论文部分内容阅读
On May 9， the Financial Strategic Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences （CASS） said in a conference of releasing the research result that a world’s super economic zone has emerged in the area of Shanghai， Zhejiang， Jiangsu and Anhui.
This research result showed that the extensive and in-depth cooperation and development in the Yangtze River Delta， has given birth to this super economic zone with Shanghai as the core and including 40 cities in Jiangsu， Zhejiang and Anhui. With the integration of comprehensive economy， traffic system，market system and industrial system， this “super economic zone” borders the Lianyungang-Lanzhou Railway in the north， neighbors the hilly area in South Zhejiang in the south， reaches Beijing-Kowloon Railway in the west and stands by the East Sea and Yellow Sea in the east.
“It has the largest area and population in the world，” said Ni Pengfei， director of the City and Competitiveness research Center at the CASS.
Niu Wenyuan， a fellow with the CASS and also serving as the consultant for the State Council， said that the formation of the super economic zone would be important power for the development of this country. Li Shantong， a fellow with the State Council’s Development Research Center believes that this super economic zone would play an important role in further upgrading the competitiveness of China.
March towards“One-day Economy”
To tell the story about the super economic zone， we should start with Kunshan， a small city 50 kilometers away from Shanghai. In the 1980s， this was the poorest county in the area of Suzhou. Han Peixin， who was then the CPC secretary of Jiangsu Province， recalled that Kunshan was still a county simply based on the agriculture and had the rice and vegetables as the source of their financial income. Its industrial output ranked last among the six counties under the administration of Suzhou. Therefore， people mockingly called it “Mr. Sixth”.
From 1984， Kunshan actively took over the industries transferred out of Shanghai and spent a lot of money of its own building the economic zone to attract the investment from inland and foreign countries. Gradually it became the agglomeration of global capital， technologies and talents， a center standing for the economic cooperation between mainland China and Taiwan， as well as an important base for the foreign trade in China. The grand changes made Kunshan become the No. 1 Chinese city in the list of Forbes for five straight years. It is also a nine-year champion in the List of Small Cities in China by Comprehensive Competitiveness.
The story of Kunshan is an epitome of the leap-forward development of the area of Shanghai， Jiangsu， Zhejiang and Anhui. In this place that covers 344 thousand square kilometers， there are a lot of cities sharing the success of Kunshan.
According to Ni Pengfei， the statistical data in 2011 showed the permanent resident population in this area reached 212.2 million and the GDP amounted to 1156.6 billion yuan. In another word， this area， which only takes 3.58% of the total land of mainland China， contributes 24.5% of this country’s GDP.
The research by the City and Competitiveness Research Center revealed that there were three major economic zones in China. Among these three most dynamic economic areas， which are respectively located in the Yangtze River Delta， Pearl River Delta and Bohai Ring Area， the one in Yangtze River Delta is the earliest one to start its development and is the most developed one， in both the economic volume and the industrial structure.
In the 1980s， it took five hours to move from Kunshan to Nanjing by train. Now the bullet train reduced the journey to 1.5 hours. The journey from Kunshan to Suzhou by high-speed train only takes 11 minutes， same as the time of walking from Wangfujing to Tian’anmen Square in Beijing.
According to Ni Pengfei， the “twohour economic circle” （the area that is two hours’ drive from its center） only covered Wuxi， Changzhou， Suzhou， Hangzhou， Jiaxing and a few other cities previously. These cities are all located along the expressways between Shanghai and Nanjing and between Shanghai and Hangzhou. They are also very close to Shanghai.
The construction of expressways started in 2000 put Zhenjiang， Huzhou and Shaoxing in this circle. Then， the“two-hour economic circle” gradually covers the entire length of ShanghaiNanjing Expressway and ShanghaiHangzhou Expressway. In 2010， the establishment of the bridge between Suzhou and Nantong and the one crossing the Hangzhou Bay extended the “two-hour economic circle” further southward and northward. It jumped out of the restriction of Yangtze River and incorporated Nantong， Yangzhou and Taizhou in the north. It also reached the coastal area in Zhejiang after moving southward and crossing the Yangtze River. This is a representation of the“ever-expanding” Yangtze River Delta， which went through the ages of railway， expressway， bridge and high-speed railway.
Since there is still a large potential in the high-speed railway construction in this area， the “two-hour economic circle” of the Yangtze River Delta will cover the entire area of Shanghai， Jiangsu and Zheijiang， as well as 40 cities in Anhui. By then， it will take four hours at most to make a round trop between Shanghai and all cities in Jiangsu， Zhejiang and Anhui. This is going to allow any person to go to another city， finish the work there， and return to his/ her home city within one day. Simply speaking， the “one-day economy” is go-ing to come true in the Yangtze River Delta.
The Similar Industrial Structure
Compared with the expanding“two-hour economic circle”， the increasing appeal and the economic integration in this super economic zone is much more attention-worthy.
The research made by City and Competitiveness Research Center at CASS showed that the attractiveness index of Yangtze River Delta in the view of spatial dimension improved from 4.014 in 2003 to 4.129 in 2013， and is expected to reach 4.562 by 2020. The stable increase means that Shanghai is going to have a stable and ever-increasing influence over the entire area with the increasing number of cities and the expanding area.
Li Mian， a member of the research team of the “City and Competitiveness” at CASS， said that the regional gap in the Yangtze River Delta apparently shrank in the last ten years and they became more integrated. This is a result of the intensive research into the average GDP and the GDP increase of 40 cities from 2001 to 2010.
“Presently， the trade cost in this area is lowered， which led to the formation of the regional common market，”said Ni Pengfei.
The data showed that the average level of the industrial structural similarity in the Yangtze River Delta has been keeping an upward trend since 2004 and reached 0.795 in 2010， a mark for the industrial isomorphism.
The index for industrial isomorphism varies to regions. A great similarity can be found in the industrial structures of Shanghai and Zhejiang. In recent two years， the figure was maintained at 0.9 and 0.85 respectively. The similarity of industrial structure between Shanghai and Zhejiang is 0.7 or so， lower than the one between Shanghai and Jiangsu but still higher than one Anhui shares with Shanghai. This means that the unbalanced development is still there in the Yangtze River Delta. “The industrial covergence in the Yangtze River Delta is not a bad thing，”Li Shantong said. This is because that the industrial covengence in the present day is totally different from the one in the 1980s and 1990s， as， for instance， the areas boosting the car-related industry， no matter it is the assembly of cars or the production of components， are now considered to have the industrial convergence.
According to Li Mian， the increasing industrial relatedness comes along with the apparent synchronization in the structural change in the Yangtze River Delta. The industrial isomorphism has become the fundamental for the integration of this area. The Yangtze River Delta is participating in the international labor division and competition by upgrading its economic structure and forming the cluster competitive advantages.
The Proposal about Optimization
In spite of the prosperous situation， there are problems unavoidable in the super economic zone of Shanghai， Zhejiang， Jiangsu and Anhui.
“The first one comes from the stagnant strategies and planning，” Ni Pengfei said. The Regional Planning of Yangtze River Delta （2009-202） fixed the development goal and strategic position of the Yangtze River Delta and is considered the guideline for the development and reform of this area in the post-crisis period. However， as a long-time planning， it fails to see the objective trend of the expansion of the Yangtze River Delta to the grander area of Shanghai， Jiangsu， Zhejiang and Anhui. The coverage， significance， as well as its ambition， need to be improved.
“So we suggest modifying the planning for the Yangtze River Delta，”said Ni Pengfei. Previously， Anhui was excluded from this area and even the northern part of Jiangsu was given little attention. So， many experts held the opinion that the spatial distribution in the greater Yangtze River Delta should follow the principle of “developing the northern area， optimizing the structure in the southern area， transferring a part of the industries in eastern area to western area， upgrading and expanding the central area’s role”. All in all， a fan-shaped economic zone should be spread with Shanghai as the core.
In recent years， the Yangtze River Delta is having increasingly prominent problems of traffic jam， environmental pollution and housing shortage. On one hand， Shanghai， which covers 6340 square kilometers， is the smallest one among the four municipalities in China. On the other hand， the vast area north of the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River boasts grand resources， but cannot fully enjoy the spillover benefits of Shanghai and the southern part of Yangtze River Delta. Researchers also found that the establishment of the urban economic coordinative meeting set up an important platform for the in-depth regional cooperation， but， as the integration goes further and deeper， the distribution of benefits calls for more meticulousness. Presently， there is no mechanism in this area allowing different regions to “negotiate with each other” on the interest distribution， rendering the benefit swap hard to be realized. As a result， the local protectionism， benefiting oneself at other’s expense and the repeated construction are frequently found in this area， setting up hurdles for the further regional cooperation.
Lu Qinyi， dean of CASS’s Anhui Branch， believes that “the Yangtze River Delta should have the features matching this area”. It is necessary to improve the professional skills while reducing the unreasonable enthusiasm in the urban construction. To do this， the primary requirement is to equalize the fundamental service system. It is known that a plan about “the better spatial arrangement brought by the optimized in-depth development” has already been complied by the CASS and submitted the relevant governmental department.
The new plan included two proposals： the first one is to improve the strategic position and administrative level based on the current administrative area； the second one is to upgrade the new bay area of Tongzhou into a national-level new economic area， so that it can be linked to the Pudong area of Shanghai with a strategic importance. This can build two super economic centers standing opposite each other across the Yangtze River and function as the core to support the development of the super economic zone； the third one is to integrate Nantong into Shanghai， forming a “Greater Shanghai with three parts divided by two rivers and an island” （Two rivers refer to Huangpu River and Yangtze River； three areas mean Pudong， Puxi and Nantong and the island is Chongming Island）.
“Though there are conflicts of interest among these regions， this new adjustment is highly expected. If it can be finalized， Shanghai will gain great development space， while Jiangsu and its cities are going to play a more important area in Yangtze River Delta and even the whole country，” Ni Pengfei said.
This research result showed that the extensive and in-depth cooperation and development in the Yangtze River Delta， has given birth to this super economic zone with Shanghai as the core and including 40 cities in Jiangsu， Zhejiang and Anhui. With the integration of comprehensive economy， traffic system，market system and industrial system， this “super economic zone” borders the Lianyungang-Lanzhou Railway in the north， neighbors the hilly area in South Zhejiang in the south， reaches Beijing-Kowloon Railway in the west and stands by the East Sea and Yellow Sea in the east.
“It has the largest area and population in the world，” said Ni Pengfei， director of the City and Competitiveness research Center at the CASS.
Niu Wenyuan， a fellow with the CASS and also serving as the consultant for the State Council， said that the formation of the super economic zone would be important power for the development of this country. Li Shantong， a fellow with the State Council’s Development Research Center believes that this super economic zone would play an important role in further upgrading the competitiveness of China.
March towards“One-day Economy”
To tell the story about the super economic zone， we should start with Kunshan， a small city 50 kilometers away from Shanghai. In the 1980s， this was the poorest county in the area of Suzhou. Han Peixin， who was then the CPC secretary of Jiangsu Province， recalled that Kunshan was still a county simply based on the agriculture and had the rice and vegetables as the source of their financial income. Its industrial output ranked last among the six counties under the administration of Suzhou. Therefore， people mockingly called it “Mr. Sixth”.
From 1984， Kunshan actively took over the industries transferred out of Shanghai and spent a lot of money of its own building the economic zone to attract the investment from inland and foreign countries. Gradually it became the agglomeration of global capital， technologies and talents， a center standing for the economic cooperation between mainland China and Taiwan， as well as an important base for the foreign trade in China. The grand changes made Kunshan become the No. 1 Chinese city in the list of Forbes for five straight years. It is also a nine-year champion in the List of Small Cities in China by Comprehensive Competitiveness.
The story of Kunshan is an epitome of the leap-forward development of the area of Shanghai， Jiangsu， Zhejiang and Anhui. In this place that covers 344 thousand square kilometers， there are a lot of cities sharing the success of Kunshan.
According to Ni Pengfei， the statistical data in 2011 showed the permanent resident population in this area reached 212.2 million and the GDP amounted to 1156.6 billion yuan. In another word， this area， which only takes 3.58% of the total land of mainland China， contributes 24.5% of this country’s GDP.
The research by the City and Competitiveness Research Center revealed that there were three major economic zones in China. Among these three most dynamic economic areas， which are respectively located in the Yangtze River Delta， Pearl River Delta and Bohai Ring Area， the one in Yangtze River Delta is the earliest one to start its development and is the most developed one， in both the economic volume and the industrial structure.
In the 1980s， it took five hours to move from Kunshan to Nanjing by train. Now the bullet train reduced the journey to 1.5 hours. The journey from Kunshan to Suzhou by high-speed train only takes 11 minutes， same as the time of walking from Wangfujing to Tian’anmen Square in Beijing.
According to Ni Pengfei， the “twohour economic circle” （the area that is two hours’ drive from its center） only covered Wuxi， Changzhou， Suzhou， Hangzhou， Jiaxing and a few other cities previously. These cities are all located along the expressways between Shanghai and Nanjing and between Shanghai and Hangzhou. They are also very close to Shanghai.
The construction of expressways started in 2000 put Zhenjiang， Huzhou and Shaoxing in this circle. Then， the“two-hour economic circle” gradually covers the entire length of ShanghaiNanjing Expressway and ShanghaiHangzhou Expressway. In 2010， the establishment of the bridge between Suzhou and Nantong and the one crossing the Hangzhou Bay extended the “two-hour economic circle” further southward and northward. It jumped out of the restriction of Yangtze River and incorporated Nantong， Yangzhou and Taizhou in the north. It also reached the coastal area in Zhejiang after moving southward and crossing the Yangtze River. This is a representation of the“ever-expanding” Yangtze River Delta， which went through the ages of railway， expressway， bridge and high-speed railway.
Since there is still a large potential in the high-speed railway construction in this area， the “two-hour economic circle” of the Yangtze River Delta will cover the entire area of Shanghai， Jiangsu and Zheijiang， as well as 40 cities in Anhui. By then， it will take four hours at most to make a round trop between Shanghai and all cities in Jiangsu， Zhejiang and Anhui. This is going to allow any person to go to another city， finish the work there， and return to his/ her home city within one day. Simply speaking， the “one-day economy” is go-ing to come true in the Yangtze River Delta.
The Similar Industrial Structure
Compared with the expanding“two-hour economic circle”， the increasing appeal and the economic integration in this super economic zone is much more attention-worthy.
The research made by City and Competitiveness Research Center at CASS showed that the attractiveness index of Yangtze River Delta in the view of spatial dimension improved from 4.014 in 2003 to 4.129 in 2013， and is expected to reach 4.562 by 2020. The stable increase means that Shanghai is going to have a stable and ever-increasing influence over the entire area with the increasing number of cities and the expanding area.
Li Mian， a member of the research team of the “City and Competitiveness” at CASS， said that the regional gap in the Yangtze River Delta apparently shrank in the last ten years and they became more integrated. This is a result of the intensive research into the average GDP and the GDP increase of 40 cities from 2001 to 2010.
“Presently， the trade cost in this area is lowered， which led to the formation of the regional common market，”said Ni Pengfei.
The data showed that the average level of the industrial structural similarity in the Yangtze River Delta has been keeping an upward trend since 2004 and reached 0.795 in 2010， a mark for the industrial isomorphism.
The index for industrial isomorphism varies to regions. A great similarity can be found in the industrial structures of Shanghai and Zhejiang. In recent two years， the figure was maintained at 0.9 and 0.85 respectively. The similarity of industrial structure between Shanghai and Zhejiang is 0.7 or so， lower than the one between Shanghai and Jiangsu but still higher than one Anhui shares with Shanghai. This means that the unbalanced development is still there in the Yangtze River Delta. “The industrial covergence in the Yangtze River Delta is not a bad thing，”Li Shantong said. This is because that the industrial covengence in the present day is totally different from the one in the 1980s and 1990s， as， for instance， the areas boosting the car-related industry， no matter it is the assembly of cars or the production of components， are now considered to have the industrial convergence.
According to Li Mian， the increasing industrial relatedness comes along with the apparent synchronization in the structural change in the Yangtze River Delta. The industrial isomorphism has become the fundamental for the integration of this area. The Yangtze River Delta is participating in the international labor division and competition by upgrading its economic structure and forming the cluster competitive advantages.
The Proposal about Optimization
In spite of the prosperous situation， there are problems unavoidable in the super economic zone of Shanghai， Zhejiang， Jiangsu and Anhui.
“The first one comes from the stagnant strategies and planning，” Ni Pengfei said. The Regional Planning of Yangtze River Delta （2009-202） fixed the development goal and strategic position of the Yangtze River Delta and is considered the guideline for the development and reform of this area in the post-crisis period. However， as a long-time planning， it fails to see the objective trend of the expansion of the Yangtze River Delta to the grander area of Shanghai， Jiangsu， Zhejiang and Anhui. The coverage， significance， as well as its ambition， need to be improved.
“So we suggest modifying the planning for the Yangtze River Delta，”said Ni Pengfei. Previously， Anhui was excluded from this area and even the northern part of Jiangsu was given little attention. So， many experts held the opinion that the spatial distribution in the greater Yangtze River Delta should follow the principle of “developing the northern area， optimizing the structure in the southern area， transferring a part of the industries in eastern area to western area， upgrading and expanding the central area’s role”. All in all， a fan-shaped economic zone should be spread with Shanghai as the core.
In recent years， the Yangtze River Delta is having increasingly prominent problems of traffic jam， environmental pollution and housing shortage. On one hand， Shanghai， which covers 6340 square kilometers， is the smallest one among the four municipalities in China. On the other hand， the vast area north of the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River boasts grand resources， but cannot fully enjoy the spillover benefits of Shanghai and the southern part of Yangtze River Delta. Researchers also found that the establishment of the urban economic coordinative meeting set up an important platform for the in-depth regional cooperation， but， as the integration goes further and deeper， the distribution of benefits calls for more meticulousness. Presently， there is no mechanism in this area allowing different regions to “negotiate with each other” on the interest distribution， rendering the benefit swap hard to be realized. As a result， the local protectionism， benefiting oneself at other’s expense and the repeated construction are frequently found in this area， setting up hurdles for the further regional cooperation.
Lu Qinyi， dean of CASS’s Anhui Branch， believes that “the Yangtze River Delta should have the features matching this area”. It is necessary to improve the professional skills while reducing the unreasonable enthusiasm in the urban construction. To do this， the primary requirement is to equalize the fundamental service system. It is known that a plan about “the better spatial arrangement brought by the optimized in-depth development” has already been complied by the CASS and submitted the relevant governmental department.
The new plan included two proposals： the first one is to improve the strategic position and administrative level based on the current administrative area； the second one is to upgrade the new bay area of Tongzhou into a national-level new economic area， so that it can be linked to the Pudong area of Shanghai with a strategic importance. This can build two super economic centers standing opposite each other across the Yangtze River and function as the core to support the development of the super economic zone； the third one is to integrate Nantong into Shanghai， forming a “Greater Shanghai with three parts divided by two rivers and an island” （Two rivers refer to Huangpu River and Yangtze River； three areas mean Pudong， Puxi and Nantong and the island is Chongming Island）.
“Though there are conflicts of interest among these regions， this new adjustment is highly expected. If it can be finalized， Shanghai will gain great development space， while Jiangsu and its cities are going to play a more important area in Yangtze River Delta and even the whole country，” Ni Pengfei said.