Dangkou Ancient Town in Wuxi. [Photo provided to wuxi.gov.cn]
In something of a coming-of-age story, Wuxi in Jiangsu Province is arguably a poster child for China's new drive in its modernization.
Catching the Wave
Water. Stuff of life. The crucial element making Wuxi tick like clockwork. That, a slice of hereditary genius and a helping of history.
"The Art of War" is regarded as the world's greatest book on military strategy. Its author, Sun Wu, was instrumental in the rise of the Wu State. Today, clues are to be found at the Helv Relics Museum, standing dominate in the foothills north of Taihu Lake, Wuxi, as if defending the ancient capital of Wu.
It's the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BCE) and Taibo, journeying from today's Shaanxi Province to the Wuxi area, brought along advanced technology and culture of central China, representing the first migration into the region south of the Yangtze River, Jiangnan. It made Wuxi people openminded, modest and hard working.
Researchers believe local people are good at "catching the wave". For them, the vast Taihu Lake and Yangtze River represent locals' broad view of the world; their water towns' little canals and springs indicative of an attention to detail and delicacy.
Villages giving back and bringing back
Today, Wuxi boasts the highest GDP per capita of any Chinese city. Local entrepreneurial tendencies mean that a former village today provides 30,000 jobs in Cambodia.
That's partly down to Zhou Haijiang, a 20th CPC National Congress delegate and Chairman of the Hodo Group.
But it began in 1957 when Zhou's grandfather established a collective with his wife and others in the bourgeoning garment industry. Two generations on and the Hodo Group is behind the Sihanoukville Port Special Economic Zone in Cambodia.
Helping also to build local schools and hospitals, Zhou has faith there will soon be therein 100,000 people and 300 enterprises, energizing the China-Cambodia friendship, peaceful development in operation as part of the BRI.
Not far away, in Jiangyin, the Heilan Group has another tailor for its origins. Today, it has given back through a collection of thoroughbred, dressage horses from worldwide and China's largest privately-held art museum.
Over the past few decades, Villages in Wuxi have like others seen a steady efflux of young people, most to never return. But one local village has recently begun bucking the trend.
Focusing on developing tourism, Baita Village Secretary, Ouyang, created an infrastructure providing jobs for returnees. There's even a little bar where the young can drink and sing the night away after showing tourists around.
Ouyang's forward thinking has paid off too, bringing back to the village a full 15% of their lost youngsters.
From environment comes productivity
In concern for its whole environment, Wuxi today has Ma Liang as Vice Mayor responsible for agriculture and environment. Pointing to Taihu Lake's water quality, the native knows well 15 years of treatment has improved the ecological aquatic environment. In 2021, the Lake's water quality reached its best levels since 2007.
That renaissance extends to the Lake's banks too; people now come to jog and glamp on the banks full of restored vitality, spelling harmony between humanity and nature.
Nearby, Ma notes how the Taihu Bay Science and Innovation Belt and its environs at present account for 90% of the provincial and ministerial-scientific-research institutes in Wuxi, possessing over 90% of local eco-tourism resources and 70% of top-level talent.
With Wuxi's GDP last year topping 1.4 trillion yuan, Ma says, "We deeply feel that protecting the ecological environment means protecting productivity, and improving the ecological environment means developing productivity."
In many ways, these examples are bell weathers for the entire modernization of China. And beyond; a shared future for all humankind.
Liverpudlian, John Molyneux, Senior Vice President of Operations at the Genesis Medtech Group in Wuxi. He found his relocation at the height of the pandemic to be as painless as possible, and cites the city's ongoing greenification efforts and its cycle-friendly layout as key draws.
The Genesis Medtech logo is a drop of water. Somewhat fitting. For were there ever to be a place where water would flow uphill, Wuxi would surely be it.
