A Nio electric vehicle is assembled at an automated assembly line in Hefei, capital of Anhui province. CHINA DAILY
In December 2012, when The Economist, a London-based magazine, identified Hefei as the world's fastest-growing metropolitan economy, not many thought the capital of East China's Anhui province would be able to maintain its steady pace of growth.
Ten years later, the city's GDP reached 1.2 trillion yuan ($169 billion) and surpassed 1.27 trillion yuan in 2023. Before the province reached that landmark, The Economist noted on Aug 5, 2023, that Hefei is still full of vitality.
As for the province itself, with 16 prefecture-level cities, including Hefei, and a population of some 62 million, its GDP reached 4.71 trillion yuan in 2023, up 5.8 percent year-on-year.
Mohamed Noureldin, an Egyptian post-doctoral researcher who has spent 11 years studying and working at the Hefei-based University of Science and Technology of China, said the changes in Anhui in general and Hefei in particular have been remarkable.
Noureldin pursued both his master's and doctoral degrees at the university. He has seen the province attract several international researchers every year, leading to more innovative advanced products.
"From artificial intelligence to cloud computing, China is now a leader in innovation," he said. "The industrial world is now stepping into a period where the development of innovations and technologies is fundamentally changing the traditional way of doing business. And the manufacturing sector is no exception. To maintain their competitiveness and attract investors, manufacturers need the correct and up-to-date technologies."
Chery cars are loaded onto a vessel for export at a port in Wuhu, Anhui province. CHINA DAILY
Science prowess
Ammar Hawbani, once an associate professor at USTC, has been living in Hefei for 16 years before moving to Liaoning province last year. He said the city, armed with seven national science and technology laboratories, is essential for scientific research in China.
In 2004, the Ministry of Science and Technology approved Hefei as the country's first "National Science and Technology Innovation Pilot City". On Feb 27, 2017, the Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center was officially unveiled as the country's second comprehensive national science center. It was also the first national innovation platform in the central and western regions of China.
Today, Hefei is home to more than 20 well-equipped national, provincial and CAS (the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which administers the USTC) key laboratories or research centers. The city also boasts over 10 technical physics experimental platforms.
These include big science facilities such as the EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) device and auxiliary heating systems, and the Steady High Magnet Field Facility. Hefei's GDP has risen 20-fold in the past 20 years, he said.
This helps elevate Anhui's science and technology prowess as a whole, said Hawbani.
Modern manufacturing
According to the Anhui Provincial Department of Economy and Information Technology, the province has set up a modern industrial system covering 40 major sectors, among which manufacturing spans 31 major industries, including new energy vehicles, advanced photovoltaic and new energy storage, and new-generation information industries. Currently, Anhui is paying high attention to its automobile industry.
Anhui has seen a significant increase in the production and sales of automobiles in recent years, producing 2.49 million units in 2023, up 48 percent year-on-year. Among them, there were 868,000 NEVs, up 60.5 percent.
In the first six months of this year, Anhui's automobile output was 1.51 million units, accounting for nearly 11 percent of the nation's total and standing second in national rankings. Its NEV output was 621,000 units, accounting for around 13 percent of the nation's total and ranking second in the country, said Zhu Kaihua, deputy chief of the APDEIT's automobile industry division.
Big manufacturers such as Chery, JAC, Nio, Volkswagen Anhui and BYD are all contributing to the big rise, he said.
The Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) device is expected a boost to Anhui's sci-tech advancement. CHINA DAILY
New industries
Feng Kejin, director of the APDEIT, said the number of industrial enterprises with at least 20 million yuan in annual sales revenue each reached a record high of 22,000. The province's total industrial added value reached 1.4 trillion yuan — 10th in the country, confirming that Anhui has joined the top league of China's major industrial provinces.
Besides expanding its automobile sector, Anhui is building industrial clusters of advanced photovoltaic and new energy storage with global influence, Feng said, noting its PV manufacturing industry's 2023 revenue was 296.74 billion yuan — third in the country.
Anhui's output of PV glass accounts for more than half of the country's total while its output of inverters takes up one-third, Feng said.
Anhui is also enhancing the high-quality development of a new generation of information technology, with its production capacity of display panels accounting for about 17 percent of the country's total and 10 percent of the world's total, he said.
Leaders' call
Manufacturing is the foundation of the national economy. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the added value of China's manufacturing sector surpassed that of the United States for the first time in 2010, making China the largest manufacturing country in the world.
Liang Yanshun, Party secretary of Anhui, said the province must persist in taking industry as the foundation and expand new quality productive forces.
He said while boosting strategic emerging industrial clusters and creating more future industry pilot areas, the province should enhance Anhui manufacturers' efforts to go global, and impress those attendees with the annual World Manufacturing Convention in the city this month.
Anhui Governor Wang Qingxian stressed it is vital for the province to promote the high-end, intelligent and green development of its manufacturing sector, in addition to speeding up the internationalization level of the convention.
The province should help local automobile manufacturers become stronger, bigger and world-class enterprises, and elevate the emerging industry clusters as well as the layout of future industries, he said.
The advanced PV and new energy storage industry clusters should also be bolstered, and the hydrogen energy industry, and the new materials industries, which enjoy certain advantages, should be expanded, he stressed.
By focusing on the 10 new emerging industries, Anhui should vigorously attract Fortune Global 500 companies, top 100 Chinese manufacturing companies and unicorns as cooperative partners, while boosting foreign investment in its manufacturing sector, Wang said.
Approved by the State Council, China's Cabinet, the 2024 World Manufacturing Convention will be held in Hefei between Sept 20 and 23. This year's theme is "Intelligent Manufacturing for a Better Future".
