Qingbaijiang, another code of Chengdu to the world

In China's economic landscape, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, and the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration are undoubtedly the three major growth poles.

Who will be the "fourth pole" of China's economic growth? Will it be the city cluster in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, which is the "crossroads of nine provinces", or the city cluster in the Shandong Peninsula, which is "heading towards the sea"... For a time, many heroes emerged on the map.

Compared with other powerful rivals, the Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration, located deep in the southwest inland, can still show its edge even though it is surrounded by mountains.

Distribution of urban agglomerations in China and comparison of GDP | Map by @Yang Ning & Chen Zhihao/Planet Research Institute

Chongqing used rivers as swords to break through the confinement of mountains. But how did Chengdu , which did not rely on the power of rivers, successfully break through?

First of all, relying on hundreds of routes from the two major airports of Shuangliu and Tianfu, Chengdu has crossed the mountains and built a "high-speed network in the cloud".

Chengdu Shuangliu Airport, planes passing by, leaving silk-like tracks in the deep night sky | Photographer @凌源

In addition, the railway tracks that run across the earth sounded the "land assembly call", and trains loaded with goods gathered in Chengdu from all directions, thus embarking on a journey to the world.

Please watch horizontally, Chengdu International Train Channel Schematic Diagram. With Chengdu as the hub, it can connect more than 100 cities at home and abroad | Map @Chen Zhihao/Planet Research Institute

Where trains gather, containers of various colors are parked, and this place has become a land "port".

Chengdu International Railway Port | Photographer @蒋小翼

The area that owns this port is Qingbaijiang District of Chengdu.

Qingbaijiang is a poetic name. However, behind its poetic name lies a story of ups and downs.

01

Glory Days

In 1949, the People's Republic of China emerged from a long agricultural civilization. When faced with Western doubts that it "could not solve the problem of feeding hundreds of millions of people", a group of soldiers who emerged from the hail of bullets went to the northwest and northeast to build the granary of New China.

In the southwest, the Chengdu Plain has been known as the "granary" since ancient times. However, relying on traditional farmyard manure has reached the limit of increasing grain production, and the lack of transportation makes Sichuan Foreign Studies University "daunting". Therefore, building a fertilizer plant in the Chengdu Plain has become an urgent task.

Please watch horizontally. Qingbai River runs through the Chengdu Plain. Zhao Yan ( biàn ) of the Northern Song Dynasty entered Sichuan as an official. When he arrived here, he named it "My ambition is to make the river clear and white". "Qingbai River" came from this. Later generations continued to use the name "Qingbai River" | Photographer @书是波

On the vast Chengdu Plain, where will this fertilizer plant with extraordinary significance be located?

In the northeast of Chengdu, the Qingbai River flows slowly, and Longquan Mountain runs diagonally into it, bringing a lush greenery.

Schematic diagram of Qingbaijiang District's topography and water system | Map @Chen Zhihao/Planet Research Institute

Between these mountains and rivers is a fertile field.

Please watch in horizontal mode, looking at Longmen Mountain from Qingbaijiang District | Photographer @周琪

Here, spring brings flowers and autumn brings fruits, and generations of farming continue the local civilization.

Some important unearthed cultural relics in Qingbaijiang District. More than 4,000 years ago, humans had already lived and multiplied in Qingbaijiang District | Image source @Chengdu Qingbaijiang District Museum Map @Yang Ning/Planet Research Institute

The thousand-year-old city here protects the local hustle and bustle, and the square courtyards seem to have frozen a thousand years of time.

Chengxiang Ancient City, with a county structure that has been passed down for more than 1,400 years, has the "shadow" of old Chengdu | Photographer @蒋小翼

The Baoji-Chengdu Railway, which fulfilled the "hundred-year dream of building a railway out of Sichuan", crossed the Qingbai River to the north and established the "Qingbaijiang" station on the river bank. The roar of the train broke the silence and long farming years on this land.

The Qingbaijiang section of the Baoji-Chengdu Railway is now an important freight channel for China-Europe trains | Photographer @书是波

In 1956, in an open field southeast of the station, my country's first domestically-produced medium-sized nitrogen fertilizer plant, Sichuan Fertilizer Plant (the predecessor of Sichuan Chemical Plant), broke ground.

With fertilizers, there was also a need for steel to make farm tools. Two years later, in the northwest of Sichuan Chemical, Chengdu Iron and Steel Plant (the predecessor of Pancheng Steel) started construction, ending Chengdu’s history of “having grain but no steel” with a steel production rate of 108 days.

Chairman Zhu De inspected Sichuan Chemical Industry, which was one of the major fertilizer projects built during the First Five-Year Plan period | Image source @Chengdu Qingbaijiang District Archives Map by @Yang Ning/Planet Research Institute

The passionate years were mixed with the blood, tears and sweat of a generation of workers who came from all corners of the country and finally made the factory their home.

In 1960, due to the need for municipal management of the factory area, an administrative district was established under the name of "Qingbaijiang", and " Qingbaijiang District of Chengdu City " officially appeared.

The main gate of Sichuan Chemical Industry in the 1960s and 1970s | Image source @Tang Xingze Map @Yang Ning/Planet Research Institute

Sichuan Chemical Industry and Panzhihua Steel are like strong magnetic poles, attracting chemical, machinery and other industries to concentrate here. In 1965, there were 50 industrial enterprises in the district. Among the numerous factories, Sichuan Chemical Industry and Panzhihua Steel are undoubtedly the two leading ones, bringing glory to Qingbaijiang District for more than half a century.

In the 1970s, Sichuan Chemical built the first large-scale fertilizer plant in China, which can produce about 480,000 tons of nitrogen fertilizer (commonly known as "urea") annually. Large-scale fertilizer production greatly reduced fertilizer costs, allowing farmers with high enthusiasm after reform and opening up to afford fertilizers and increase grain production.

Panoramic view of Sichuan Chemical Industry Fertilizer Plant | Photographer @Tang Xingze Map @Yang Ning/Planet Research Institute

On the other hand, Panzhihua Steel adjusted its production direction from agricultural steel to construction steel, ensuring the steel demand for large-scale construction in the southwest region.

In order to facilitate the transportation of raw materials and products, 7 dedicated railways directly connect to the factory area. Batches of fertilizers and steel can be loaded from the factory area to Sichuan Foreign Studies University.

In the 1970s, the large fertilizer plant of Sichuan Chemical Industry arrived at Qingbaijiang Station by rail | Image source @Tang Xingze Map @Yang Ning/Planet Research Institute

Sichuan Chemical Industry and Panzhihua Iron and Steel, one supplied fertilizer to the new China and supported the "rice bowls" of tens of millions of people, and the other supported several major national projects such as the Gezhouba Hydropower Station and the Luzhou Bridge.

In 1990, driven by the two tax and profit giants, Sichuan Chemical Industry and Panzhihua Iron and Steel, Qingbaijiang became the first district in Chengdu with a total fiscal revenue of over 100 million yuan.

Panorama of Sichuan Chemical Industry in the 1980s | Image source: @Tang Xingze Map @Yang Ning/Planet Research Institute

The booming production has driven municipal construction. The "workers' village" around the factory has many buildings, schools, theaters and other entertainment facilities. The buildings are also fully equipped with water, electricity and gas.

Sichuan Chemical Industry Employees Club | Photographer @Tang Xingze Map @Yang Ning/Planet Research Institute

From the factory to the living area, the workers live a regular and comfortable life. The stable and generous treatment has retained generations of workers. They get employed, get married, have children, and retire here...

A record of poems during the industrial construction period in Qingbaijiang District | Image source @Chengdu Qingbaijiang District Archives Map by @Yang Ning/Planet Research Institute

However, even in such peaceful days, crises were brewing.

02

Fearless Turn

In the 1990s, cheap and high-quality products emerged in an endless stream on the market. However, Sichuan Chemical and Panzhihua Steel, which had long been under the control of the state's plan, seemed a bit "clumsy" in the face of the surging market trend, with single products and low production efficiency.

In 2008, a financial crisis swept the world, raw material prices rose, the market was sluggish, and traditional industries fell into a "cold winter." Five years later, the state issued a "closure" notice to 120 old industrial bases, including Chengdu's Qingbaijiang District.

In 2014, Sichuan Chemical's production line stopped operating. A year later, Pancheng Steel's last blast furnace was permanently shut down. The two giants that once accounted for nearly 70% of Qingbaijiang's industrial output value were ultimately unable to withstand the tide of the times.

The "last batch of molten iron" before Pancheng Steel was shut down, workers used a steel chisel to drill through the furnace | Photographer @秦继勋

In 2015, the total profit of industrial enterprises in Qingbaijiang District was -2.23 billion yuan, a serious loss. This was the "pain" of the withdrawal of two state-owned enterprise giants. However, this "pain" did not last. Three years later, Qingbaijiang District turned losses into profits. What did it do right?

As early as the beginning of the new century, Qingbaijiang began to lay out new industries, focusing on the production of glass fiber materials, and introduced two leading glass material manufacturers, Taiwan Glass Group and Zhejiang Jushi. When traditional industries fell into the quagmire of losses, new industries rose against the trend.

Please watch horizontally, the interior of Jushi's glass fiber production workshop. The "silver-thin" glass fiber material has high strength and is widely used in aerospace and electronic product production | Image source @Chengdu Qingbaijiang District Committee Publicity Department

In addition, over the more than half a century of industrial development, a number of equipment manufacturing industries have grown and developed, and they have faced the market wave with a more flexible attitude. For example, Chengdu Tianma Railway Bearings has achieved high-end transformation through wind power bearing production, and China National Heavy Duty Truck Chengdu Commercial Vehicle has entered the overseas market with "high-quality trucks".

Sinotruk Chengdu Commercial Vehicle Production Line | Photographer @白桂斌

What is even more gratifying is that Sichuan Chemical and Panzhihua Steel did not collapse.

Sichuan Chemical Industry has broken down its huge body into many small companies. Then, with the remaining factory land as capital, it cooperated with Sichuan Energy Investment Group and Huading Fund to establish Huading Guolian, entered the field of automotive power batteries, and started anew as a new energy industry.

Huading Guolian exterior | Photographer @Zhou Qi

After shutting down its blast furnace, Pancheng Steel has been working hard to reduce its steel production capacity. Offline, it has established an industrial park integrating steel storage, logistics and processing. Online, it has built a steel trading platform, which has driven the circulation of steel in the entire southwest region.

Schematic diagram of Panchenggang Industrial Internet | Map by @Yang Ning/Planet Research Institute

A fearless turn is the basis for moving forward. The successful cases of reform and transformation of two state-owned enterprises, Sichuan Chemical Industry and Panzhihua Steel, were also selected into the United Nations' "Special Edition of the 2019 China Human Development Report: 40 Years of China's Human Development in Historical Transformation".

The transformation of Qingbaijiang District is also a microcosm of Chengdu. Entering the new era, Chengdu is also transforming. Many old industries are gradually withdrawing, and new industries are being introduced one after another. However, the high transportation costs have slowed down the pace of Chengdu's progress.

The Pancheng Steel blast furnace being dismantled and the silent Longmen Mountain in the distance | Photographer @白桂斌

Therefore, this city surrounded by mountains has made all-out efforts from roads, railways to aviation, making convenient transportation the basis for its progress.

After renovation and demolition, the old factory area in Qingbaijiang was once again left blank. This empty land with railway tracks was once again chosen by the times. In 2008, Chengdu Railway Container Center Station was built in Qingbaijiang.

Traffic map of Qingbaijiang District. Chengxiang Station is a container center station, and Dawan Town Station is a bulk cargo station | Map @Chen Zhihao/Planet Research Institute

Two years later, container cargo from Chengdu began to flow to Qingbaijiang, and logistics parks were built around the railway tracks.

Panorama of Chengdu International Railway Port | Photographer @彭富成

In this land, the departure of a freight train and a cargo transaction mean new hope.

This new hope is like the 300,000 trees planted in the early years. They will eventually grow vigorously, and many years later, add vitality to Qingbaijiang District with lush green shade.

Morning glow at Phoenix Lake in Qingbaijiang District | Photographer @李静

This new hope is like the cherry blossom trees by the Phoenix Lake. They will eventually bloom, and many years later, their grand bloom will add a touch of color to Qingbaijiang District.

Phoenix Lake Cherry Blossoms, every year during the Cherry Blossom Festival, thousands of tourists come here for a "Spring Date" | Photographer @周琪

03

Land Breakout

In 2013, a freight train that can go directly to Europe, the Chengdu-Europe Express , departed from the Chengdu Railway Container Center Station.

The roar of the train penetrates the dawn, the night, and the northwest wind, heading westward, spanning 9,826 kilometers, directly to Europe. It only takes about 12 days to complete the journey, saving nearly a month compared to traditional sea transportation, and the freight is much lower than air transportation.

The first China-Europe Express (Chengdu-Sławków, Poland) in 2021. Under the Belt and Road Initiative, the country unified the "China-Europe Express" brand in 2016, and the Chengdu-Europe Express was changed to the China-Europe Express (Chengdu) | Photographer @白桂斌

In 2015, the Chengdu-Europe Express Railway was put into operation in both directions. Since then, French red wine, German cars, Italian beef, Russian timber, etc. have arrived in Qingbaijiang one after another, and Qingbaijiang has officially become a bridgehead for the encounter between "Made in China" and "European style".

Imported cars parked at Chengdu International Railway Port | Photographer @唐银

A number of industries with mature logistics systems have settled in the logistics park, including Hema Fresh and Cainiao.

Please watch horizontally, Chengdu European Industrial City | Photographer @周琪

At the busy railway port, Qingbaijiang’s vitality has returned.

Chengdu International Railway Port Container Center Station Operations | Photographer @彭富成

In 2017, Qingbaijiang District took a seat in the China (Sichuan) Free Trade Zone with a railway port of 9.68 square kilometers. Three years later, the Chengdu International Railway Port Comprehensive Bonded Zone officially passed the national acceptance.

Chengdu International Railway Port after nightfall. The railway port is open day and night, and goods can be cleared all day long | Photographer @彭富成

Railway ports, bonded areas and free trade zones have greatly reduced the cost of goods circulation. If goods were only distributed here, Qingbaijiang would have missed this huge opportunity of the times.

Containers at Chengdu International Railway Port. Containers of different colors contain different types of goods | Photographer @白桂斌

A number of manufacturing industries have sensed this huge opportunity. In the Railway Port Bonded Zone, they can more conveniently use imported materials and conduct processing trade for the European market.

Chengdu International Railway Port Bonded Zone ****TCL production line | Photographer @彭富成

On the south side of the railway port, a European industrial city has sprung up, with standardized factory buildings providing comfortable conditions for more companies to "settle down" in Qingbaijiang.

Please watch in horizontal mode, European Industrial City Standardized Factory Building | Image source @Chengdu Qingbaijiang District European Industrial City Management Committee

On the north side of the railway port, in a high-performance fiber material industry functional zone, scientific research talents conduct project experiments and pilot-test various high-tech products, so that one day the technology can be spread internationally along the railway.

Chengdu High-Performance Fiber Materials Industrial Functional Zone. A pilot industrial base carrying the “Belt and Road” initiative | Photographer @李静

Relying on the railway port, Qingbaijiang District's industries have achieved a "great transformation", with logistics and trade, intelligent manufacturing, and advanced materials becoming new highlights of the economy.

The "great transformation" of Qingbaijiang District's industries | Map by @Yang Ning/Planet Research Institute

In Qingbaijiang District, which is in line with international standards, traditional agriculture has also entered the "technological track", and modern agricultural parks have illuminated the former countryside. The world's largest Dendrobium seed bank and gene bank, and the world's largest single edible fungus factory have also found suitable "soil" here.

In 2021, Qingbaijiang District officially became a national economic and technological development zone . The label of "old industrial base" was finally shattered in time.

Please watch in horizontal mode, the tree-lined Qingbaijiang District | Photographer @邓建川

With the advantage of being an "international land port", Chengdu's automobiles, electronic products and other products can enter the European market more conveniently, changing the previous dilemma of only being able to "go overseas through the port".

In the context of the "Chengdu-Chongqing Twin Cities", Chengdu and Chongqing jointly created the "China-Europe Express (Chengdu-Chongqing)" brand. From the Chengdu-Europe Express to the China-Europe Express (Chengdu-Chongqing), in just a few years, tens of thousands of freight trains have run day and night, and more than 400,000 boxes of goods have traveled back and forth between China and Europe.

From the Chengdu-Europe Express to the China-Europe Express (Chengdu-Chongqing) annual operation volume trend chart | Map @ Yang Ning / Planet Research Institute

Among the goods transported, in addition to electronic products and automobiles, small specialties such as Sichuan tea and Sichuan fruit have entered the daily lives of Europeans through the "LCL model".

Under the "multimodal transport one-bill" model, Chengdu International Railway Port has achieved integrated water, land and air logistics, and transportation efficiency has been further improved.

Such obvious transportation advantages allow goods from all over the world to gather in Chengdu and embark on a journey to the world. Chengdu, with its land port, is no less impressive than many seaport cities.

Comparison of foreign trade volume between Chengdu and major port cities | Map by Yang Ning/Planet Research Institute

Today, Chengdu has long gotten rid of the dilemma of "difficult roads to reach Shu". Fortune 500 companies such as Dell and Lenovo have settled in Chengdu, and the label of "southwestern inland city" has gradually disappeared from Chengdu.

Number of Fortune 500 companies settled in Chengdu since 2005 | Map by Yang Ning/Planet Research Institute

The mountains surround the land, but they cannot stop the desire of generations of people on the Chengdu Plain to connect with the outside world for thousands of years.

Thousands of years ago, the ancestors of Shu crossed the mountains and reached the Western Regions by boat and carriage. That ancient commercial history is hidden in the fragments of classics and condensed in silent cultural relics.

Bronze horses of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the clattering of their hooves was the driving force for our ancestors to travel far | Image source @ Chengdu Qingbaijiang District Museum Map by @ Yang Ning/Planet Research Institute

Thousands of years later, in Qingbaijiang, exotic goods are displayed in the Asian, Chengdu and European national pavilions, and people stop to look at them. Although time and space have changed, the expectations and surprises of "thousands of miles apart" are common.

Qingbaijiang District Asia, Europe and the European National (Commodity) Pavilion Greece Pavilion | Photographer @Wang Jin

Qingbaijiang District has witnessed the encounter of the old and new Silk Roads in Shu over a thousand years. The surging history, the changing times, and the stars of literature and art from ancient times to the present have also merged into today's Qingbaijiang District.

In the thousand-year-old city, a new-style Chengxiang Guesthouse borrows the shape of the ancient city's "flying eaves and black tiles" to let foreign guests see the charm of Tianfu. In the near future, tourists from all over the world will also be able to make an appointment to travel through time and space here and feel the profound traditional culture in the world of the metaverse.

Chengxiang Guest House, the hot metaverse industry will also be established in Chengxiang Ancient City, integrating the new era trend with the ancient city culture | Photographer @蒋人可

On a fertile land, the blast furnaces of the old industry retreated, high-rise buildings of the new era rose, and the homes of a new generation were established.

Qingbaijiang District Cultural and Sports Center, the two wings of the building are like the "take-off" of Qingbaijiang District | Photographer @周琪

The times are moving forward inexorably. In this changing era, only the people living on this land remember their era in various ways.

In this ancient city that has condensed thousands of years of time, there are stories of benevolent and ambitious people, as well as the daily life of ordinary people.

Xiuchuan Academy, founded in the Northern Song Dynasty, has produced many great scholars, such as the Xinhai hero Peng Jiazhen, the founder of Sichuan opera Wei Changsheng, and the modern poet Liu Shahe | Photographer @柒哥

In the shade of green trees, the old blast furnace that could not be demolished has forged the medals of youth for generations of workers.

Changliuhe Industrial Heritage Park in Qingbaijiang District | Photographer @熊志鹏

Today, the speeding China-Europe trains will become the homeland memory of the new generation and will be sung by the new generation of poets:

"The China-Europe Express starts from China and passes through the throat of the westerly wind.

Night and day, fighting out the hustle and bustle.

Repeatedly moving spring flowers and autumn moons are like the east wind.

Time is not a ribbon, but a desolate sword.

The world is just the distance between one second and the next.

There is no sand blocking the road, and no ladder to heaven."

In Qingbaijiang District, the world was once so far away, and now it is so close.

The above poem is selected from "The World is the Distance between the Last Second and the Next Second" by Yang Yide, a modern poet from Qingbaijiang District. Please watch it in horizontal mode. Qingbaijiang City in the morning light | Photographer @周琪

- This article was created by the team -

Written by | Qingliu

Photo | Xu Ying

Map | Chen Zhihao

Design | Yang Ning

Proofreading | Xiang Bu Xiang, Wang Luo Ji

Cover Photographer | Li Jing

Special cooperation unit of this article: Publicity Department of Chengdu Qingbaijiang District Committee of CPC

【References】

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