Shanghai's Chongming charts course for high-quality and sustainable growth

The development of the modern agricultural industry, shipbuilding, green transition, and tourism has served as major economic drivers for the Chongming district in northeastern Shanghai during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period, said local officials during a news conference on Wednesday.

As the largest rural area in Shanghai, Chongming has provided one-third of the city's total local agricultural product supply. The district has invested up to 5 billion yuan ($703 million) in 33 modern agricultural projects during the past five years. A total of 80 agricultural technology projects have been landed in the district. Over 90 percent of the farmland in Chongming is home to various green and quality agricultural products.

Therefore, the district's annual agricultural output is estimated to approach 5.56 billion yuan in 2025, Li Jun, Chongming's Party secretary, said.

Seed, infrastructure, and biological technologies are the three major pillars for the development of the agricultural industry in Chongming. An ecosystem featuring the combination of research platforms, supportive policies, and industry incubators has initially taken shape in the district, Li said.

Chongming has also seen its capacity for advanced manufacturing significantly improved over the recent five years, with the shipbuilding industry one of the best examples, Li said.

By the end of this year, the industrial output of the marine equipment industry in Chongming is expected to reach 90 billion yuan. The district now accounts for 20 percent of the world's liquefied natural gas ship market share. Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co Ltd secured the world's largest LNG ship order in 2024.

China State Shipbuilding Corp's Jiangnan Shipyard received 80 percent of the world's total ultra-large ethane carrier orders and another 70 percent of the world's quay cranes market share. These have helped the shipbuilder to maintain the world's top position for 28 consecutive years, according to Li.

The green transition has been steadily advanced in Chongming. In 2025, energy consumption per unit of GDP is expected to decrease by 13.5 percent compared with that in 2020. The proportion of electricity generated from renewable energy in total social power consumption will reach 32 percent by the end of this year, Li said.

By reducing 68 percent of the application materials, the time that residents spend opening their homestay tourism businesses in Chongming has been shortened by 75 percent in the past five years. Therefore, a total of 1,127 homestay inns have been registered in the district. The disposable income per capita for rural residents in Chongming came to 40,612 yuan in 2024, a surge of 37.9 percent from that in 2020.

Chongming's GDP approached 44.9 billion yuan in 2024, up 17.5 percent from that by the end of 2020. The added value of industrial companies with a minimum annual turnover of 20 million yuan each topped 58.4 billion yuan, up 29.2 percent from that in 2020.