Luoyang Balances Traditions and Modern Industries

Driverless tractors made in Luoyang, Henan province, are displayed on farmland. [Photo by Pan Yu/for China Daily]

Chen Junwu, an engineer with the Luoyang Petrochemical Engineering Corporation of Sinopec and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has lived in Luoyang, Henan province, for more than 50 years. He said it is a place worth fighting for.

"I have witnessed the city's progress. In recent years, it has had so many big development opportunities, and its growth has entered the fast lane. Innovation is still an important force driving the ancient city's development today," he said.

Luoyang is renowned as one of the six ancient capitals of China. It is also one of the eight key industrial cities that took shape during the First Five-Year Plan (1953-57), when seven large State-owned enterprises were established there.

The downtown has the Jianhe River to the west, the Yellow River to the north and the Luohe and Yihe rivers to the south.

The center of Luoyang has grown from 4.5 square kilometers in the early 1950s to 265 sq km today, and the infrastructure facilities, city management and public services have improved substantially, too. Now, more than 60 percent of residents live in the urban area.

During the period of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), Luoyang's annual GDP rose to 513 billion yuan ($80 billion), and the per capita income has doubled in the past 10 years.

Innovation has been central to this 1,000-year-old former capital. From 2016 to last year, the number of Luoyang's innovation areas and platforms doubled.

The city's provincial－and ministry-level research institutes and national-level innovation platforms account for one-third of Henan's total.

Moreover, the city's labs and businesses are engaged in making China's newest aircraft carrier, large planes, spacecraft and deep-sea research submersibles.

Luoyang's industrial structure has been transformed in recent years, with innovation-driven, emerging strategic industries accounting for a large proportion.

There are 1,796 manufacturing enterprises in the city, each with annual turnover of more than 20 million yuan and employing 970,000 workers in total. Nearly 500 "made in Luoyang" products have entered the international market, and 14 of them, such as lithium batteries, hold domestic market share of more than 50 percent.

A view of Yihe River in Luoyang, Henan province, in 2018. [Photo by Pan Yu/for China Daily]

Cultural heritage

Luoyang has integrated its own culture as an ancient capital with that of the Luohe River, the old Silk Road and the Grand Canal, making it a rich heritage center.

In recent years, the city has promoted the development of its cultural industry, protected its ancient heritage and accelerated construction of an international cultural tourism city and an international humanities exchange center.

The Luoyang Peony Culture Festival of China has been held for 38 consecutive years, while the Luoyang National Historical and Cultural Park of the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) dynasties and the Museum of Xia Capital Relics in Erlitou have become must-see attractions.

Recently, construction of a cultural and environmental protection experimental zone was approved.

Luoyang has received more than 100 million tourists from home and abroad annually for the past five years, and nearly half of all tourists to Henan visit the city.

According to Wang Shuxia, Party chief of Luoyang's poverty alleviation office, over the past eight years, 499,000 people living in 728 villages across six counties have been lifted out of poverty.

"Luoyang is trying to seamlessly dovetail its poverty alleviation work with the rural vitalization project to give the people a stronger sense of gain and make their lives more secure," Wang said.

At present, the convergence of national strategies centered on the growth of the central region, environmental protection of the Yellow River Basin and high-quality development have opened an important window of opportunity for the city.

Luoyang plans to take this opportunity to carry out a new development concept and form a new development paradigm, according to the local government.

Zhang Guangxiu, vice-president of the Party School of the CPC Luoyang Committee, said the city's development has accelerated since it was earmarked as a subcenter of the Central China City Cluster.

"The city is undoubtedly at an important stage of its development, in which the advantages of its location are becoming more prominent, new development impetus is taking shape and its governance ability is improving," he said.