(by Professor Zheng Changzhong on the Way from Luzhen, Shaoxing to Hangzhou on May 24, 2025)
Hello, dear journalists!
The “Luzhen” scenic area we just visited is filled with the charm of a Jiangnan water town. It located in Keqiao District is home to the world’s largest textile trading market — China Textile City. It is no exaggeration to say that one out of every four textile products traded globally originates here! Keqiao District currently has more than 8,000 textile enterprises, including over 900 above-designated-size enterprises, with a remarkable industrial agglomeration effect. Its annual fabric trading volume accounts for 1/4 of the global total, with an annual transaction volume exceeding 360 billion yuan, ranking first among similar markets nationwide for consecutive years. This serves as a vivid microcosm of the “textile kingdom.”
The development model of “one town, one specialty, global leadership” exemplified by Keqiao is not unique in Zhejiang or even China; we refer to this as the “clustered economy.” Take Yiwu, adjacent to Shaoxing, as an example. Its China Small Commodity Market is world-famous — 75,000+ merchants operate here. I once investigated a merchant whose products are exported to 207 countries and regions. If you wanted to spend three minutes in front of each shop in the market and shopped 8 hours a day, it would take a year and a half to finish! These characteristic towns, with their astonishing industrial scale and international influence, outline a unique landscape on China’s economic map.
When we enter Keqiao’s textile world and stroll through Yiwu’s “global supermarket,” it is evident that these “one town, one specialty” clustered economies are converging into a powerful force driving Zhejiang’s economic takeoff. Today, Zhejiang’s GDP ranks steadily fourth in China, and behind this remarkable achievement lies a decades-long economic transformation.
Since the 1978 Reform and Opening-Up, Zhejiang’s GDP has achieved an astonishing 65-fold growth; from 2002 to 2023, even on a massive economic base, it still achieved a 10-fold leap — growing from over 800 billion yuan to exceeding 8 trillion yuan. These numerical leaps bear witness to the infinite potential of this land.
This achievement is inseparable from Xi Jinping’s five years of deep engagement in Zhejiang. In 2003, Xi Jinping, then Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, drew up a development blueprint for Zhejiang with a forward-looking strategic vision through extensive field research. From the “Eight-Eight Strategy” indicating the development direction, to the “Ten Million Project” reshaping rural landscapes, and the “Birdcage Replacement” driving industrial upgrading… A series of strategic deployments not only activated the clustered economic characteristics of places like Keqiao and Yiwu but also injected sustained momentum into Zhejiang’s long-term development. These decisions have not only profoundly changed Zhejiang’s development trajectory but also become valuable experience for high-quality regional economic development in China.
The core of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s “Eight-Eight Strategy” is to sort out eight development advantages of Zhejiang through research and formulate strategic plans accordingly, making it a long-term action guide for Zhejiang’s development. Its specific content proposes “eight initiatives” centered on leveraging advantages:
Further leveraging institutional advantages. Zhejiang has historically possessed “market-first” institutional advantages, with active private economies and an early start in market economy. Through this initiative, market vitality is continuously stimulated, the common development of multiple ownership economies with public ownership as the main body is promoted, and the socialist market economic system is improved.
Further leveraging geographical location advantages. Zhejiang is located in the core area of the Yangtze River Delta and has a unique geographical position of “connecting to Shanghai.” By actively docking with Shanghai, deepening exchanges and cooperation in the Yangtze River Delta region, and enhancing the level of domestic and international openness, it undertakes industrial transfer and technological radiation to expand regional development space.
Further leveraging advantages of clustered characteristic industries. Zhejiang has remarkable clustered economic characteristics, with numerous small and medium-sized enterprises agglomerating in specific regions to form highly competitive industrial clusters. By accelerating the construction of advanced manufacturing bases, promoting traditional industrial upgrading, and taking a new path of industrialization, it enhances industrial added value and core competitiveness.
Further leveraging urban-rural coordinated development advantages. Zhejiang has a relatively good foundation in urban-rural development, with a relatively small urban-rural gap. Through coordinating urban and rural economic and social development, increasing investment in rural areas, promoting equal exchange of urban-rural factors and balanced allocation of public resources, and advancing urban-rural integration, it achieves common prosperity.
Further leveraging ecological advantages. Zhejiang has a natural endowment of “seven mountains, one water, and two parts farmland” with a fine ecological environment. By creating an ecological province, building a “Green Zhejiang,” and establishing the concept that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets,” it strengthens ecological protection and governance to transform ecological advantages into development advantages.
Further leveraging mountain-sea resource advantages. Zhejiang is adjacent to the sea and rich in mountain-sea resources. By vigorously developing marine economy, promoting the development of industries such as marine fisheries, energy, and tourism, and through “mountain-sea collaboration” to facilitate cooperation between developed and underdeveloped regions, it drives the leapfrog development of underdeveloped regions and cultivates new economic growth points.
Further leveraging environmental advantages. A good environment is an important guarantee for development. By advancing infrastructure construction with the “Five-Hundred-Billion-Yuan Project” as the core to improve the hardware environment, and simultaneously strengthening the construction of the rule of law, credit, and government efficiency to optimize the software environment, it enhances comprehensive competitiveness.
Further leveraging cultural and humanistic advantages. Zhejiang has a long history, profound cultural heritage, and rich human resources. By implementing strategies of rejuvenating the province through science and education and strengthening the province through talent, increasing investment in education and technology, cultivating and attracting talent, and promoting cultural industry development to build a cultural major cultural province, it provides intellectual support and spiritual motivation for sustainable development.
?Since the implementation of the “Eight-Eight Strategy,” through Comrade Xi Jinping’s five years of efforts in Zhejiang and the continuous promotion over the subsequent dozen years, Zhejiang has led the country in economic, social, cultural, ecological civilization, and social governance fields. In 2021, China entrusted Zhejiang with the task of building a demonstration zone for high-quality development and common prosperity at the national level.
After assuming the position of General Secretary, Xi Jinping extended this research-based, reality-oriented thinking and working style to the whole country. Studying the “Eight-Eight Strategy” can help us deeply understand the conceptual foundation of his subsequent governance philosophy. This approach to strategy formulation and implementation — starting from reality, grasping advantages, and solving problems — holds universal significance: the development of any region requires basing itself on local realities, recognizing strengths and weaknesses, formulating strategies that are both forward-looking and pragmatic in light of contemporary needs and people’s expectations, and advancing them with perseverance and adaptability to the times.
Next, we will head to Hangzhou — the capital city of Zhejiang Province. There is a Chinese saying, “Above is paradise, below are Suzhou and Hangzhou,” meaning Hangzhou and Suzhou are as beautiful as paradise. Hangzhou is one of China’s most famous scenic cities, and you can experience its specific charm firsthand after arrival. That’s all for today’s sharing. Thank you!
*The views and opinions expressed in the articles are solely those of the individual authors and do not reflect the position of the Secretariat of the Belt and Road Journalist Network.