After 30 years of hard work and 30 years of vicissitudes, Shantou's economic strength has gradually increased, urban infrastructure has improved day by day, social civilization has continued to progress, and various economic and social undertakings have developed rapidly... The vertical comparison makes us feel The great changes in Shantou and the objective and sober horizontal comparison make us aware of Shantou's backwardness and feel that we have a heavy responsibility on our shoulders. Standing at a new historical node, looking back, we will be able to take a higher perspective, strengthen our confidence, be unique, seize opportunities, use our strengths and avoid weaknesses, implement effective government management, and accelerate the development of Shantou.

Part 1

Since the reform and opening up, Shantou has gone through an extraordinary development process.

At the beginning of the establishment of the special zone, the pioneers of the special zone fought tenaciously with the courage to "blaze a bloody road". They braved the wind and sand, braved the scorching heat, lived in tents, and successfully blazed a trail of "developing one area, building one area, and putting it into production." One piece, one piece of profit" is a realistic and innovative path. After the 1990s, Shantou seized the opportunity of the expansion of the special economic zone to the entire urban area and the active market economy after Comrade Deng Xiaoping inspected the south and delivered an important speech, clarified the market economic system, launched a major battle in infrastructure construction, and created opportunities for the liberation and development of productive forces. important conditions. Driven by the rapid development of the special zone, the economic strength of the entire Shantou City has been significantly enhanced. The city's GDP increased from 729 million yuan in 1978 to 103.57 billion yuan in 2009. In 1987, the city's per capita GDP doubled from 1980, the second doubling was achieved in 1992, the third doubling was achieved ahead of schedule in 1995, and it exceeded 20,000 yuan in 2009. In 2009, Shantou City's local general budget revenue reached 5.85 billion yuan, the per capita annual retail sales of consumer goods was more than 10,000 yuan, and the per capita residents' savings deposits were nearly 20,000 yuan.

Looking back on the past, Shantou has achieved a historic leap, and the face of Shantou has undergone earth-shaking changes. However, the history of reform and opening up is also a history of regional competition. If compared with advanced regions and the development of the entire Guangdong Province, Shantou's performance is not satisfactory, and Shantou's relatively backward status has not changed. Shantou's GDP increased from 2.39% in 1978 to 3.09% in 2009, but Shantou's population grew faster. Its population increased from 2.98% in 1978 to 3.82% in 2009. That is, per capita GDP is always lower than the national average. At present, several major indicators such as annual per capita income of urban residents in Shantou and per capita housing area in urban areas also lag behind the national average. The Engel coefficient of urban residents is more than 10 percentage points higher than the national average.

A common view is that Shantou's backwardness began with the "807" and "815" cases in the early 21st century, and the previous period from 1993 to 1998 was considered to be the time when Shantou had the best development momentum and economic development. The most prosperous "golden five years". In fact, even during the "golden five years" of the 1990s, Shantou's GDP grew by 186%, which was not much higher than the national average of 153.5% during the same period. However, investment, consumption and export, the troika that drives economic growth in Shantou, lag behind the national average comprehensively and significantly: in the "Golden Five Years", Shantou's investment increased by 71.7%, and the national average was as high as 140.5%; Shantou's exports The increase rate was 79.8%, and the national average level was as high as 100%; the utilization of foreign capital increased by 51.6%, and the national average level was as high as 138.2%. This phenomenon is puzzling. Where does the growth of Shantou's GDP come from? In contrast, a strange phenomenon is the growth of the wealth of Shantou people. From 1993 to 1998, the savings deposits of Shantou urban residents increased sharply from 5.59 billion to 28.42 billion, an increase of more than 4 times; the savings deposits of rural residents increased from 1.4 billion to 6.63 billion, an increase of 3.7 times, while the average savings deposits of national residents only increased 2.6 times during the same period. The growth rate of deposits of Shantou residents is much higher than the growth of GDP, investment and exports. In fact, these phenomena of "hiding wealth among the people" all come from the underground economy that cannot be reflected in statistics. From a 30-year perspective (1978 to 2008), Shantou’s GDP grew at an average annual rate of 12.4%. Although it was higher than the national average growth rate (9.8%), it was lower than the average annual growth rate of Guangdong Province (13.8%). . The growth rate of Shantou's GDP, per capita GDP, urban residents' disposable income and secondary industry is only slightly higher than the national average. The growth rate of rural income, primary industry and tertiary industry still lags behind the national average. Shantou's development momentum It has always been unsatisfactory.

Part 2

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Shantou seized the good opportunity of taking the lead in reform and opening up, took advantage of the situation to accelerate development, and played the role of a "vanguard" of reform and opening up. , but with the deepening of reform, contradictions in development gradually emerged. Development advantages such as geographical location, business culture, numerous overseas Chinese, and special zone policies cannot play their due role, and disadvantages such as resources, technology, management, and transportation cannot be effectively resolved. , resulting in Shantou's GDP growth rate being lower than the national and provincial averages for ten years.

A century-old commercial port: trade advantages have failed to lay a solid industrial foundation

It is connected to the three rivers and the rivers and the sea. The unique business awareness of Chaoshan people has created Shantou’s trade advantages and "a century-old" "Commercial Port" status. However, after the reform and opening up, the advantages and traditions of commerce and trade have not allowed Shantou to enrich its people and strengthen its city. Now people can only experience the "prosperity" of commerce from the shops filling the streets and "closing the streets into a city." However, Yiwu, a small town in central Zhejiang that once ordered a large number of goods from the Chaoshan area, started from commerce in a not-so-superior geographical location. It regarded the market as the greatest wealth and a huge stage for entrepreneurship, and embarked on a path of commerce-led, joint development, and entrepreneurship. A unique development path that enriches the people and strengthens the city through innovation. In terms of foreign trade, from 1979 to 2009, Shantou’s cumulative foreign trade export volume was less than 1/3 of Shenzhen’s current annual export volume. At present, Shantou's foreign trade dependence is only over 50%, which does not reflect the high export-oriented characteristics of coastal cities. The key reason why foreign trade advantages cannot be exerted is that the relationship between trade and industry that promotes and promotes each other has not been formed. In the 1980s and mid-1990s, Shantou's trade developed rapidly and reached its peak in 1998. At that time, Shantou had its own unique advantages in developing foreign trade, namely policy advantages and port advantages. Since the state strictly controlled the self-operated import and export rights of enterprises at that time, and trading companies were blooming everywhere in Shantou, some people were able to use various methods to obtain "approval documents". In addition, Shantou Port could directly export, so goods from all over the country poured in. Shantou. Times have changed, and when companies in other places have self-operated import and export rights, export restrictions are increasingly reduced, and "approvals" are no longer important. Shantou, which is located at the "end of the province and the corner of the country", has increasingly exposed its transportation disadvantages, and competition from surrounding ports has become increasingly fierce. Shantou's foreign trade subsequently declined. More importantly, the role of foreign trade in promoting the development of local industries in Shantou has not been realized, and the industrial foundation supporting trade prosperity is not solid. The prosperity of trade has only made some people rich, but it has left no solid industrial foundation, no large enterprises with export competitiveness, no strong export products, which has led to the sluggish decline of Shantou's foreign trade in the past ten years.

Wealthy Chaozhou merchants: Overseas Chinese resources have failed to become a driving force for economic development

The advantages of overseas Chinese hometowns are an important reason for the creation of Shantou Special Economic Zone. There are more than 3 million overseas folks in Shantou, many of whom Famous businessmen and wealthy businessmen. After the reform and opening up, donations from overseas folks became more enthusiastic. Over the past 30 years, donations from overseas folks have reached 5 billion, accounting for 1/8 of donations from overseas Chinese in Guangdong Province. Donations from overseas folks have promoted the development of Shantou’s infrastructure and public welfare undertakings to a certain extent. However, investment is different from donation. Any investor must consider the issue of investment income, even fellow villagers. At the beginning of the reform, Shantou's investment attractiveness was acceptable due to its policy advantages and lack of strong competition from other cities. However, after the national opening-up pattern was formed, the disadvantages of Shantou's investment environment gradually emerged. Resources here are scarce, investors have no cost advantage, and the "soft environment" with government services as the main content is not ideal. Investors are deterred. As of 2009, Shantou's actual foreign investment absorption in the past 30 years was only about US$7.8 billion, which is not as good as the annual amount of foreign investment attracted by cities such as Suzhou. In the past 30 years, Shantou has approved the establishment of about 5,800 foreign-invested enterprises. To date, only more than 1,000 still exist.

The city thrives because of the port: Coastal resources have not been transformed into shipping and logistics advantages

Shantou was founded and prospered because of the port. It has always been the source of supplies for eastern Guangdong, southwestern Fujian, and southern Jiangxi. An important distribution center and maritime gateway. The coast is rich in resources, with an important geographical location and good resource conditions for port construction. It has 28 kilometers of natural deep-water coastline suitable for port construction, and can build more than 50 terminals of 50,000 to 300,000 tons. After the reform and opening up, Shantou Port once prospered. In 1993, the port's cargo throughput exceeded 10 million tons, and in 1997 it reached 13.6 million tons, ranking 4th in the province; its container throughput was 366,000 TEUs, ranking 3rd in the province. .

However, since then, the construction and management level of Shantou Port has not been able to adapt to the needs of the development of the situation. In more than ten years, the investment in port infrastructure has been less than 40 billion yuan, less than 1/3 of the investment in Zhuhai and Xiamen ports. The development of large-scale deep-water container terminals is slow, related supporting facilities are incomplete, and the port's material distribution role has been seriously weakened. The status of Shantou Port is decreasing day by day, and it has become one of the ports with the lowest throughput among coastal ports in the country. In 2009, Shantou Port's cargo throughput exceeded 30 million tons, which is only equivalent to about 3% of Guangdong Province's port cargo throughput. On the one hand, the imperfect port functions caused the export goods in Chaoshan area to be lost to Yantian Port and Xiamen Port. On the other hand, it also increased the production and operation costs of enterprises, and even caused the relocation of local enterprises, Taiwan-funded enterprises and Hong Kong-funded enterprises investing in Shantou. .

More people and less land: Natural resources need to accelerate the transformation of economic growth methods

Shantou is a region with poor natural resources. There are only 19 kinds of mineral resources with certain reserves, mainly due to low value. High-quality zircon, glass sand, tungsten, facing granite, etc. Although Shantou is located on the seaside, water resources are not abundant in Shantou. The city's average total local water resources for many years is 1.92 billion cubic meters, and the per capita share is only 426 cubic meters, which is only equivalent to 17% of the province's per capita share and 20% of the national per capita share. %. Land resources are even more scarce. The city's land area is 2,064 square kilometers, but its population reaches more than 5 million, making it the highest population density in the country. Of course, practice has proven that the amount of resources is not the decisive factor in determining whether a region is rich or poor. Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Denmark, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan are also extremely lacking in natural resources but have very developed economies. The key to this is Can we fully utilize the potential of technology, talent, institutions and other resources to make up for the disadvantages of natural resources? However, Shantou's past development did not realize the upgrading of economic growth mode. Instead, like other places, it followed an extensive development path with high land occupation and high capital investment. The role of science and technology and innovation in industrial development was not obvious. , At present, the output value of high-tech industries only accounts for about 18% of the total industrial output value. Taking land use as an example, although the population density is much higher than that of other cities, Shantou's land efficiency is low due to reasons such as scattered industrial spatial layout and unreasonable land use structure. In 1993, the average GDP of Shantou City was 7.2062 million yuan/km2 and that of Xiamen City was 8.4547 million yuan/km2. There was almost the same difference between the two cities. But now, Shantou City’s average GDP is less than half of Xiamen City.

City brand: The policy and political influence of special economic zones is gradually weakening

City brand is an important resource for local development and an intangible asset unique to all residents and enterprises of a city. Special Zone The name of Shantou has made Shantou a city that attracts the world's attention and has become a window and experimental field for China's reform, opening up and modernization. The real significance of the special zones does not lie in specific policy preferences such as tax exemptions, but in the central government’s attention to the special zones and the experimental and legislative powers given to the special zones. Among the more than 260 prefecture-level cities in the country, only 49 cities (including special zone cities) have the legislative power of "larger cities", and only 4 special zone cities have the legislative power of special zones. In addition, the golden signboard of the special zone also has a very large political effect. Starting from the overall situation and trend of reform and opening up, the country and province can give Shantou preferential treatment and guidance in terms of policies, mechanisms, plans, projects, funds, etc. It is a pity that Shantou has not made good use of the golden signboard of the special zone, which is the envy of "ordinary cities" without the right to experiment or legislate, and the city's intangible assets have continued to be lost. In recent years, the country's regional policies have also undergone tremendous adjustments, from the comprehensive supporting reform experimental zone to the two-oriented society, from the circular economy experiment to the ecological economic zone, from the Beibu Gulf to Changjitu, from the Jiangsu coast to the Liaoning coast... …In this context, many cities have begun to pay more attention to political effects and the development of intangible assets, and have “created” a series of “concepts” that have attracted social attention. For example, Zhuhai has become confident because of the “Hengqin Master Development Plan” It is said that in the first thirty years, we should look at Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and in the next thirty years, we should look at Zhuhai and Macao; in the context of the strong momentum in Haixi, Xiamen is working hard to build the leader in Haixi, and Hainan is making every effort to build an "international tourism island"... and as a special economic zone Shantou seems to be gradually forgotten and marginalized. The golden signboard of the special economic zone is much darker than it was more than 10 years ago.

As Shantou Municipal Party Committee Secretary Li Feng pointed out at the Ninth Plenary Session of the Ninth Municipal Party Committee, the main reason for Shantou's backwardness today is that our thinking and concepts are backward.

The deep-seated reason is that we have not kept pace with the development of the times in terms of our ideological concepts, development concepts, mental state, systems and mechanisms, work styles, legal construction, etc. Some comrades have even forgotten that Shantou is still a special zone, which has led to emancipation of the mind and reform. The cultural spirit of the open era is weakening, the cultural characteristics of openness, inclusiveness, and innovation are diluted. The spirit of the special zones that dares to venture, try, and be the first is degenerating. The courage to keep pace with the times and reform and innovate is fading. In terms of ideas and measures, , Stagnating in action, waiting and watching in the face of difficulties and problems, worrying about gains and losses, not daring to break through stereotypes, not daring to take responsibility.

Each region has different geographical location, economic foundation, resource endowment, and cultural traditions, and the development methods and paths cannot be the same. However, one thing is the same. The necessary condition for accelerating development is to seize development opportunities. Leverage strengths and avoid weaknesses, fully tap into local advantages and continuously bring them into play. This should be the experience and inspiration left to us in the 30 years of Shantou Special Economic Zone.

Next article

Development positioning must be scientific and accurate

China during the transition period is very different from mature market economy countries in the West. The government is the largest resource Controllers play an important role in economic development. Local governments have sufficient capabilities to regulate the economy and maintain the correct direction of economic development by relying on the various resources in their hands. However, in the embryonic stage of the market economy, Shantou did not create a good development environment and failed to regulate the direction and rhythm of economic development.

Shantou lacks a consistent economic development strategy, and the economic development focus and strategic continuity are not strong. Even the "modern port city" that has been emphasized has not been truly implemented, and the development direction and development focus are not accurately positioned. It will only lead to missed opportunities again and again, and the result of unclear thinking is that everyone is "slow to take a shot". Shantou is timid when trying to break through infrastructure bottlenecks in other places; in the Pearl River Delta region, funds gathered from foreign trade have been transferred to industry. At that time, we still paid attention to "building a city through commerce and trade"; when all localities have fully paid attention to the development and utilization of land resources, they still indulged in enclosure behavior and disorderly abuse of rural land; when they vigorously attracted investment in the Yangtze River Delta region, they still remained indifferent; in coastal cities, they vigorously It took many years to promote companies to go public before trying to follow up; in the context of obvious trends in the heavy and chemical industry, the introduction of major projects was ineffective, and the focus was still on giving full play to the "light industry advantages"...

The same is true in industrial development. , failed to grasp and adapt to the industrial development trend well, and the main direction of the industry hovered between light industry, heavy chemical industry (large projects), commerce and trade, and modern service industry. Within the industry, we have also failed to effectively select industrial industries that are growing faster, have a greater role in driving the development of other industries, and determine the characteristics of the industrial structure and its evolution trend. To this day, electronic information, The eight major industries of textiles and clothing, craft toys, chemicals and plastics, food and medicine, machinery and equipment, printing and packaging, and audio-visual materials are all positioned as pillar industries. The development pressure of Shantou due to the prominent contradiction between man and land and the extremely high proportion of rural population is not sufficiently advanced to guide the spatial agglomeration of industries and population in advance.

Systems and mechanisms must innovate and make breakthroughs

At the beginning of the establishment of the special zone, Shantou had many pioneering initiatives that dared to be the first in the country: in the establishment of "three to one supplement" and foreign-funded enterprises, in Active exploration and bold experiments have been carried out in terms of investment promotion, institutional reform, and government services. The new systems and mechanisms built by these innovative measures comply with the requirements of productivity development and provide a strong driving force for the economic development of the special zone. It is a pity that after the initial establishment of the market economic system, when the motivation for reform and opening up gradually weakened and resistance continued to increase, Shantou remained stagnant and various innovative behaviors decreased. In particular, there was no substantive action in the innovation of institutional mechanisms. , let alone provide the country with institutionalized and mature reform experience that can be used as a reference for other places. For example, the administrative management system is not only the same as that of the so-called backward areas in the mainland, but also for port construction, Shantou's port investment, construction and operation market is very slow to open up. The port construction and operation model is relatively simple, and the channels for raising funds are narrow.

“Those who do not innovate every day will inevitably retreat, and there is no one who does not advance but does not retreat.” The weakening of the advantages of institutional mechanisms will inevitably hinder the momentum of economic development. Today, when the advantages of the special zone are not obvious, and in an era of rapid development, Shantou needs to promote development through innovation.

The level of government management must be continuously improved

In a market economy, an important responsibility of the government is to create a good development environment. However, the development environment in Shantou has not been ideal for many years.

Economic development must have an administrative system to adapt to it. In terms of the macro development environment, Shantou's two zoning adjustments (in 1991, the three cities of Chaoshan were divided into three parts) and in 2003, Chenghai City and Chaoyang City were separated into Chenghai District and Chaoyang City. District, Chaonan District) has had a certain negative impact on the economic development of Shantou. The division of Chaoshan into three parts has severed the inherent economic ties of the Chaoshan area. The superstructure of administrative divisions has not only failed to adapt to and promote the development of productivity, but has also To a certain extent, it has hindered the economic foundation of Chaoshan and Shantou cities. The reform of removing cities and dividing them into districts means that Chenghai District, Chaoyang District, and Chaonan District, which are actually at the county economic level, cannot enjoy the various independent powers and preferential policies given to "counties" under the background of strengthening counties and expanding their powers. They are facing increased tax burdens and weakened financial resources. Under the circumstances, they have to bear more burdensome "urban" urban construction, education and other public services. At the same time, the original regional brand effects of Chaoyang and Chenghai have also been weakened. In terms of the government environment, it cannot be denied that successive governments have attached great importance to the government environment. Movements to rectify the work style of government agencies, industrial centralized service activities, activities to democratically evaluate the work style of government agencies, and construction of government efficiency have been at their peak. Movements such as the establishment of government efficiency complaint centers and enterprise The Investment Service Center has promulgated measures such as the "Shantou City Regulations on Improving Institutional Work Style and Improving Administrative Efficiency" and "Shantou City Urban Enterprise Complaint Management Measures", with gratifying results. However, the existence of institutional obstacles makes the effect of simple campaign-style rectification unsatisfactory. Inefficiency, excessive leniency, arbitrary actions, and fragmentation have greatly affected investment. There is no doubt that in the critical period of accelerating the development of Shantou, improving agency efficiency, strengthening execution capacity, creating a good soft environment, and implementing effective government management are important guarantees for accelerating development.

Accelerate the construction of a happy Shantou with the cultural spirit of the times

Shantou has outstanding people and profound Chaoshan cultural heritage. The positive factors in Chaoshan culture such as courage to fight, diligence, thrift, pioneering and innovation are the market economy The required quality, but no culture is perfect. The independence, utilitarianism and traditional concept of order of Chaoshan culture have many conflicts with the requirements of the market economy, which also affects the healthy development of Shantou's economy. Some of the remaining dregs in Chaoshan culture have, to a certain extent, affected Shantou’s inclusive and inclusive talent environment, interfered with the healthy market order, hindered the development of industries with long investment cycles and slow results, and distorted human relations in every corner of society. Government behavior. The sublation of culture is a long process. Through effective guidance, we must strive to establish a sense of openness, order, rule of law, win-win cooperation and a good humanistic environment that is more consistent with the market economy. Vigorously carry forward the cultural spirit of the times of emancipating the mind and reform and opening up, building Shantou into a special cultural city with important influence at home and abroad and a gathering place for Chaoshan culture, forming a modern cultural system with Chinese style, special zone style, and Shantou characteristics, based on the times The cultural spirit guides the construction of a happy Shantou.

Standing at the historical juncture of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the special zone, looking back on the tortuous and difficult development path, we are not only proud of our achievements, but also think deeply about our experiences and lessons. In recent years, Shantou's development situation has been gratifying, with the economic growth rate continuously higher than the national provincial average. In the first half of this year, the city's economy showed a steady and accelerating development trend, achieving a GDP of 55 billion yuan, an increase of 11.1%. If we can fully mobilize the enthusiasm of folks at home and abroad, work together, work hard, strive to be the first, develop scientifically, polish the sign of the special zone, improve the cohesion, attractiveness and core competitiveness of regional central cities, accelerate the transformation of economic development methods, and accelerate the economic structure Adjustment and optimization will lead to the rise and revitalization of Shantou.