By YI FAN

Jingzhou Yangtze River Highway Bridge.

IN China's Hubei Province is a strategic city that was a frequent battlefield in ancient times. It was here that the Chu culture came into being and that Qu Yuan, prominent poet of Chu, wrote his poetic masterpiece expressing love for the motherland and its people. This city of culture and history is Jingzhou.

Situated along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, Jingzhou is a transportation hub and distribution center for diverse materials. Its most famous landmark is Jinshan Hill, from where its name originates. The city covers an area of 14,000 sq km, and stretches 483 km along the Yangtze riverbank. Jingzhou has 6.3 million habitants.

Renowned Ancient City

The city of Jingzhou has a long history. The State of Chu established its capital here in 411 BC, and historic relics and sites that include five ancient city ruins and over 800 mausoleums bear witness to Jingzhou's rich culture. Its Xuanmian, Kaiyuan, and Taihui temples date back 1,300 years to the Tang Dynasty, and the Jingzhou Museum houses 100,000 priceless relics among which are human remains dating back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 24), and silks of the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). With its abundant vegetation, verdant landscapes and crystal clear waters, Jingzhou is also endowed with sites of natural beauty. Its most popular tours are the Three Gorges and ancient Three Kingdoms routes.

Binyang Tower, the east gate of Jingzhou City.

Its ancient features apart, Jingzhou has developed modern industries, such as textiles, light industry, chemicals, machinery, foodstuffs and household electrical appliances. In recent years, Jingzhou's comprehensive economy has gone from strength to strength. In 2002, it realized a GDP of 36 billion yuan, and its total industrial output value increased at an average annual rate of 15-19 percent. Since the turn of the new century, Jingzhou's economy has maintained steady growth. Its industrial structure has been gradually rationalized, and the primary, secondary and tertiary industries are now in a more rational proportion. In 2002 the city earned over US$100 million from export trade, and saw the establishment of 411 foreign-funded enterprises and joint ventures.

Urbanization spurred on by economic development has changed the city's outlook day by day. Highways and bridges constitute the skeleton of the city, and the 4,000-meter-long Jingzhou Yangtze River Highway Bridge has recently opened to traffic. Construction of a series of landmark projects, including Shalongda Square, Ancient City Park, Olympics Center, Kaile Theatre, Jinsha Boulevard, Jiangnan New District, and a five-km scenic corridor alongside the Yangtze River, has propelled the city towards its ideal of an "ecological city in a garden of rivers and lakes."

During the last Labor Day vacation week, the International Dragonboat Festival held at Jingzhou drew over 400,000 domestic and overseas tourists. As to its status in the coming new period, Liu Keyi, secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, says: "During the 10th Five-year Plan period, or beyond, we will build Jingzhou into a market and information center in Hubei and Hunan provinces, and a pivotal hub of communications in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River."

Industrial Vitality

Jingzhou has vigorously promoted reform of its state-owned enterprises, in line with the overall policy of "transforming key enterprises into groups and guiding medium-sized and small enterprises into the private sector." As a result, a number of industrial leaders whose annual output exceeds 100 million yuan, such as the Tianfa Group, have emerged in the city. The Aoda Textiles Co., Ltd. (formerly Jinsha Cotton Textile Mill), on the other hand, is representative of enterprises that have been rejuvenated through private funding.

The Tianfa Group came into being in 1988. Its business covers various fields such as finished oil products, liquefied petroleum gas, deep processing of agricultural by-products, paper-making, and chemical daily-use articles. It consists of two listed companies (Tianfa Joint-stock Co., Ltd., and Tianyi Science and Technology Joint-stock Co., Ltd.), and three unlisted companies (the Tianrong Modern Agriculture Joint-stock Co., Ltd., Shuailun Papermaking Joint-stock Co., Ltd., and Power 28 Co., Ltd.), with a total assets of more than seven billion yuan.

Mainly engaged in finished oil products and liquefied petroleum gas, Tianfa has set up more than 100 gas stations in over a dozen provinces, and owns three 30,000-ton oil and gas storehouses. In cooperation with Norway, it has established China's largest inner-river fleet for oil and gas shipment. Today Tianfa has become the third biggest finished oil and gas brand in China, after Sinopec and PetroChina.

Tianyi Science and Technology has three modern vegetable oil processing factories with a yearly processing capacity of 200,000 tons of rapeseed. It is also engaged in biological medicine, and the Tianyi salad oil series has been designated as green food by the Green Food Development Center of China. The company has constructed a bio-pharmaceutics high-tech industrial park for research and development of pharmaceutical products.

The Aoda Textiles workshop.

Tianrong Modern Agriculture has streamlined its fine and deep processing of agricultural by-products. It has introduced a whole set of advanced manufacturing technology from the Netherlands, Japan and Italy, and has completed an 80,000-ton high-protein feed plant, a 100,000-ton non-washing rice plant, and a 100,000-ton flour mill. The "Tianfa" rice and flour series products have received state "green food" certification.

The Shuailun Papermaking Joint-stock Co., Ltd., with an annual production capacity of 300,000 tons, won a national class-II award for its B-class kraft paper, and the China First Light Industrial Products Fair gold award for its fine kraft paper. The Power 28 detergent series are best sellers in more than 20 provinces and cities, such as Hubei, Beijing, Hunan and Guangdong. The company has founded a high-tech daily-use chemical article research institute in cooperation with research institutes and universities, including the renowned Qinghua University, in order to develop world-advanced new products. Today the Tianfa Group ranks among China's top 500 companies as listed by the State Statistical Bureau.

Heading Against the Wind

For the Jinsha Cotton Textile Mill -- in debt from the outset -- today's Aoda Textiles Company Limited does not merely represent a change of title and ownership.

In March 1999, the Jinsha Cotton Textile Mill had been in deep deficit for almost four years, with debts totaling 120 million yuan. This was the situation, when 48-year old He Mingcai, a senior economist, took over the factory.

Liu Keyi (first left), Party Secretary of Jingzhou, with guests at the China Jingzhou Dragonboat Race Festival.

In face of this "three have-nots" enterprise, namely, one without funds, raw materials, or products, He Mingcai's only recourse was to turn to his friends in business circles and present to them his feasibility plan. He eventually managed to borrow 1.5 million yuan, 500 tons of cotton and 200 tons of chemical fiber.

He Mingcai decided first of all to set up a product development department, which he ordered to come up with new viable products in three days. Two and a half days later, He Mingcai personally took these samples to Guangzhou and Shenzhen and searched out potential buyers. In one case, a prospective customer he called on three times was so impressed by his tenacity that he accepted the samples. He Mingcai's sales trip to Guangzhou turned out to be a great success. As soon as he returned to the factory, he organized his designers to develop new high quality products.

Two months after He Mingcai had taken over leadership, the company made a profit of 280,000 yuan. As the whole company basked in its success, He Mingcai considered the company's further development. He was aware of reform as the driving force for any enterprise, and after setting up a reform office he finally decided to go in for a non-public ownership. The company simplified its administrative structure and cut down its payroll. It also carried out technological and market promotion reforms. After three years, He Mingcai had turned the company into a dynamic enterprise. In 2002, the company realized a total industrial output value of 226.5 million yuan and a sales income of 266 million yuan, ranking first among its counterparts in the city.

The success of the Tianfa Group and Aoda Textiles exemplifies not only the pioneering spirit and competent leadership of the enterprises, but also the validity of Jingzhou City's industrial policy. This enchanting ancient city now has every reason to stride confidently through the new century.