New open password in port transformation
A hundred years ago, Qingdao used the port as a carrier to send an invitation to the world for industrial civilization. Behind this is the nascent city's desire for development.
Since opened in 1897, the port has driven the prosperity and development of port-centered industries such as railway, textile, commerce and finance. In the early 20th century, Guantao Road gathered more than 50 branches of foreign banks, and by the 1930s, it had become Qingdao’s financial and economic center, known as “Qingdao’s Wall Street”, affecting the economy in the entire East China region and the export and re-export in coastal areas.
A hundred years later, re-starting as international cruise home port area, the port launched a charge to the modern service industry, bearing the core momentum of Qingdao to build an international shipping trade financial center.
At the same time, the "open" change comes as planned.
On March 28, Qingdao Municipal Government signed a contract with the Shandong Port Group with a total investment of 10 billion yuan centering on shipping, trade, finance and cruise economy. The Shibei District of Qingdao signed to land the international cruise home port area carrying cruise tourism, financial trade, smart innovation and business culture plans and 14 major projects with the initial total investment of over 21.35 billion yuan, marking the international cruise home port area as an important fulcrum for Qingdao to build an international shipping trade financial innovation center.
This may also be the core of Qingdao's higher level of opening up.
The New Economic Momentum of "North Lujiazui"
"Finance is the blood of the modern economy. Only when the blood flows smoothly, can development have vitality."
Wealth management is an important part of the financial industry.
As 30 years ago, Shanghai won the well-known name of "financial center" thanks to Lujiazui Financial and Trade Zone, Qingdao is now also emerging as a financial center, providing impetus for the city's economic development.
In 2014, with the consent of the State Council, Qingdao became China’s only wealth management themed national financial comprehensive reform pilot zone. Jinjialing Financial District, as the core zone of the pilot zone, also undertook the important mission to explore the formation of new models and approaches of wealth management development and to build a wealth management system with Chinese characteristics.
Up to now, the total number of financial institutions and financial enterprises in the financial zone has reached 1,018, representing a new node since its establishment five years ago. Since Qingdao initiated the institutional mechanism reform of the functional zone, the Jinjialing Financial Zone, one of the pilots, has promoted platform chain investment, with a total of 116 financial projects settled and the registered capital of nearly 40 billion yuan.
Last year, the People’s Bank of China, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the National Health Commission approved the pilot work of fin-tech applications in ten key cities in China, among which Qingdao, together with Beijing, Shanghai and other cities was selected.
As early as the beginning of 2018, the Management Committee of Jinjialing Financial Zone proposed and started to build the "Qingdao Financial Technology Center". Up till now, the enterprises in the zone, like CCID Research Institute, Energy Chain Group, Flash Payment and other fintech companies, involve in industry research, technology development and application practice of cutting-edge financial technologies including blockchain, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence,
For the time being, Qingdao will continue to strengthen exploration, practise prior to carry and try, and use the water of wealth to facilitate international shipping trade financial innovation, to serve the national strategy, and to energize Shandong and even northern China.
Innovation in the free trade zone Qingdao area
In August 2019, the China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone-Qingdao Area was listed, with key industries including modern marine industry, international trade, shipping logistics, modern finance, advanced manufacturing, etc. For Qingdao, a free trade zone with more open opportunities may be another huge benefit to support Qingdao's industrial transformation.
If to better serve the overall strategic layout of opening to the outside world is the "mission" of the free trade zone, then innovation is the necessary path to complete its mission.
Innovation is precisely the main engine for the development of modern service industry.
From this perspective, the encounter between Free Trade Zone-Qingdao Area and the modern service industry is like gears that fits each other, and shoulders high expectations. As the Free Trade Zone-Qingdao Area welcomes a group of modern service enterprises and projects landed here, greater innovative opportunities favored this young area again.
On April 13th, China (Shandong) Pilot Free Trade Zone Qingdao Area Management Committee and Haier Digital Technology (Qingdao) Co., Ltd. signed a cooperation agreement according to which the two parties will jointly build the COSMOPlat platform enterprise public service base to help enterprises develop rapidly, and energize the industrial structure upgrading of Free Trade Zone Qingdao Area, exerting a huge innovation momentum in realizing the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure.
For Qingdao, 2020 is an extraordinary year. In this city of youth, the modern service industry carries the expectation of re-starting, building an international metropolis, and creating Shandong to be a bridgehead open to the world. Qingdao’s higher level of opening to the outside world, and more dynamic new economy and stronger innovation momentum have demonstrated the resilience of Chinese cities in crises and difficulties.
