From 16 to 18 September 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Henan Province, and his first stop was Xinyang, an old revolutionary area in the Ta-pieh Mountains. He put forward the major requirement of "building the old revolutionary area better and letting the people in the old area live a better life", which pointed out the way forward, drew a beautiful blueprint, and provided a fundamental guideline for Xinyang's development. In recent years, Xinyang has faithfully practised General Secretary's earnest request of "two betters", anchored itself in the "two ensures", carried out the "ten strategies", and fully implemented the "1335" work layout. With the goal of shaping a brand of "Find quality life in Xinyang", Xinyang has decided on three major positionings of "inter-provincial regional centre city of Hubei, Henan and Anhui, efficient eco-economic demonstration zone of Ta-pieh Mountains (South Henan), and industrial coordinated innovation zone of the Yangtze River Delta", achieved three breakthroughs in "ideological concepts, business environment, and grass-roots foundations", focused on the overall promotion from five aspects of "green rise of industries, construction of garden city, rural revitalization as a priority, highlights in transport, tourism, cultural and creative industries, and quality life playing a leading role", accelerated the revitalization of the old area and speeded up the green rise, and created the "two betters" demonstration area and destination for quality life.
Focus on the green rise of industries, and strengthen the new driving forces for the revitalization development of the old area. General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that the rise of the central region must be a green rise, requiring us to take the road of green development. On the basis of ecological advantages, Xinyang seizes the opportunity of "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality", and implements the green low-carbon transformation strategy in depth. In 2021, the City's gross domestic product exceeded CNY 300 billion, and the growth rate of disposable income per capita was among the highest in the Province. With innovation as the first driving force, Xinyang implements the high-tech enterprise multiplication plan and the "spring bamboo shoots" plan for science-and-technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises. With the future human settlement science and technology industry as the main line, Xinyang establishes the "1+1" industrial layout of leading industries and special industries, and accelerates the formation of green energy, green construction, ecological home furnishings, intelligent home, green food, fashion textile, healthy & positive ageing and tourism, emergency industry, modern logistics and other tens of billions of yuan of industrial clusters; a batch of top enterprises such as Xiaomi have signed a contract with concrete cooperation. Xinyang makes every effort to create a "growth pole" to lead Xinyang's high-quality development, a "testing ground" for the reform of development zones in Henan Province, and a "bridgehead" for connecting with the Yangtze River Delta and the Greater Bay Area. Supported by green finance, Xinyang has successfully passed the review of national climate investment and financing pilots, and is actively creating a national reform and innovation pilot zone for green finance.
Focus on the construction of a garden city, and expand liveable and employment-friendly new space. Xinyang firmly implements the major requirement of "pursuing new, people-centered urbanization", adheres to the concept of "gently placing the city between mountains and waters", promotes the transformation of urban development from the development-oriented type to the operation-oriented type, and shapes the city features of "ecological leisure, health and vitality, and quality life". Xinyang carefully builds the Shihe landscape belt, and accelerates the construction of sci-tech innovation new urban area, high-speed rail CBD area, and vocational creation & education new urban area. Xinyang builds a Shanshui city, and promotes the "three-network integration" of ecological green network, urban water network, and urban arterial road network. Xinyang actively builds a resilient city, and is successfully selected for the first batch of national "demonstration city for systematic territory-wide promotion of sponge city construction". Xinyang promotes the organic renewal of the City in a coordinated manner and implements the policy of housing ticket resettlement. Xinyang accelerates the start of the core area construction of Yangshan Future Human Settlement Science City. Xinyang builds a youth-friendly city.
Focus on rural revitalization and explore a new path of demonstration and leadership. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that the old areas should not only get rid of poverty, but also get rich, and continue to run on the road to prosperity, towards a better life of more affluence. In the past, Xinyang's economic and social development was relatively lagging behind, and the eight counties under its jurisdiction were all poor counties. Xinyang adheres to the basic strategy of targeted poverty alleviation and targeted poverty elimination, and has completed the task of fighting poverty with high quality on schedule. Xinyang adheres to the first principle of rural revitalization for the overall economic and social development of counties. Xinyang adheres to the "Ten Hundred Thousand Million" project to lead rural revitalization; the entire city has built 10 rural revitalization demonstration zones, and builds 100 demonstration & leading villages and 1,000 ecological and liveable villages every year. At the same time, Xinyang ensures sustained and stable grain production and growth, and develops better and stronger modern agriculture.
Focus on highlights in transport, tourism, cultural and creative industries and showcase the new charm of red and green integration. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that relying on the rich red cultural resources and green ecological resources to develop rural tourism, which activates the rural economy, is a good practice to revitalize rural areas. Xinyang promotes the implementation of the integration strategy of culture, tourism, cultural and creative industries and the construction of a modern comprehensive transport system as a whole, and achieves highlights in transport, tourism, cultural and creative industries within the "quick access, slow travel, and immersive experience". Xinyang advances the strategy of advantages re-creation, accelerates the high-speed rail construction, improves the expressway network, promotes the airport construction, and has built a modern three-dimensional transport system "to secure quick access"; Xinyang taps into Chengyangcheng ruins, Old City of Huang State, Gushi root culture and other outstanding traditional culture, vigorously promotes the B&B demonstration project, to create a new form of cultural tourism - "enjoying the slow travel"; Xinyang accelerates the promotion of Xinyang cuisine, Xinyang Maojian tea, Ta-pieh mountains & waters, red study and other brands, improves the chain of "food, stay, transport, travel, shopping and entertainment", and promotes the "immersive experience" of the integration of culture, tourism, cultural and creative industries. Xinyang explores the Xinyang red culture and the connotation of the Ta-pieh Mountains spirit in depth, makes good use of the Dabieshan Executive Leadership Academy, Hejiachong Academy and other red educational resources, and promotes the construction of the 25th Red Army Memorial Park of the Long March National Cultural Park.
Focus on the goal of quality life, and live up to the new expectations of the people in the old area. General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out that people's lives have improved significantly, and their aspirations for a better life have become even stronger, with expectations of better education, more stable jobs, more satisfactory incomes, more reliable social security, higher levels of medical and health service, more comfortable living conditions, a more beautiful environment, and a richer spiritual and cultural life. Xinyang focuses on "the aged, children, and youth" livelihood work, strengthens programs that are inclusive, general and guarantee basic needs; a number of people's livelihood projects are completed and put into use. Xinyang unswervingly takes the road of invigorating the City through science and education, and boosting the City through talents, and establishes three education groups; the air force recruitment ranks first in the country for nine consecutive years at the municipal level. Xinyang promotes the construction of "everyone with a certificate, skilled Henan" with high quality, and continues to promote the return of 10,000 students project. Xinyang explores the healthy and positive ageing service model of integrating eldercare services with medical care in depth. Xinyang adheres to ecology benefiting people, and the number of good air quality days remains the first in the province for years.
Strengthen the system to ensure the implementation, and stimulate the new responsibility shouldering in working and entrepreneurship. General Secretary Xi Jinping has stressed that the Party's good policies rely on everyone to implement. The grass-roots party organizations shall be turned into a strong fighting fortress, and the major task put forward by the Party Central Committee shall be translated into the specific work at grass-roots level, with emphasis, action and effect. Centering around the "1335" work layout, Xinyang takes action effectively, deepens the reform efficiency, and strengthens the overall coordination. The new investment promotion centre is in charge of investment attraction, and the project promotion centre is responsible for implementation. The closed work loop of decision-making, command, promotion, supervision, and assessment is formed. The assignment rotation for section-level cadres is implemented at the municipal level, and county and township implement the "two-way post swap" mechanism. Xinyang improves the error tolerance, error correction and exemption mechanism, and encourages cadres to boldly take on the role. Xinyang comprehensively carries out the grand competition activities of "serving enterprises, serving the masses, and serving the grassroots".
Source: Issue 7 a, 2022, Life of the Party.
