Heilongjiang promotes all-around vitalization

Harvesting machines work the land of the Jiangchuan Farm of the Beidahuang Agricultural Reclamation Group in Heilongjiang province, Aug 28, 2022. [Photo by Cui Jie/For chinadaily.com.cn]

Over the past decade, Heilongjiang province has maintained its strength in safeguarding food security and has been striving to promote all-around vitalization, according to a top provincial official.

In 2021, Heilongjiang saw a grain harvest of more than 78.6 million metric tons, accounting for 11.5 percent of the whole nation, Xu Qin, Party secretary of Heilongjiang, said on Wednesday at a news conference in Harbin, the province's capital.

The province has produced 735 million tons of grain for the country over the past 10 years and leads the country in total grain output, quantity of grain commercialization and amount of grain transfer, he said.

Accounting for 56 percent of the country's black soil, Heilongjiang will take more measures to protect the precious resource, which is very suitable for growing crops with its high density of organic matter, he said.

By the end of 2022, the province will develop 6.67 million hectares of high-standard farmland that can withstand drought or flooding.

Over the past decade, Heilongjiang has promoted its agricultural modernization and has achieved a 98 percent mechanization rate on arable land.

In addition, Heilongjiang has also optimized and upgraded its industrial structure and strengthened innovation to develop a strong regional presence, Xu said.

Harbin Electric Corporation, a leading Chinese electric machinery maker in Heilongjiang, has developed a hydro-generating unit with a capacity of 1 million kilowatts, the largest single-unit capacity globally.

Daqing oilfield, China's major oil base, has produced a total of 2.46 billion tons of crude oil since it was found in 1959 and has made a great breakthrough in the discovery of the major shale oilfield.

According to Xu, Heilongjiang is focused on four particular sectors: the digital economy, the biological economy, the winter sports economy and the creative design economy.

The province has introduced a series of plans for industrial revitalization and key industries, as well as related supporting policies, attracting a number of industry leaders, including Huawei, Tencent, Baidu and BGI Genomics to develop their business in Heilongjiang.

Sharing a border of almost 2,981 kilometers with Russia, the province will take full advantage of its own geographical position to further highlight the status of China's biggest province in cooperation with Russia and form a new pattern of all-around opening-up, said Hu Changsheng, governor of Heilongjiang.

The Heihe-Blagoveshchensk Bridge, the first cross-border highway between China and Russia, opened to traffic in early June and the cross-border Tongjiang Railway Bridge has been completed, he said.