12 | DISCOVER SHANXI Friday, January 29, 2021 CHINA DAILY Shanxi takes stock of past achievements Provincial congress hails success in poverty alleviation, plans economic transformation By YUAN SHENGGAO To make the transformation pos­ sible, Shanxi has developed 62 new he past five years, the 13th comprehensive transformation Five­Year Plan (2016­20), demonstration zones in the past was a crucial period for five years. This compares with just Shanxi province to develop 26 such zones in earlier years. Tan all­around xiaokang, or moder­ The combined area of the 88 ately prosperous, society, said Lin demonstration zones is 2,881 Wu, governor of Shanxi, at the square kilometers, or 1.85 percent recent session of the provincial peo­ of Shanxi’s total land area. The ple’s congress. industrial added value of these The fourth session of 13th Shanxi zones took up 35 percent of the pro­ People’s Congress was held in the vincial total. provincial capital of Taiyuan from Lin said Shanxi regards techno­ Jan 20­23. logical innovation as a major driver The provincial legislature, the for local growth. Five key national Shanxi People’s Congress, with 517 laboratories and 31 corporate tech­ delegates present at the session, nological centers were established endorsed the work report of the in Shanxi over the past five years. provincial government, the prov­ The number of certificated high­ ince’s 14th Five­Year Plan (2021­25) tech enterprises in 2020 was more and the long­range objectives for than 3.5 times that of 2015. the period ending in 2035, as well as The governor said the province new local regulations. formed 14 strategic emerging The fourth session of 13th Shanxi People’s Congress is held in the provincial capital of Taiyuan from Jan 20­23. SHI XIAOBO / FOR CHINA DAILY When delivering the provincial industries during the 13th Five­Year government work report, Lin said Plan in such areas as information Shanxi’s economy had been steadily technology, big data, advanced steel erty reduction, including reloca­ and delivered the closing speech. both domestic demand and the improved due to continuing supply­ making, semiconductors and tion, industrial development, Lou said the nation’s 14th Five­ international market, continue to side reforms. robots. employment creation, job training Year Plan will be used to compre­ deepen supply­side reform and stick He said the reforms highlighted These new industries have and improving the ecological envi­ hensively build China into a to an innovation­driven strategy. the phaseout of surplus production reported an average annual growth ronment, Shanxi announced in modern socialist country. It will He called on local governments to capacities in sectors such as coal rate of 7.8 percent in industrial add­ 2020 that all its impoverished pop­ also be an important period for foster high­quality growth that bal­ mining, coking and steel making. ed value over the five years. This is ulation of 3.34 million had been lift­ Shanxi’s economic transformation. ances economic development and Over the past five years, the 3.2 percentage points higher than ed above the poverty line. He required governments, busi­ environmental protection. phased­out capacity in coal mining the province’s growth rate in all Lin said the GDP growth rate in Lin said the government puts nesses and residents to study the The people’s interest should be reached 157 million metric tons. As industries. 2020, which stood at 3.6 percent improving residents’ livelihoods guidelines of the Fifth Plenary Ses­ prioritized and the ultimate goal of a result, advanced manufacturers The province has also enhanced year­on­year, was especially encour­ high on its agenda, with more than sion of the Central Committee of the development is to make sure that took the place of outdated produc­ foreign trade and investment as aging. This is because it was achieved 80 percent of governmental Communist Party of China. Held in the people can benefit from the ers to dominate the industry, with well as stimulated domestic in the context of the COVID­19 pan­ expenditure channeled into liveli­ November in 2020 in Beijing, it out­ achievements of development, he the former accounting for 68 per­ demand as an effective means to demic. hood­related areas. lined the nation’s development noted. cent of the capacity of the entire sec­ drive growth. It should be attributed to the As a result, the per capita annual plans for the next five years and The fourth session of the 12th tor. As a result of the transformation, effective measures Shanxi took to disposable incomes of urban and long­range objectives for the next 15 Shanxi Committee of the Chinese The phaseout of outdated capaci­ Lin said Shanxi’s economy began to prevent and control the outbreak rural residents increased by 8,965 years. People’s Political Consultative Con­ ty in the energy and heavy industry report marked improvement in the on one hand and to resume busi­ yuan ($1,385) and 4,425 yuan In Shanxi, Lou said local authori­ ference was held concurrently from sectors is part of Shanxi’s effort to second half of 2016. Economic ness operations and production on respectively between 2016­20. ties should map out their own Jan 19­23, with local political advis­ transform its economy. It is doing growth began to keep up with the other, he said. Lou Yangsheng, Party secretary development plans based on the ers contributing their suggestions this by reducing its reliance on coal national average growth in the first The past five years saw great of Shanxi and chairman of the spirit of the Fifth Plenary Session. and proposals to Shanxi’s develop­ mining, diversifying to multiple half of 2017. The growth rates were achievements in improving people’s Standing Committee of the Shanxi The Party secretary required local ment. sectors and finding new growth more than 6 percent annually livelihoods, the governor noted. People’s Congress, presided over the authorities help to form a new drivers. between 2017­19. With targeted measures for pov­ last meeting of the session on Jan 23 development pattern, highlighting Li Yali contributed to this story. Focus on technology as economic benefits reaped By YUAN SHENGGAO ty, said he is impressed with the provincial authorities’ determina­ Innovation should be at the core tion to boost innovation. They did of Shanxi’s development, especially this by establishing more research when the province is implement­ and development facilities like key ing an economic transformation laboratories, corporate tech cen­ strategy to diversify its industries ters and university­backed R&D and foster new growth drivers, said centers. delegates to the latest sessions of Gao is a renowned scientist in the Shanxi People’s Congress and China in the field of wheat the provincial committee of the research. He is a leading research­ Chinese People’s Political Consult­ er in a synchronized innovation ative Conference last week. center for studying characteristic Two deputies to the Shanxi People’s Congress discuss this year’s They made the remarks after crops and varieties suitable for the provincial government work report. SHI XIAOBO / FOR CHINA DAILY hearing the government work Loess Plateau in northern China. report delivered by Shanxi Gover­ “Modernization is the only way nor Lin Wu on Jan 20. Deputies to the Shanxi People’s Congress listen to the provincial out for Shanxi’s agricultural devel­ In the work report, Lin again government work report. SU RONGXIANG / FOR CHINA DAILY opment and rural revitalization,” Private businesses urged highlighted the importance of an Gao said. “Shanxi’s universities innovation­driven strategy. He said and research institutions should the province should rely on innova­ Zhang said. “Shanxi had been one emerging sectors, including infor­ offer strong support to local agri­ to embrace innovation tion to boost high­quality growth of the slowest­growth provinces for mation technology, big data, semi­ cultural modernization.” and foster new, emerging sectors in many years.” conductors, smart manufacturing Li Changxia, a deputy to the the years to come. The reason was Shanxi’s heavy and robots,” Zhang said. “The 14 Shanxi People’s Congress and an By YUAN SHENGGAO ing castings for wind power plants. Zhang Fangtao, a member of the reliance on coal mining, which sectors have been growing at about agronomist from Linfen city, said “The project, with a total invest­ provincial CPPCC committee and a used up many economic resources 8 percent annually on average, the use of farming machines is a Privately owned enterprises in ment of 223 million yuan, is expect­ researcher at the Shanxi Research in the province, according to pushing Shanxi’s overall economy crucial part of agricultural mod­ Shanxi should grasp the opportuni­ ed to have an annual capacity of Center for Science and Technology Zhang. to catch up the nation’s average ernization. ty of the province’s new develop­ 60,000 metric tons and generate an Information and Strategy, said he The researcher noted that growth rate — about 6 percent from “Farming machines are widely ment strategy that is driven by annual sales revenue of 1 billion agrees with the governor’s opinion Shanxi has seen steady improve­ 2017­19.” used in Shanxi to boost efficiency,” innovation to strengthen their com­ yuan when it becomes operational,” based on his studies of Shanxi’s ments in its economy since it The researcher noted that all the Li said. “We are using sowing and petitiveness, said delegates during Hu said. economy. began to implement an economic emerging sectors are high tech­re­ harvesting machines in the fields the two sessions of the provincial While companies pledged to “In 2015, Shanxi’s GDP growth transformation strategy at the lated, requiring much investment and drones in the sky to spray fertil­ people’s congress and the local Chi­ strengthen innovation­related stood at 3 percent, a rate ranking it beginning of 13th Five­Year Plan in technological innovation.