Lying at the core of the Hangzhou metropolitan circle in Mainland China, Deqing County is a strategically important location. The county has established several industrial parks supplemented with a complete chain of services that foster the development of key high-end industries

Deqing County is located on the western part of the Hangzhou–Jiaxin–Huzhou Plain in the Yangtze River Delta in Mainland China. It faces Shanghai to the east, Hangzhou to the south, Taihu Lake Economic Circle to the north and the foothills of Tianmu Mountains to the west. The origin of its name goes as far back as the Song dynasty in the 10th century, and it refers to its inhabitants’ strong morals (De) and its pure (Qing) rivers.

Deqing occupies a total area of 937 square kilometres and administers eight towns and five sub-districts that have a population of 650,000 people. In 2019, the county realised a GDP of RMB53.7bn, representing a growth of 8.3 per cent. Its fiscal income grew 12.2 per cent to RMB11.31bn. Moreover, per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents amounted to RMB59,431 and 36,013, respectively, translating to an increase of 8.3 per cent and 10.1 per cent, respectively.

The western part of Deqing lies at the foothills of the Tianmu Mountains where the summer resort of Mogan Mountain is well known at home and abroad. While central Deqing is a hilly plateau, the eastern part of it is a plain with rivers and villages. At present, there are 11 listed companies in Deqing and it has been listed as one of the top 100 counties in the country 15 times.

It is no wonder, therefore, that Deqing is honoured with titles such as “a place with famous mountains”, “land of fish and rice”, “home of silk”, “land of bamboo and tea” and “county of cultures”.

Advantageous location

Deqing enjoys several unique geographical advantages. Seven of its 13 towns and sub-districts border Hangzhou and form an important part of the Hangzhou metropolitan circle. The Hangzhou–Nanjing high-speed railway and the Deqing inland port, which has an annual transportation capacity of nearly five million tonnes, have brought Deqing into a new “high-speed rail era” and “port era”. The construction of Deqing Station on the Shangqiu–Hefei–Hangzhou High-speed Railway facilitates travel and improves Deqing’s high-speed railway network. With the completion of the Deqing section on the western complex of Hangzhou’s second ring expressway, and the signing of the investment and co-operation agreement of the Hangzhou–Deqing Intercity Light Rail Project, the geographical advantages of Deqing, with its proximity to Shanghai and Hangzhou, have been strengthened further.

Excellent ecological environment

With its geographical characteristics of “five mountains, one river and a quarter cultivated fields”, Deqing is endowed with natural beauty and has become a leisure resort in southern China. Within the territory lies the Mogan Mountain, one of Mainland China’s four major summer resorts, and Shizhu Xiazhu Lake, recognised as the country’s most beautiful wetland. Its ancient town Xinshi is renowned for its thousand-year-old canal and century-old nickname of “Little Shanghai”.

Suitable living

Located on the hinterland of the Yangtze River Delta, Deqing residents enjoy a relaxed lifestyle, beautiful scenery and fresh air. The county has magnificent mountains and rivers and a unique and pleasant ecological environment. It is an ideal place to live and is rightly regarded as the back garden of Shanghai and Hangzhou.

According to monitoring data, the annual average density of negative oxygen ions in Deqing is 1,381 per cubic centimetre, which is higher than the standard set by the World Health Organization. Moreover, the excellent air quality rating is recorded at 89.9 per cent.

Key developing industries

1. High-end manufacturing
With the aim of bringing its industrial chain to a higher level, Deqing is focused on provincial-level equipment manufacturing and renders special effort to introduce leading projects to achieve breakthroughs in quantity and quality. Targeted industries include robot and AI equipment, advanced packaging equipment, smart manufacturing, electrical machinery, energy saving and environmental protection equipment, electronic information technology equipment, remote surveying and mapping equipment and medical equipment. At present, there are over 100 enterprises in the county engaging in high-end equipment manufacturing.

2. Biopharmaceuticals and healthcare
Deqing has taken advantage of its strength in biopharmaceuticals, green health and other special industries to gradually introduce pharmaceutical manufacturing, functional foods and dietary supplements, biocosmetics, medical devices, modern Chinese medicine, green bioproducts, biopharmaceuticals manufacturing, medical device manufacturing, smart medical and elderly care, medical institutions, leisure and health services and health consulting management. Achieving breakthroughs in these and other key areas will create a slow-life leisure industry belt in the county’s eastern area. Augmented with planning and constructing an “international health city” in the Mogan Mountain region, the county is making further steps to become a mega healthcare industry base in the Yangtze River Delta, incorporating both services and manufacturing.

3. Green household
Strategically positioned as a green-home designing centre, Deqing has nurtured a group of high-quality design talent and design teams. Tapping into abundant green-home industry resources, the county has created a green-home model community and prompted the development of the green-home industry in innovative directions. Home furnishing design competitions, home design exhibitions, home furnishing design forums, seminars and other activities have enhanced the popularity and influence of the county being a green-home design and home furnishing industry centre at home and abroad.

Diversified development

1. Huzhou Moganshan High-tech Industrial Development Zone
Previously known as Deqing Hi-tech Technology Industrial Park, the Huzhou Moganshan High-tech Industrial Development Zone was authorised by the State Department as a country-level high-and-new tech industrial development zone in September 2015. It is the third time in the country and the first time in the province that a high-and-new technology zone is located in a county. It incorporates four major platforms, namely geographical information, northern town high-and-new technology, general aviation and AI.

2. Hi-tech Geographical Information Park
The Deqing Geographic Information Town occupies a planned area of 3.68 square kilometres, with 1.13 square kilometres as its core area. The town focuses on spatial information aiming at establishing an international geographical information exchange centre, a national geographical information technology innovation centre and a national big-data centre for geographical information. With its aim becoming a mecca for global geographical information, the information town will foster development of the industry on the global stage by improving its international standards as it endeavours to establish itself as a “Davos” in this field.

3. Hi-tech General Aviation Park
Huzhou Moganshan Hi-tech General Aviation Park is situated in the Huzhou Moganshan High-tech Industrial Development Zone. It has a planned area of 17.5 square kilometres, and at present incorporates the research institute of China Aviation Industry General Aircraft (Zhejiang), State Grid General Aviation Eastern China Centre Base, Ruyi Airlines Industrial Base, Zhejiang Institute of Turbomachinery and Propulsion Systems, Zhejiang University R&D Base for Drone and many other industrial leaders.

4. Hi-tech Smart Ecological City
The Deqing Ecological City occupies an area of 12 square kilometres. It focuses on the development of emerging strategic industries such as the AI industry, big-data and Fintech, 5G new generation communication and intelligent connected vehicles. Concerted efforts will see the establishment of the country’s first demonstration area for citywide autonomous pilot and smart transportation.

5. Northern town Hi-tech Park
The park is the first in the province to establish a pilot mine development base and is the largest consolidated open-pit mine development and utilisation zone in the Yantze River Delta. With a planned area of more than 13,000 acres, the park is also being developed into an industrial base for high-end equipment manufacturing, biopharmaceutics and new energy vehicles.

6. Zhejiang–Deqing Economic Development Zone
This is a provincial-level economic development zone with a planned area of 19.21 square kilometres. It is helping to speed up the construction of Deqing Industrial Park together with its three sub-parks, namely Zhongguan, Xinan and Yuyue. The provincial-level advanced economic development zone is designated to pioneer high-end equipment manufacturing, information technology and new materials.

7. Mogan Mountain International Tourism Resort
Mogan Mountain, named after the famous husband-and-wife swordsmiths Moxie and Ganjiang who cast swords in the mountains during the Spring and Autumn period (over 2,500 years ago), is one of the four major summer resorts in Mainland China. Since the beginning of the last century, it has been a well-known holiday resort. There are still more than 200 Minguo (Nationalist China) buildings remaining, earning it the nickname “National Museum” and is now a protected key cultural relic in the country.

The Mogan Mountain International Tourism Resort is located in the western part of the county with an area of 7.66 square kilometres. It was once rated by the New York Times as one of the 45 most worth-visiting places in the world and is one of Mainland China’s most popular tourist destinations.

Complete supporting services

1. Strong industrial support
Deqing has strengthened its reforms and implemented “one window approval” to greatly save time and money for enterprises carrying out registration and other business formalities. A series of supporting policies are on the way to enhance investment and industrial development. The county is also prompting enterprises to go public and promote financial innovation and e-commerce. With 20 new policies for recruiting talent and preferential policies such as “one enterprise, one policy” and “case-base consideration” of major projects well in place, the development of an information economy is accelerating.

The county launched 18 articles to strengthen the county’s industries that include policies to encourage enterprises to pursue technological transformation and use robots to substitute human labour. It also actively supports the development of leading enterprises by offering them economic development contribution awards in order to strengthen the optimal allocation of resources.

In the meantime, the 20 policies to attract new talent has introduced a wealth of highly sophisticated and leading talent especially to enterprises that are in short supply of qualified professionals. The articles improve market-based talent introduction and reward mechanisms by guaranteeing quality housing and living for new talent.

2. Efficient deep-water port
Deqing is one of the few inland cities in Zhejiang Province functioning as a trade port. The port, together with industrial parks and logistics parks, are organically combined to form a logistics centre adjoining Hangzhou that radiates to Shanghai, southern Suzhou, Hangzhou, Jiaxing and Hunan. It owns the largest and deepest inland wharf in the Hang–Jia–Hu area that has long lacked deep-water berths above a 1,000-tonne level.

3. Supporting financial service covers the Yangtze River Delta
Deqing is among the first batch of financial innovation demonstration counties in Zhejiang Province. Construction at an early stage saw the financial base of the Yangtze River Delta take shape. With the introduction of Zhejiang Rural Credit Co-operatives Financial Base, Zhejiang Rural Credit Co-operatives Centre (Zhejiang Rural Credit College), Zhejiang Rural Credit Co-operatives Customer Service Centre, ICBC Business Processing Centre Zhejiang Branch, Credit Card Information Archive Centre, Bank Card Clearing Centre, China Unicom East China Data Centre and IBM Global Financing Department China Re-manufacturing Centre, there are more than 20 financial back offices and supporting institutions located in the county with a total investment of more than RMB14bn and that have incubated nearly 600 enterprises.

A bright future

Deqing strives to implement the strategy of “merging with Shanghai and Hangzhou through reform and innovation”. It will continue to closely follow the main route of transformation and development to strengthen its industries and bring about prosperity. Focused on building an international-level landscape garden city, it vows to build a high-level, well-off society.

• Deqing will be an innovative, co-ordinated, green, open and shared reform demonstration area in Zhejiang Province and even the whole country. It is exploring a replicable and extendable path for co-ordinated development with other counties.
• It will become a high-level county economic innovation and entrepreneurship development area in the Yangtze River Delta, an influential demonstration zone for transformation of scientific and technological achievements, and a pilot zone for comprehensive innovation reform.
• People in Deqing have a passion for life and are inclusive and harmonious in forming a prosperous and peaceful community. Living in such a beautiful environment, they work diligently and happily to create and enjoy the beauty of life.