Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao visited this place in 1978, 1996 and 2006 respectively. In July, 2010, when the Supreme Leader inspected the area, he pointed out that efforts should be made to build it into a window city for economic cooperation in Northeast Asia, a new industrialization base around the Bohai Sea and an important fulcrum of the capital economic circle.
This place is Tangshan, Hebei Province, which is known as "the cradle of modern industry in China" and was once an important energy and raw material supply base of the country. However, the earthquake on July 28, 1976 was equivalent to 400 Hiroshima atomic bombs exploding violently underground in this famous industrial city, and Tangshan was once razed to the ground.
Now, after 40 years of recovery, reconstruction and rapid development, Tangshan has embarked on the road of economic development and transformation of resource-based cities. At present, Tangshan has 5.11 billion tons of coal and 6.06 billion tons of steel. It is the main coking coal producing area and one of the three major iron ore mining areas in China.
With the implementation of the national "One Belt, One Road" strategy, the coordinated development strategy of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and the development of Hebei coastal areas as a national strategy, Tangshan’s development faces great historical opportunities. The "three efforts to build" put forward by the supreme leader has become the goal of Tangshan city development.
This year, Tangshan ushered in a major international exhibition with the highest specification, the largest scale and the longest duration — — 2016 Tangshan World Horticultural Exposition (hereinafter referred to as "World Horticultural Exposition") with the theme of "City and Nature Phoenix Nirvana". The Expo will be open to visitors from April 29th to October 16th, during which more than 50 countries and regions will participate, and the number of visitors is expected to reach 10 million. This is the fifth World Horticultural Exposition held in Chinese mainland after Kunming, Shenyang, Xi ‘an and Qingdao, and it is also the first time that a prefecture-level city in China has held a world-class horticultural exposition.
It is reported that during the World Expo, Tangshan will also hold the third China-Central and Eastern European Countries Local Leaders’ Meeting and the 2016 China-Hebei International Economic and Trade Fair, commemorate the 40th anniversary of Tangshan’s earthquake, the 25th Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival, and the China-Latin American Entrepreneur Summit.
It is worth mentioning that the site of this World Horticultural Exposition was selected in Nanhu Park, Tangshan, which used to be a coal mining subsidence area formed by Kailuan coal mining for more than 130 years. Now it is a national 4A-level scenic spot with a water area of 11.5 square kilometers and a green area of 16 square kilometers. It has been awarded the "Dubai International Best Model Award for Improving Living Environment" and the first batch of "National Ecological and Cultural Demonstration Bases".
On April 29th, Zhang Qingli, Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Zhao Kezhi, Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee and Director of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People’s Congress, Zhang Jianlong, Director of the State Forestry Administration, Jiang Zengwei, President of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Jiang Zehui, Deputy Director of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Population, Resources and Environment Committee and President of the China Flower Association, Bernard Euster Roma, President of the International Horticultural Producers Association, Zhang Qingwei, Governor of the People’s Government of Hebei Province, and Fu Zhifang, Chairman of the Hebei Provincial Political Consultative Conference, attended the opening ceremony, and Ding Xiufeng Photography: Zhou Leilei
In 2016, it coincides with the 40th anniversary of post-earthquake reconstruction in Tangshan, and it is of great significance to hold an international exhibition in the ecological restoration area. Zhang Qingwei, deputy secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee and governor, pointed out at the opening meeting that this World Expo "will practice the new development concept of green and openness, which will surely promote Tangshan to create new glories in the process of transformation and upgrading and accelerated development". Ding Xiufeng, Mayor of Tangshan City, pointed out that "holding the World Horticultural Exposition has added new impetus to accelerating the realization of the goal of" three efforts to build Tangshan "put forward by the Supreme Leader General Secretary, and injected new vitality into accelerating the construction of a beautiful, prosperous, livable and harmonious modern coastal city in Tangshan". (China Tibet Net Text/Zhou Leilei)
关于作者