Luohe City in central China's Henan Province is one of the few inland cities that have won the “China Human Settlements and Environment Demonstration Award and the national title of “Green City.” These awards have prompted the Henan government to make the city a provincial green food production base. Some of the biggest players in China's massive food industry have moved their headquarters to Luohe, including Shuanghui, the country's largest meat processor, as well as Aodeli, producer of the nation's first energy drinks.

Luohe is also the province's transportation and communications hub and a pivotal point on southern Henan's power network. Six national and provincial highways cut through Luohe, linking it to regions in all directions. The drive from Luohe's downtown area to the international airport in the neighboring provincial capital of Zhengzhou is just 40 minutes. The ancient commercial town has now grown into a modern industrial city with investments from some 20 countries and regions around the world.

The Luohe New and Hi-tech Zone occupies three square kilometers of the southeast of the city. In 1994, the provincial government approved it as a provincial-level establishment, and it soon ranked among the top 20 most successful new and high-tech zones in the country. In 2002, its service center was promoted to a state-level ranking by the Ministry of Science and Technology, and from 2003 to 2005 the zone ranked first in overall performance among all similar establishments in Henan.

In its 14 years of existence, the zone has made staggering achievements. Its main economic indices, including revenues from technology, industry and commerce, industrial output value, industrial added value and taxes, have all risen by more than 25 percent a year. Development reached new heights in 2005 when it introduced 78 industrial projects (including eight with an investment of more than RMB 100 million, nine with RMB 50 million, and 11 in excess of RMB 10 million), completed an industrial investment of RMB 1.17 billion and utilized US $14.51 million of direct overseas investment. By the end of 2005, the zone had attracted some RMB 3.2 billion worth of investment.

The 320 companies now operating in the zone, among them DuPont Protein Technologies, Japanese Interfarm and the Hong Kong-based Chinachem, are involved mainly in four industries: food processing, new materials, IT and machinery manufacture. Together they generate more than 95 percent of the zone's output value, and contribute 89 percent of the zone's taxes. Some 112 of the zone projects stem from national, provincial and municipal science and technology plans, and the results of about 80 research and development projects have been transformed into products there. It has 8,631 scientific and technical professionals on its payroll.

The zone is not just a manufacturing and research base. It operates as a community. Around the zone is an area of 41 square kilometers with a population of 100,000. In this area is a full range of facilities, including hotels, restaurants, hospitals, schools, shopping malls, banks and all kinds of other services that guarantee a comfortable life for zone staff and their families, as well as visiting prospective investors.

Luohe New and Hi-tech Zone is now drawing up the designs for its biggest project yet -- building itself into a state-level industrial park.

The author is chief of the Luohe Hi-tech Zone Administrative Committee.