Xinhuanet, Shenzhen, September 1 (reporter Peng Yong): Looking out from a high-rise in Shenzhen's central area, one sees the following scene: a winding Shenzhen River, with the south bank in Hong Kong showing pristine landscapes and rural scenery, while on the north bank in Shenzhen, almost every patch of land has been "planted" with houses, packed densely without space.
This scene aptly mirrors Shenzhen's reality: on the one hand, in 30 years of reform and opening up, Shenzhen has created an economic miracle rare in the world; on the other hand, an extensive development model has consumed virtually all land resources.
This stands in stark contrast to Hong Kong. Hong Kong has only half the land area of Shenzhen; in 2009, Shenzhen's GDP was 820 billion yuan, while Hong Kong's was 1.4 trillion yuan.
According to statistics, over the past 30 years Shenzhen's average annual GDP growth rate reached 25.8%, but with land resources running short, a population exceeding 14 million, and the environment showing trends of degradation… as various problems have come to the surface, Shenzhen, as a Chinese special economic zone, has been the first to encounter the "ceiling dilemma" in development.
To create more economic results while consuming fewer resources, Shenzhen has no choice but to adjust its economic structure, reduce the share of processing and manufacturing, and develop more high-tech industries. Recently, the world-famous contract manufacturer Foxconn announced that it will expand production capacity in central and western China while transforming its Shenzhen plant into an R&D center — a move in line with this trend in Shenzhen.
Over the past 30 years, one of Shenzhen's major achievements has been cultivating a host of high-tech enterprises such as Huawei, ZTE, BYD, and Tencent. Their rapid growth has greatly strengthened the special zone. According to statistics, Huawei's sales revenue last year reached 149.1 billion yuan, making it the world's second-largest telecom equipment vendor after Ericsson and a dazzling calling card for Shenzhen.
Now, faced with the "ceiling dilemma", Shenzhen needs to seek out and cultivate more high-tech, high-growth enterprises. In February of this year, Shenzhen released a sweeping development plan, devoting concerted effort to building three strategic emerging industries — biotechnology, new energy, and the Internet — and aiming to grow the scale of these three industries to 650 billion yuan by 2015, exceeding 40% of the projected regional GDP of 1.5 trillion yuan.
Shenzhen Beike Biotechnology Co., Ltd., a company engaged in stem cell research, is included in this plan. Recognizing the broad prospects of stem cell therapy, medical doctor Hu Xiang founded Shenzhen Beike Biotechnology Co., Ltd. in 2005. After just five years, Beike has become one of China's larger stem cell therapy centers.
In 2007, a 6-year-old American girl with congenital blindness came to China and, after receiving stem cell therapy at Shenzhen Beike Biotechnology Co., Ltd., began responding to light and could see her family's faces. This is the wonder of stem cell technology, which holds promise to open a door to treating many "incurable diseases" for humanity.
By 2009, Beike's stem cell technology had treated more than 6,000 patients, including over 500 patients from more than 40 countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Hungary, achieving notable therapeutic results.
"Stem cell therapy is an opportunity for China to lead the world. Beike Biotech's goal is to become the Merck and Pfizer of the stem cell field," said Hu Xiang, Chairman of Beike Biotech. Once stem cell technology matures, it will form an enormous industrial scale.
"Shenzhen needs more competitive and advanced industries to support sustainable development. Strengthening the momentum of development is especially urgent," said Xu Qin, Mayor of Shenzhen. The Shenzhen Municipal Government has set up special funds for the development of the three strategic emerging industries to support their rapid growth into scale.
"The problems the special zone faces today may be the problems other regions face tomorrow," said Guo Wanda, Vice President of the China Development Institute. As China's special economic zone, Shenzhen's experience in development and reform has provided a model for the rest of the country to learn from, and going forward, Shenzhen will continue to play a pioneering and pilot role.
Source: http://news.sohu.com/20100901/n274626495.shtml
