Zunyi Economic and Technological Development Zone

Zunyi Economic and Technological Development Zone is home to a permanent population of 450,000.  [Photo/IC]

Zunyi Economic and Technological Development Zone, or Huichuan district of Zunyi city, Guizhou province, covers an area of 712 square kilometers, of which 18,437 hectares is agricultural land. It is the political, economic and cultural center of Zunyi city.

Administrating six towns, the district is home to a permanent population of 450,000. It was established in July 1992 as Guizhou's first development zone and was upgraded by the State Council to the national level in June 2010.

After over 20 years of development, the zone has expanded from 12.53 square kilometers to 48.93 square kilometers, with five industrial parks and five pillar industries covering high-end manufacturing, big data, civilian-military technology, light industry and modern services.

In 2017, Huichuan district's regional GDP totaled 32.2 billion yuan ($4.77 billion), up 13.1 percent year on year. The tertiary industry, featuring finance, big data, e-commerce, logistics and healthcare, rose by 14.6 percent, contributing to 46.9 percent of GDP growth.

Meanwhile, the local government carried out 64 projects worth 9.65 billion yuan to stimulate regional tourism and the efforts were not in vain. The district received 16.14 million tourists, a year on year surge of 45 percent, and saw tourism revenue of 22.2 billion yuan, almost 50 percent higher than that of the previous year.

Innovation is another hot word in Huichuan. By November 2018, the district had 50 certified hi-tech enterprises, 15 research institutions, 22 key laboratories, 15 doctoral workshops and over 100 incubation platforms.