Qianhai Stone, witness to China's further opening up

Walking past the arch of the Qianhai & Shekou Free Trade Area, along Qianhai Boulevard and through low- and high-rise office buildings by the sea, there stands the renowned Qianhai Stone Park.

The coastal park is famous for its huge yellow wax stone, Qianhai Stone, which has the word “Qianhai” engraved on it.

Photo from sznews.com

President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, stood before the huge landmark in Qianhai on Dec. 7, 2012, sending a message calling for further reform and opening up.

On Oct. 24, 2018, Xi came to Qianhai again and declared to the world that China’s reform and opening up will never stop.

In Qianhai, the main structures of a total of 225 buildings have topped off, 188 of which have been completed and put into use. Qianhai has taken shape as an international center in the city, Shenzhen Evening News reported.

“Reform” is the DNA of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, and Qianhai, known as “the special zone within the special zone,” has accelerated its development through a series of reforms. The “Qianhai model” has become another brand of the city after the “Shenzhen model” became famous following the launch of reform and opening up.

According to the Authority of Qianhai, Qianhai has launched 610 initiatives concerning system innovation, among which 236 are the first of its kind or leading ones in China. Meanwhile, 58 initiatives have been replicated across the country, 77 across Guangdong Province and 165 across the city.

As a national pilot free trade zone and modern service industry demonstration zone, the total number of registered enterprises in the Qianhai & Shekou Free Trade Area has reached 151,000, with registered capital totaling 9.6 trillion yuan (US$1.48 trillion).

As of the end of 2020, the Qianhai & Shekou Free Trade Area has 11,300 registered Hong Kong-invested enterprises, and the actual utilization of capital from Hong Kong in the whole year reached US$3.8 billion, up 4.8 percent and accounting for 88.3 percent of the actual utilization of overseas capital in Qianhai.

Qianhai is also home to 249 licensed financial institutions.