts will ; nd important support in the Guangdong and a third of the plan for comprehensive experimental marine national total come from the zones in Guangdong province, which was city, according to the Zhanjiang approved by the State Council last year. Association of Aquatic Products In its marine economy development plan for Import & Export. the period 2011 to 2015, the Guangdong govern- Locals are proud of several ment projects the province’s ocean economy will ; rst-place rankings: 9 e city has grow an average 13 percent annually to generate the largest prawn cultivation area, an annual output of 1.5 trillion yuan ($236 billion) production and export volume in by 2015, accounting for more than 20 percent of the country. Workers at the Zhanjiang Evergreen Aquatic Product Science and Technology Co Ltd processing facility. the local GDP. It also ranks at the top in pro- 9 e province’s ocean-related industries gener- duction of prawn seed and feed It serves as a trading, logistics, company’s inspectors can moni- Trade & Economic Coopera- For large ; rms like Evergreen, ated 980.7 billion yuan last year, 21.5 percent of the production, processing, and has information and ; nancial center tor every aspect of processing tion Bureau. quality control over the entire national total. More than 17 percent of the ; gure the largest prawn trading market for various aspects of the prawn from slicing and packaging to 9 e reason, experts said, is that food production chain is the came from oil and gas development and mining, in China. business, and also draws other storage in real time. prawns, tilapia and many other major problem. while 30 percent was the result of tourism. More than a million farm- aquatic products from around Li Shuguang, sales manager at aquatic products are not discre- “A processing factory is only 9 e provincial plan calls for the western region ers, ; shermen, dealers and fac- the country, expanding its com- Evergreen, said “sanitary food is tionary spending items in the part of the chain — problems of Guangdong, which is home to Zhanjiang, to tory workers — roughly a sixth of merce to national signi; cance. the cornerstone of the business”. West, but rather staples. can originate from non-standard focus on modern seaside manufacturing, tourism, Zhanjiang’s population — mak- Processing has also A ourished Last year, the US government Evergreen even saw exports aquaculture practices that we can energy industries and ; shing. ing their living in the industry. due to the local industry’s focus enacted the Food Safety Mod- rise by 30 percent. hardly control,” Li said. Zhanjiang is listed as one of seven key seaside on food quality and safety, Cen ernization Act that raised FDA But even though business is To address the problem, Ever- clusters selected to augment the nation’s steel, Reasons behind success said. requirements for food exporters. prosperous, processing com- green has begun its own aqua petrochemical, shipbuilding, equipment manu- Zhanjiang developed the Of the 264 Zhanjiang process- Evergreen swi7 ly responded with panies have various challenges, farming operations. Its parent facturing, logistics, tourism and aquatic product robust sector as a result of a ing companies, 33 have been cer- higher standards. notably stiff competition and company, a seeds producer, o ers processing industries. “cluster affect”, said Cen Jian, tified by South Korea, 22 have “In the face of a higher wall, we demands for ever-rising food quality seeds and technical assis- 9 e city cluster and ports in western Guang- secretary-general of the Zhanji- approval from the United States, have no choice but to improve safety standards. tance to farms that now provide dong with Zhanjiang at the center will be ang Aquatic Products Import and 10 from the European Union and ourselves,” Li said, noting that Wang Youqun, an executive half of Evergreen’s raw materials. enhanced with construction of more railways Export Association . 17 from Russia the US and EU account for 70 at Zhanjiang Zhaohui Aquatic 9 e upgrade has won the title and seaside highways, according to the develop- “Zhanjiang has a full-A edged An example is Zhanjiang Ever- percent of Evergreen’s exports. Product Co Ltd, a smaller pro- of “national aquatic food export ment plan. aquaculture industry chain. green Aquatic Product Science cessor, said exports in the first transformation and upgrading A green belt along the coast in Guangdong, From seed cultivation to feed and Technology Co, which has Industry upgrading six months grew by 50 percent, demonstration center” from passing along Zhanjiang Bay and Xuwen in Zhan- production, from raising aquatic certi; cation from several institu- Even with the current slug- butshe is not optimistic about the China’s Commerce Ministry, jiang, will o er the seashore ecological landscape products to processing them, the tions in the US and EU, notably gish economies of the EU and second half of the year. but Wang would like to see more and islands better protection. city has strong competitiveness in HACCP, a systematic preventive US, Zhanjiang’s aquatic food “The appreciation of yuan, assistance. Other sectors that will be promoted include all sectors,” Cen said. approach to food safety recog- exports to the regions still grew rising food safety standards and “To further transform and biomedicine and conventions. A seafood wholesale market nized worldwide. by 15 percent in the first half surging production costs all pose upgrade, we would like to see 9 e e ort will also give Guangdong Ocean Uni- in the city’s Xiashan district is Standing in front of a wall of of the year, according to statis- grim challenges for small busi- more support from the govern- versity in Zhanjiang greater support for research the largest of its kind in Asia. closed-circuittelevisions, the tics from the Zhanjiang Foreign nesses like us,” Wang said ment, said. and education.