Should China’s once eastern backwater, Hefei, be an innovation poster child or a cautionary tale?
- Hefei, the capital of the eastern Anhui province, has placed a heavy focus on innovation and emerging industries, including new energy vehicles
- Officials from across China have been eager to learn Hefei’s formula for success, but analysts question whether it can or should be replicated elsewhere
Unlike the hum of the robotic hands assembling cutting-edge electric vehicles and the whirr of the advanced machinery reverberating through Hefei’s numerous modern factories, the eastern Chinese city’s transformation into a bustling hub of innovation and emerging industries has been relatively quiet in the past decade.
The capital of Anhui province was once so poor that farmers heralded China’s rural reforms in 1978, with migrant workers flooding to the economic hub of Shanghai – 400km (249 miles) east – in large numbers in search of work.
But the city has since undergone a phenomenal rise amid China’s economic development strategy, becoming a mecca for Communist Party and government officials.
Where 20 years ago farmland stretched as far as the eye could see, the vista has been replaced by skyscrapers, bridges and clusters of modern industrial plants. Where residents used to keep pig pens outside their homes, a city centre now stands.
Hefei is rare in that its successive administrations have maintained a consistent approach
In the week of April 10 alone, two high-level delegations – headed by leaders from Hunan province and the Beijing municipality – paid a visit to the city’s quantum computing lab, artificial sun research institutions and new energy vehicle factories.
Visiting officials are keen to learn Hefei’s formula for success: how an industrial backwater could catch up and excel in such a short period, and how it defied the national population decline by attracting an influx of nearly 220,000 new residents last year.
