Striving to Achieve New Progress and Breakthroughs in Changchun's Revitalization and Development—

Sidelights on the 9th Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Changchun Municipal Committee

 

High-quality development is the fundamental path to achieving comprehensive revitalization in Changchun.

 

In recent years, Changchun has steadfastly advanced along the path guided by General Secretary Xi Jinping, accelerating the renewal of development concepts, transformation of development methods, and shifts in development pathways. With a proactive mindset toward innovation and change, and the courage to explore, experiment, and take the lead, the city is striving to blaze a new path of revitalization that leverages its comparative advantages and embodies its unique characteristics.

 

From innovation-driven development to the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, from deepening reforms to advancing high-level opening-up, and from promoting connotative growth to enhancing urban functions and quality, Changchun's dynamic progress has been striking and impressive.

 

In the first half of the year, the city's key economic indicators showed steady quarterly growth. Its GDP grew by 5.7%, outperforming the national average and matching the provincial figure. Among the four major cities in Northeast China, Changchun ranked second, and among sub-provincial cities nationwide, it jumped from 12th place in the first quarter to 3rd, continuing the steady and positive trend seen over the past two years.

 

Notable achievements include the debut of Changchun-made China's first superconducting high-speed maglev train with a speed of up to 600 km/h, the successful launch of a test satellite for satellite internet technology, and the commissioning of major projects such as the GenSci International Pharmaceutical Industrial Park.

 

Focusing on reform and opening-up, Changchun has tackled the pain points hindering high-quality development, addressed obstacles to comprehensive revitalization, and responded to the urgent needs of grassroots communities and the public by setting clear reform agendas and formulating reform plans. Through 14 key reform initiatives, the city has implemented 475 reform measures and successfully completed 80 of them.

 

A number of tangible public welfare initiatives have been accomplished: 50,000 new urban jobs were created; 740,000 instances of rural labor force transfer employment were recorded; 72,000 college graduates chose to stay and work in Changchun, a year-on-year increase of 9.7%; 6,000 new compulsory education seats were added; and 44 elderly care centers and nearly 600 senior-friendly restaurants were established.

 

With firm cultural confidence, the 1,445-meter-long Xinmin Street Historical and Cultural Block has been revitalized and reopened to the public. The Kuanchengzi Historical and Cultural Block is set to make a grand debut, and the Chunjingxi Historical and Cultural Block now attracts 100,000 visitors daily. Renmin Square has been renovated and reopened to the public after 22 years, while the China Aviation Museum and FAW Automobile Museum are being built at an accelerated pace.

 

The city has fully implemented the Changchun Regulations on Optimizing the Business Environment and the Changchun Regulations on Promoting the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. It has also introduced the Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of the Private Economy in Changchun, and launched seven special campaigns to boost confidence, improve the environment, and ensure factor support. The number of private enterprises has reached 402,000, accounting for 53.5% of the provincial total.

 

In the first half of the year, the city made impressive achievements across the board. In the second half, the people of Changchun will strive to deliver a satisfactory result to the Party and the people in this crucial stage through innovation and solid work.

 

"The plenary session has charted the course, set goals, and drawn the blueprint for Changchun's next stage of development," said Fang Shuhua, Director of the Changchun Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology. He noted that the city's industry and information technology system would prioritize stable operations, chain strengthening, transformation, project execution, service excellence, and new initiatives to drive effective progress in all areas. Efforts will be made to deepen the digital transformation of SMEs, continue the "Ten Key Actions" for specialized, refined, differential, and innovative enterprises, speed up the construction of green factories, and provide targeted services to help enterprises overcome difficulties. At the same time, high-quality strategic planning will be carried out, with a scientific approach to formulate a series of industrial development plans for the 15th Five-Year Plan period. The goal is to expedite the development of a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone and deep integration of the real economy and the digital economy, promote new quality productive forces in line with local conditions, and advance new industrialization. Through solid and effective actions, the bureau will contribute to the successful conclusion of the 14th Five-Year Plan and a strong start to the 15th Five-Year Plan.

 

The comprehensive revitalization of Changchun relies on the coordinated efforts of its urban districts, counties, and development zones.

 

Xu Jun, Secretary of the CPC Chaoyang District Committee, stated that as the demonstration district of the city, Chaoyang District would earnestly implement the spirit of the plenary session, strengthen its sense of responsibility, and work with relevant districts and development zones to build the Yongchun Biomedical City and create a hub for cultivating new quality productive forces in Changchun. Additionally, the district will bolster the transformation and upgrading of its traditional commercial sectors, leverage the major IP of the Xinmin Street Historical and Cultural Block, and create more consumption scenarios to stimulate new consumption vitality. It will also optimize the business environment, intensify investment promotion, package and introduce a number of key projects, and continuously enhance people's well-being by delivering practical, careful, and satisfactory services.

 

Biomedicine is a strategic emerging industry worth hundreds of billions of yuan that Changchun is vigorously developing, and the city's key focus in cultivating new quality productive forces. The plenary session proposed "fostering new drivers of urban development and accelerating the construction of Beihu Future Science City and Yongchun Biomedical City". Jiang Fengyan, Party Secretary of Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, expressed great excitement. She noted that the university's several major projects would be located in the Yongchun Biomedical City area. The university will earnestly implement the spirit of the plenary session, actively train talents in medicine, education, research, and industry, and accelerate the construction of the university's National Medical Center and National Sub-Center for Endocrinology. These efforts will fully support Changchun's revitalization and development.