Yongding district of Longyan city, Fujian province, was officially inaugurated on Feb 9.

Liang Jianyong, Party secretary of Longyan city, speaks at the inauguration of Yongding district on Feb 9. [Photo/chinanews.com]

The idea to upgrade Yongding's administrative status started in April 2005, when the county's Party committee and government submitted a request to their superiors in Longyan. The request was finally approved by the State Council on Dec 13, 2014.

Now, Longyan has two districts – Xinluo and Yongding – and five counties – Zhangping, Wuping, Shanghang, Changting and Liancheng – under its jurisdiction.

Yongding, widely known as the origin of Hakka culture, will seize the opportunity to build itself into a beautiful, open tourism destination; a cross-Straits communication base; as well as a green economy demonstration zone, said Liu Xianqiu, Party chief of Yongding district.

The geographical name, the administrative division and basic government functions of Yongding all remain unchanged, while the development mode will turn from a county economy to an urban economy. Public service and lifestyle will also make strides accordingly, said Liang Jianyong, Party secretary of Longyan.

Longyan’s Party and government authorities will increase support for Yongding to push for the goal of rural-urban consolidation, he added.

“Yongding is a famous tourism resort. Being promoted to a district will help with infrastructure upgrading, which will lead to more visitors,” said Ke Guoxing, a manager of Tongyuan Group, a tourism complex developer.

Yongding will attract a bigger foreign population to work and make investments, which is exciting news for enterprises engaged in commerce and logistics, said Chen Aaiwen, an employee with a local trucking company, adding that the company plans to purchase a new batch of cars to expand business.