Historic sites focus of new development

Effort follows Xi's proposal to help erase poverty, stimulate economic growth

Old revolutionary areas in Jiangxi province are on a high-quality development track driven by emerging industrial clusters including aviation and information technology, the province's top official said on Monday.

During a visit to the province in May, President Xi Jinping proposed the goal of speeding up high-quality development in old revolutionary areas as a way of lifting people out of poverty and stimulating economic growth in nearby regions, Liu Qi, Party secretary of Jiangxi, said at a news conference in Beijing.

To achieve the goal, Liu said the province is taking advantage of some of its emerging industries to foster a modern industrial system and promote the development of industrial clusters in the fields of aviation, IT, equipment manufacturing, traditional Chinese medicine, new energy and new materials.

Aviation is one of the leading industries in Jiangxi. As the birthplace of China's first domestically developed aircraft, Jiangxi has a good foundation and advantageous conditions to propel relevant research and expand the market, Liu said.

The province has established an aviation production base in the capital, Nanchang, and a center for helicopter-related research and production in Jingdezhen. The two cities have also been listed as the first batch of demonstration zones for the general aviation industry.

An academic workstation has also been set up in Jiangxi to strengthen the research and development of general aviation, technical equipment for emergency rescue, composite materials as well as other key technologies in producing large aircraft.

"The province's aviation industry has been developing at a rate of 20 percent for several consecutive years. It is expected to reach 100 billion yuan ($14.2 billion) this year," Liu added.

Jiangxi province is well known for some of the earliest bases for revolutionary movements. Jinggang Mountain is renowned as the "cradle of the Chinese revolution" as the foundation of the first revolutionary base of the Communist Party of China, while Ruijin is the starting point of the Long March (1934-36) - the famous military trek by the Party's Red Army in the 1930s.

These old revolutionary bases have profited from abundant historical sites in boosting local tourism as a way of emerging from poverty. But Liu said that technological innovation, supply-side structural reform and regional coordination are now serving as new drivers for the province's high-quality development.

Yi Lianhong, Jiangxi's governor, said they are accelerating the construction of innovative platforms for virtual reality technology thanks to the rapid development of the local IT industry.

The inaugural World Conference on VR Industry was held in Nanchang last year.

Yi said the province has integrated the virtual reality industry into an agenda of high-quality development. Nanchang has also launched a specific plan to build some major centers and platforms to attract startup companies.

"Next up we will promote more cooperation in the VR industry and introduce more leading enterprises and high-end talent in a bid to make it one of our leading industries by 2023," he added.