Openness holds special significance for Zhejiang—with its geography of "seven mountains, one river, and two parts farmland," there is limited developable space and scarce natural resources. This forced Zhejiang, once a "small player," to turn its gaze overseas.

Marking the beginning of Zhejiang's outward-oriented economy was the official opening of Ningbo Port in 1979. After more than 20 years of development, Zhejiang's economic strength has grown significantly, but it also faces challenges such as the decline of its first-mover advantage and weakening institutional vitality.

Without progress, there is regression; slow progress is also regression. Xi Jinping, then Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the CPC, proposed the "Eight-Eight Strategy" and emphasized "developing Zhejiang based on the overall situation, and developing Zhejiang by going beyond Zhejiang." The word "beyond" vividly depicts Zhejiang's path to transformation.

From a major foreign trade province to a major open province and then to a strong open province, Zhejiang, having "leaped out," has charted a remarkable upward trajectory: In 2004, its general trade exports ranked first nationally; in 2016, its actual utilization of foreign investment ranked fourth nationally; in 2023, its foreign trade exports ranked second nationally; in 2024, its import and export volume exceeded 5 trillion yuan, and its export growth rate ranked first among the major coastal provinces in eastern China. In the first half of this year, Zhejiang's goods trade exports exceeded 2 trillion yuan.

Zhejiang's steps are firmer and more resounding as it unswervingly expands high-level opening up.

Industrial Restructuring

At the turn of the century, China joined the World Trade Organization, embracing opportunities while facing global competition. As a pioneer in opening up, Zhejiang was among the first to encounter "growing pains." Some enterprises frequently faced anti-dumping lawsuits and trade barriers. The cluster economy, once a key driver of Zhejiang's economic development, gradually revealed structural contradictions. The long-standing low-cost, low-price advantage continued to weaken, and the "small, scattered, and weak" industrial structure faced severe challenges. How to break through?

——Bringing in resources: Using others' strengths to strengthen and supplement the industrial chain

In 2002, Zhejiang's actual utilization of foreign investment was US$30.8 billion, only 27% of Guangdong's and 30% of Jiangsu's. Facing the major strategic opportunity of joining the WTO, "expanding the utilization of foreign investment" was placed in an unprecedentedly important position for Zhejiang, which had abundant domestic capital but a shortage of foreign investment.

Bringing in resources: Where to bring them in, what to bring in, and how to bring them in? Zhejiang, with its vibrant private economy, did not lack capital. In this regard, Xi Jinping pointed out that "introducing foreign investment is not just a matter of capital; more importantly, it is about introducing technology, talent, and management, promoting the adjustment and upgrading of the industrial structure, and expanding opening up."

In 2005, Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport attracted a "golden phoenix." The Hong Kong Airport Authority invested 1.99 billion yuan to acquire a 35% stake, and the two sides cooperated in capital, management, technology, and human resources. Two years later, Xiaoshan Airport became the eighth airport in mainland China with an annual passenger throughput exceeding 10 million.

Jack, a sewing machine manufacturer that originated in a small workshop in Taizhou's Jiaojiang District, rapidly expanded its international trade through market accumulation and supply chain advantages. However, affected by the 2008 global financial crisis, this early-flying "swift bird" fell into difficulty.

"To develop and grow, enterprises must make up for their technological shortcomings." Jack Holdings Group Chairman Ruan Fude set his sights on high-quality overseas targets. German brand "PUMA" possesses world-leading technology and high-quality customers such as Porsche, BMW, and Airbus, and is known as the "Mercedes-Benz" of the cutting industry. This was like a timely rain for Jack, which urgently needed to expand its product categories. However, the disparity in strength between the two sides led to a deadlock in negotiations.

"The key to breaking the deadlock lies in acquiring "Toka."" Ruan Fude changed his approach: "Toka is a competitor of PUMA. First, invest in and acquire Toka, and then use Toka to acquire PUMA."

The successful mergers and acquisitions of Toka and PUMA became a major turning point in the expansion of Jack's business. With the introduction of advanced technology and marketing networks, Jack quickly entered high-end markets in Europe and North America, and rapidly acquired Italian shirt intelligent manufacturing enterprise "Meca" and jeans intelligent manufacturing enterprise "Vibima." In 2024, the company's sales exceeded 6 billion yuan, and it has been the world's leading seller of industrial sewing machines for many years, with products sold in more than 170 countries and regions. Today, one out of every three garments worldwide is sewn by a Jack sewing machine.

"Using domestic enterprises to attract foreign investment," Zhejiang's private enterprises have integrated into the global industrial chain with an open attitude. Saudi Aramco's strategic investment of 24.6 billion yuan in Rongsheng Petrochemical, Leapmotor's attraction of a 1.5 billion euro strategic investment from Stellantis Group, and Bayer's investment of 300 million yuan to build a Bayer Crop Science Hangzhou supply center... these partnerships have become an inexhaustible driving force for Zhejiang's open development.

"What is brought in is not just capital, but also advanced technology, management experience, and vast international markets." Li Jun, director of the Zhejiang Provincial Development Planning Research Institute, said that high-quality foreign investment has provided impetus for making up for shortcomings in the industrial chain and promoting the adjustment and upgrading of the industrial structure.

——Going global: Absorbing more sunshine and rain

"The vines of a sweet potato extend in all directions to absorb more sunshine, rain, and nutrients, but its tuber remains at the base. The extension and expansion of the vines are ultimately for the tuber to grow larger and stronger." This is Xi Jinping's vivid metaphor for the "sweet potato economy" in "Zhejiang New Discourse," vividly illustrating the Chinese wisdom of "going global."

Tongxiang, a county-level city under provincial jurisdiction with a permanent population of 1.063 million, has nurtured a number of world-leading enterprises, recording the vivid practice of "going global."

Drawing minerals into glass fibers finer than hair and making them into industrial composite materials to meet the needs of various industries is the way of making money for China Giant. In 2008, Giant jumped to the top of the world with a production capacity of 800,000 tons, breaking the dominance of the United States in the world's fiberglass industry.

In 2009, the European Union launched an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese filamentous fiberglass exports to Europe, putting enterprises in a dilemma. "Giving up the European market would jeopardize our industry leadership." Cao Guorong, vice president of China Giant Co., Ltd., frankly admitted that single production capacity was the biggest constraint, and the company urgently needed to go global to build factories. Egypt, adjacent to the European Union, became the first stop in its global layout. Today, Giant has built the largest fiberglass production base in the Middle East and North Africa. By going global, it has maintained its global market share for 17 consecutive years.

Chen Xuehua, founder of Huayou Cobalt, had an idea in 2003: to go to the Democratic Republic of Congo to look for cobalt mines.

Cobalt is a very rare small metal, accounting for only 0.0023% of the earth's crust, but it is an important raw material for Huayou Cobalt's main business and a key material for lithium batteries. China's cobalt reserves account for 1.07% of the world's total, while the Democratic Republic of Congo accounts for 50%.

"Moving the factory to the Democratic Republic of Congo is like setting up a business on the moon," said Chen Ying, vice president of Huayou Cobalt, jokingly. In 2006, the first copper and cobalt smelting plant was put into operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. When many companies were scaling back their businesses in response to the financial crisis, Huayou took the opposite approach, acquiring two local mining companies for 264 million yuan.

Next, we will extend the industrial chain. The rapid development of new energy has led to an explosive growth in demand for lithium batteries, and Huayou has accelerated its global layout, completing and putting into operation multiple projects in Indonesia and building a green manufacturing project for high-nickel ternary cathode materials in Hungary." said Chen Ying. By coordinating resources and markets in a wider field and accelerating the formation of a complete industrial chain, Huayou's cathode material output and cobalt new material market share rank first in the world, with annual sales exceeding 60 billion yuan for many consecutive years.

"Embedding in the global industrial chain is like the vines of a sweet potato extending in all directions." Wang Jian, secretary of the Tongxiang Municipal Party Committee, said that millions of Zhejiang businessmen have gone abroad, shortening the distance between Zhejiang and global high-quality resources, reducing operating costs, expanding market share, and improving market response speed. The center of all this is Tongxiang, and the fruits borne by the extending vines have fed back to Tongxiang.

Thousands of sails compete, hundreds of boats contend. In 2023, the number of private enterprises in Zhejiang with import and export performance exceeded 100,000, accounting for one out of every five private export enterprises in China.

Deep cultivation of subdivisions, "high-precision and sophisticated" integration into the global industrial chain

What does it look like to take a rope to the extreme? On the "Deep Sea No. 1" energy station, China's first deep-sea oil extraction platform located in the Ling Shui waters southeast of Hainan Island, four sets of 16 polyester mooring cables, each over 1900 meters long, firmly secure the working platform to the seabed 1500 meters below, like a "stabilizing needle". "One of these needles was provided by us, with a breaking strength exceeding 2300 tons." Li Yanxi, general manager of Zhejiang Sxiong Rope Co., Ltd., told reporters that it took three generations of his family 67 years to make such an "unbreakable" rope.

"My grandfather used plant fibers to manually twist ropes, providing fishing tools for fishermen. By my father's generation, the production of chemical fiber ropes had transitioned to mechanized production. Our generation needs to make different ropes." said Li Yanxi.

In the 1990s, the fishing rope and cable industry reached its peak, and Sxiong Rope seized the opportunity of the booming global shipping industry, entering the marine engineering field and developing the international deep-sea mooring rope and cable market. This industry has a high entry barrier.

Sxiong Rope focuses on technological innovation to build core barriers, focusing on research and development for deep-sea operations and offshore wind power projects. After ten years of hard work, in 2018, Sxiong Rope obtained certification from ABS and DNV, two classification societies, opening the door to the forefront of global rope technology. In the same year, the first ultra-large and ultra-long deep-sea polyester mooring cable in Asia, with a diameter of 160 mm, a length of 1800 meters, and a single weight of about 30 tons, was delivered, breaking the monopoly of European and American countries on deep-sea mooring cables. Today, this rope accompanies national treasures such as the Shenzhou spacecraft and the "Hai Kui No. 1" in space and at sea.

In the workshop of Zhejiang Shuanghuan Transmission Machinery Co., Ltd. in Yuhuan, Taizhou, reporters saw that a bright, precision gear smoothly came off the production line in less than 100 seconds. The detection head slowly moved, and the relevant parameters were displayed on the computer. The gear precision was only one-thirtieth of a hair! "A small gear worth less than 100 yuan has become a multi-billion yuan industry, thanks to 45 years of adhering to the main business, a group of people, one thing, working for a lifetime." Zhou Zhiqiang, the company's vice general manager, said with pride.

Digging deep wells in subdivided fields and running marathons in new tracks. In 2024, Zhejiang has 233 national manufacturing single-item champion enterprises, ranking among the top in the country, with 133 enterprises having the leading product global market share. Using small to win big, using precision to create excellence, and continuously advancing towards the high-end of the global industrial and supply chains.

Building brands, competing on the world stage

"As the vitality, creativity, and competitiveness of Zhejiang's economy, the private economy should rely on institutional, technological, management, and cultural innovation to play a leading role in brand building, and to recreate itself through self-transcendence and self-improvement." Xi Jinping's earnest instructions in "Zhejiang New Discourse" have pointed out the direction for the development of Zhejiang brands.

Many foreign trade enterprises in Zhejiang started by doing OEM for international brands. "Similar products, international brands sell for tens of thousands of yuan, while those without brands can only sell for tens of yuan." Cheap and low-end were once a headache for Lin Hailin, chairman of Zhejiang Daberlin Valve Co., Ltd.

Lin Hailin decided to create a Chinese brand of his own. Because of the refusal of OEM production, customers were lost, order volume dropped sharply, some employees chose to leave, and the company was once in trouble.

Starting with the introduction, digestion, and absorption of advanced European technology and equipment, cultivating its own product design and technical team, and continuously improving and perfecting molds... "Industrial upgrading has no end. We have more than 100 patent achievements, and the 500-degree Celsius high-temperature annealing process has solved the common problem of copper valve cracking, winning the overseas market with reliable quality." said Lin Hailin. Currently, Daberlin valves are exported to 108 countries and regions around the world.

A valve, a lighter, an electric iron... A batch of traditional enterprises rooted in manufacturing have quietly upgraded, completing the transition from OEM to brand creation. In the first quarter of this year, Zhejiang's exports of self-owned brand products reached 152.81 billion yuan, an increase of 8.9%, accounting for 15.7% of the province's total exports. From brand products to brand enterprises to brand economy, Chinese self-owned brands are shining brightly in the world market.

Connecting the world

At the crossroads of a century of change, there are both countercurrents and those who follow the trend. Zhejiang has comprehensively built an open channel that connects rivers and seas and the world, establishing trade links with countries around the world, steadily expanding institutional opening up, and forging a new path for high-level open development.

Integrated land and sea development, expanding the open channel

On the coast of the East China Sea, amidst the blue sea and blue sky, the world's largest port, Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, is densely packed with docks and bustling with giant ships.

In national strategies such as the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, Ningbo-Zhoushan Port is a "hardcore" force. On March 29, 2020, during an inspection of the Chuanshan Port Area of Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward earnest hopes: "We must adhere to first-class standards, build and manage the port well, strive to build a world-class strong port, and make greater contributions to national development."

Ningbo Port and Zhoushan Port were once two independent ports. Although located in the same waters and using the same waterways, their planning, construction, and operation management were separate, making it difficult to optimize the allocation of shoreline resources. "More and more Zhejiang-based enterprises are going global, accelerating their pace, and becoming increasingly closely connected with the world market, thus constantly raising the demand for port capacity." Tao Chengbo, chairman of Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group Co., Ltd., said that the two ports rely on the same economic hinterland, and administrative divisions have become a stumbling block to improving port capacity and competitiveness.

Based on a profound understanding of "time" and "trend," during his time working in Zhejiang, Comrade Xi Jinping strongly advocated for the integration of Ningbo and Zhoushan ports. In December 2005, the Ningbo-Zhoushan Port Management Committee was established, promoting the integrated development of the port based on the principles of "unified planning, unified construction, unified brand, and unified management."

The effects were quickly apparent. In 2006, the container throughput of the integrated Ningbo-Zhoushan Port exceeded 7 million TEUs; in 2008, it exceeded 10 million TEUs, ranking eighth globally; and in 2009, it completed a cargo throughput of 577 million tons, becoming the world's number one.

High-level promotion of the integration of ports within the province and incorporating it into overall economic and social development planning became an important step in Zhejiang's development of an open economy. In November 2016, Zhejiang Provincial Seaport Group and Ningbo Zhoushan Port Group adopted an operational model of "two signs, one team, and one organization." "The two have initiated substantive integrated integration with assets as the link, laying the foundation for building a world-class modern hub port." said Tao Chengbo.

Facing the East China Sea and connecting the world. Today's Ningbo Zhoushan Port serves as a transshipment base for bulk cargo in the Yangtze River Delta and along the Yangtze River, supporting the adjustment of the hinterland's industrialization and productivity layout; externally, it connects to more than 600 ports in over 200 countries and regions worldwide. In 2024, Ningbo Zhoushan Port completed a cargo throughput of 1.38 billion tons, ranking first in the world for 16 consecutive years; its container throughput reached 39.3 million TEUs, maintaining its position as the world's third-largest container port.

More than 200 kilometers away from Ningbo Zhoushan Port is Yiwu West Railway Station, where deep blue containers bearing the "China-Europe Railway Express" logo catch the eye.

In November 2014, the first "Yixinou" China-Europe Railway Express, fully loaded with small commodities, departed from Yiwu for Madrid, Spain. From "0" to "1," the "Yixinou" has completed over 13,000 round trips, shipping 1.11 million TEUs, and the number of operating lines has increased from one to more than 20, covering more than 160 cities in over 50 countries and regions across Eurasia. The goods shipped have expanded from the initial small commodities to over 100,000 types of goods, including new energy vehicles and medical devices.

"Internally, it drives high-level opening up in inland Zhejiang, and externally, it allows the benefits of development to better benefit the people of countries along the route. The China-Europe Railway Express fully embodies the principles of consultation, joint construction, and shared benefits of the Belt and Road Initiative." said Lan Jianping, vice president of Zhejiang Provincial Development Planning Research Institute.

Integrated land and sea development creates vast opportunities. Zhejiang is vigorously developing multimodal transport operations, further activating various sea and land port resources, and focusing on building a modern integrated transportation system to provide a solid foundation for high-level opening up.

——Digital Bridges: Buying and Selling Globally

During his time working in Zhejiang, Comrade Xi Jinping visited Yiwu more than 10 times and conducted several in-depth investigations into the small commodity market. He summarized the "Yiwu development experience" as follows: "This place is neither coastal nor bordering, so how did it become a global trading center? It's because the people of Yiwu achieved 'creating something from nothing' and 'the inexplicable.'"

Entering Yiwu International Commodity City, Li Erqiao, who is engaged in the disposable straw trade, is communicating online with clients on the other side of the ocean, while livestreaming employees are preparing for an overseas broadcast.

Li Erqiao said that in the past, if small commodities wanted to do foreign trade, they had to go through multiple channels, including foreign trade companies, logistics, and foreign trade circulation enterprises, before they could enter overseas retail channels. Now, factories only need to design products suitable for the local market, upload them to cross-border e-commerce platforms, and ship the products to cross-border e-commerce warehouses periodically, which is both simple and cost-effective.

A click of the mouse, and goods flow globally. In Yiwu, the "World Supermarket," 75,000 shops are simultaneously connected to the cloud, with over 5.12 million registered purchasers and over 2,000 foreign trade companies linked. Buyers and sellers post order information online, and the system automatically matches transactions, also providing related financial services. From itinerant merchants and stationary merchants to e-commerce and chain merchants, Yiwu's foreign trade enterprises have experienced the wave of the internet and ushered in a new wave of industrial transformation and iteration. Currently, about 30% of Yiwu's 1.15 million business entities are involved in cross-border e-commerce.

Just across the street from Yiwu International Commodity City, the Global Digital Trade Center is accelerating its construction and is expected to open its doors to welcome guests in October this year.

"The construction of the Global Digital Trade Center is to better meet the needs of business entities in the digital trade era." said a relevant person in charge of Zhejiang China Commodity City Group Co., Ltd., adding that it will comprehensively promote the digital upgrading of "people, goods, markets, and chains," comprehensively promoting the upgrading of Yiwu's market to better serve global partners.

By using intelligent interconnection technology to build an online social event platform to increase user stickiness, Hangzhou Ruze E-commerce Co., Ltd., which was established less than five years ago, has successfully expanded its market for smart fitness equipment under its own brand. Currently, Ruze's products are sold in more than 10 countries in North America, Europe, and Asia, with warehousing facilities established in more than 30 cities, and cumulative sales exceeding 1.5 million units.

Vigorously promoting the integrated development of platforms, live streaming, and cross-border e-commerce, using platforms as an important carrier to support cross-border e-commerce enterprises in cooperating with professional live streaming agencies; using visualization methods such as live streaming and short videos as marketing models to create a global cross-border live streaming highland; developing on a large scale, cultivating a number of cross-border e-commerce live streaming integration bases, and supporting enterprises in establishing localized teams overseas. Using digital technology to connect with the world market, helping Zhejiang become "a global Zhejiang."

——Rule Alignment: Smoothing Domestic and International Dual Circulation

An Du Biopharmaceutical (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. is a clinical outsourcing service enterprise located in the Hangzhou section of the Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone, with an urgent need to ensure the supply of key research and development materials. "Previously, the import of blank human blood matrix required customs inspection at the foreign place of origin, which was a cumbersome process. If the import was not timely, the entire research and development process would have to be put on hold." Chen Xiaomin, the company's chief operating officer, introduced that the pilot program in the free trade zone changed "source inspection" to joint supervision within the country. For enterprises on the whitelist, as long as they provide risk assessments, customs clearance certificates, and other materials, the port will release the goods, removing obstacles for the company's product research and development and industrialization.

Strive to build a resource allocation hub for bulk commodities, continuously promote the liberalization and facilitation of bulk commodity investment and trade, and the Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone gives full play to its pioneering role in exploring high-level opening up.

Located in the Zhoushan section of the Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone, Zhejiang International Bulk Commodity Trading Center Co., Ltd., has a large screen on the wall scrolling with various oil product trading quotations and production capacity pre-sale quotations. To smooth the circulation of oil and gas transactions, Zhejiang Bulk Commodity jointly released the "Zhoushan Price" with the Shanghai Futures Exchange. This is the country's first RMB-denominated low-sulfur fuel oil bonded ship supply quotation index.

This mechanism breaks the monopoly of the pricing mechanism for low-sulfur fuel oil in overseas markets." Zhejiang Dazong Chairman Lai Xin said, "Zhoushan price" can effectively promote the use of RMB pricing in the bonded low-sulfur fuel oil bunkering field, help build a modern oil and gas trading ecosystem, and provide more convenient channels for the full circulation of international and domestic oil and gas resources.

As a frontier base for China to connect with international high-standard economic and trade rules and expand institutional opening-up, the pilot free trade zone closely connects the two markets and two resources at home and abroad, and is an important fulcrum for the mutual promotion of domestic and international dual cycles. Hu Zhenfang, Deputy Director-General of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce and Deputy Director of the Provincial Free Trade Zone Office, said that Zhejiang should accelerate its alignment with international high-standard economic and trade rules, steadily expand institutional opening-up in terms of rules, regulations, management, and standards, and deeply integrate into the international economic system.

Cultivating fertile ground

I am responsible for sunshine and rain, you are responsible for thriving growth.

From actively exploring and promoting institutional opening-up to aligning with international high-standard economic and trade rules, from building high-level open platforms to building strategic highlands for opening-up... In a complex international economic and trade environment, Zhejiang has diligently improved its internal skills, continuously improved the level of government services, gathered high-quality resources, and cultivated fertile ground for high-level opening-up.

——Optimizing the business environment, running a marathon without an end

As a comprehensive experimental platform for reform and opening up, the Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone has been at the forefront of the country with its pioneering and integrated reforms. By the end of last year, a total of 698 institutional innovation achievements had been formed at the provincial, municipal, and district levels in Zhejiang Province, including 217 national firsts. Zhejiang has contributed 45 institutional innovation achievements that have been replicated and promoted at the national level, forming a number of replicable and promotable experiences, laying a solid institutional foundation for creating a superior business environment.

In Li Jun's view, whether the business environment is good or not depends on whether enterprises nod their heads. We must ensure that every operating entity can hear the sound of policy implementation and feel the atmosphere of ubiquitous services.

In the pre-warehouse of Asia Collection Logistics Co., Ltd. located in Ningbo Beilun, pointing to rows and rows of shelves piled high with goods, Yu Xufeng, the company's executive vice general manager, said that the pre-warehouse is a "national first" in Ningbo's cross-border e-commerce field, and has become a consolidation point for Chinese manufacturing. Through the pre-warehouse, goods can avoid secondary sorting abroad, saving 2 to 3 weeks of logistics turnover time.

Damaiyu Port in Yuhuan, Taizhou, successfully obtained approval for the designated supervision site for imported edible aquatic animals at an extraordinary speed, ensuring the smooth progress of a US$1 billion procurement cooperation project for imported crab products. "Starting from scratch, we ran on-site during the day and revised documents at night, doing everything possible to create conditions and break down barriers," Ji Lin, then deputy director of the first supervision section of Taizhou Customs, still vividly remembers each breakthrough point of the project. Today, Damaiyu Port, with its "origin-to-destination" model, allows king crabs that previously departed from Vladivostok, Russia, and transited through Qingdao and Weihai to arrive directly in Taizhou, shortening the transportation time by 48 hours and reducing procurement costs for catering enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta by 15%. Taizhou has also successfully become a national hub for imported fresh produce. The "Taizhou speed" of seizing every minute and second is a microcosm of Zhejiang's improvement of government services.

"Optimizing the business environment and serving economic development is like a marathon without an end." Li Huajiang, member of the Party Working Committee and deputy director of the Zhejiang-Taiwan (Yuhuan) Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, said with confidence.

——Expanding the market, the world is Zhejiang's stage

In March this year, JEC World 2025 opened in Paris, France. On this stage, known as the "Olympics" of the global composite materials industry, enterprises from Tongxiang, Jiaxing, Zhejiang, made a stunning appearance.

In front of the booth of China Giant Stone Co., Ltd., flashlights flickered around a nearly 2-meter-high hydrogen storage tank sample. "This storage tank, made of directly spun glass fiber, is 70% lighter than traditional steel cylinders and has 2 to 3 times the hydrogen storage capacity." When Zhang Jianzhong, director of the product R&D center of China Giant Stone, introduced the product, the negotiation area of the booth was full, and many customers immediately made appointments to conduct on-site inspections in Tongxiang.

Not far away is the booth of China's top 500 enterprise, Zhenstone Holding Group Co., Ltd., where a globally innovative composite photovoltaic frame and a glass bottle filled with degradation liquid constitute a unique landscape. "This is our newly launched biodegradable composite frame solution, which is being presented for the first time." Before the person in charge of the Zhenstone booth finished speaking, a group of customers had gathered to seek cooperation.

"To cultivate the momentum of foreign trade, we have placed 'market expansion' in an important position." A relevant person in charge of the Foreign Trade Development Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce told reporters that in the past five years, Zhejiang Province has supported a total of 321 offline exhibitions, with 10,944 participating enterprises, and an intended transaction value of US$4.78 billion; it has supported 585 online trade fairs, with 28,134 participating enterprises, and an intended transaction value of US$2.86 billion.

Since the end of 2022, Zhejiang has taken the lead in the country in launching the "Thousands of Groups and Tens of Thousands of Enterprises" action to expand markets and increase orders. From January to June this year, a total of 2,124 groups went abroad to participate in exhibitions and conduct economic and trade talks, involving 10,388 enterprises, and achieving intended orders exceeding 77 billion yuan. Nearly 7,000 enterprises in the province participated in the Canton Fair, with the total number of booths ranking second in the country.

In short, wherever there is a market, there are people from Zhejiang.

——Yearning for it, becoming a place where talents gather from all walks of life

45-year-old Zhang Zhijian from Suzhou is a Doctor of Science from Fudan University, and is now a new resident of Tongxiang. "Some people jokingly say that I was born in a second-tier city, studied in a first-tier city, and finally settled in a third-tier city." When talking about the reason for staying in Tongxiang, Zhang Zhijian said two reasons with a smile: one is "talent retention for career development", and the other is "talent retention for policy reasons". With the dual support, Zhang Zhijian's team achieved a research and development breakthrough, and the company became the first manufacturer in China to have independent intellectual property rights and achieve large-scale production of composite fibers.

When talking about the motivation for entrepreneurship, Chen Zheqian, the 32-year-old CEO of Hangzhou Yizhi Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., told reporters, "When I was a doctoral student at the School of Computer Science, Zhejiang University, artificial intelligence was not yet popular. It was Xiaoshan Economic Development Zone that actively found our R&D team and provided support in terms of funding, policies, and office space." Chen Zheqian frankly stated, "The government's support and encouragement strengthened my confidence in entrepreneurship." Today, Yizhi Intelligent's human-computer interaction and live digital human products are operating in many countries around the world.

Hangzhou, the paradise on earth that has cultivated "six little dragons", has had a net talent inflow rate of over 1.2% for five consecutive years, and has newly introduced more than 350,000 college students under the age of 35 every year. During the reporter's interview and investigation, I met young people from all over the country and those who had returned from overseas to work and settle down in Zhejiang. When talking about the government's resettlement and support policies, such as settlement subsidies, living subsidies, rental subsidies, and low-interest loans... a common feeling is "thoughtful" and "reassuring." What could be more important than this?

Achievements are made through talent, and great undertakings are built upon a broad base of talent. During his time working in Zhejiang, Comrade Xi Jinping deployed a talent-strong province strategy, proposing to "make Zhejiang a place where all kinds of talents yearn to be." For 20 years, Zhejiang has been deeply promoting the construction of a talent-strong province, striving to cultivate fertile ground that attracts both local and distant talent. Currently, Zhejiang Province has a total talent pool exceeding 15 million, highlighting the strong magnetic field effect of talent aggregation.

Zhejiang cultivates talent, and talent cultivates Zhejiang.

Why Zhejiang

Lacking iron, coal, and oil, Zhejiang's per capita resource endowment is only 11.5% of the national average. What did Zhejiang, with its "innate deficiencies," do right, and how did it achieve such rapid development?

—A Grand Blueprint Guiding the Course of Opening Up

Facing the new situation after China's accession to the WTO and the reality of resource constraints, Comrade Xi Jinping, then Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the CPC, made "further leveraging Zhejiang's locational advantages, actively connecting with Shanghai, actively participating in cooperation and exchanges in the Yangtze River Delta region, and continuously improving the level of opening up both domestically and internationally" an important part of the "Eight-Eight Strategy." "Developing Zhejiang based on the overall situation, and developing Zhejiang by looking beyond Zhejiang" laid the theoretical foundation and provided a guideline for Zhejiang's open economic development.

At that time, Zhejiang was in a critical period of further expanding its opening up. Some enterprises, due to prominent resource constraints, chose to invest in other provinces. Zhang Qianjiang, former vice-director of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce, recalled that there were such voices within Zhejiang Province: capital outflow and enterprise relocation were detrimental to economic development. There was no consensus on whether or how enterprises should "go global."

Comrade Xi Jinping made a dialectical analysis, pointing out that "we must also 'go global' internationally, and of course, we can go to other provinces." He also emphasized that under the conditions of a market economy, the optimal allocation and cross-regional flow of production factors is an inevitable law.

Emancipating the mind and respecting the laws of economics, a large number of Zhejiang enterprises "moved north and west" to seek development, achieving greater development in a broader space, and the province's open development presented a new pattern of "bi-directional opening up, east and west."

"2004 can be said to be a year of rich color in the history of Zhejiang's open development." Zhang Qianjiang recalled, "A high-level provincial conference on opening up was held, and the 'Several Opinions on Further Expanding Opening Up' was issued, proposing to achieve a leap from a 'major foreign trade province' to an 'open province.'"

Since the 18th National Congress of the CPC, facing the profound changes unseen in a century in the world, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed that "we should seize the opportunities brought about by the profound adjustment of the current world economic pattern and implement a more proactive opening-up strategy" and "rely on China's advantages of a super-large-scale market, attract global resources and factors with domestic large-scale circulation, enhance the synergy of both domestic and international markets and resources, and improve the quality and level of trade and investment cooperation."

Following the direction pointed out by General Secretary Xi Jinping, Zhejiang has deeply implemented the "Eight-Eight Strategy," taking institutional opening up as the main driver, systematically planning and promoting the three major initiatives of "platform upgrading, hub construction, and model innovation," accelerating the construction of a high-level open and strong province, and successfully shaping "three Zhejiangs"—provincial Zhejiang, China's Zhejiang, and global Zhejiang—and composing a magnificent chapter of open economy.

—Dare to be a Pioneer, Stimulating the Vitality of the Private Economy

The history of Zhejiang's open economic development is also a history of private enterprises bravely standing at the forefront of entrepreneurship.

In the early 1980s, Zhang Huamei, a 19-year-old girl from Wenzhou who sold buttons, was awarded the first "individual business operator's business license" in the country. In January 1994, Wanxiang Qianchao, a subsidiary of Wanxiang Group, successfully listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, becoming the first township enterprise listed in the country... Zhejiang, daring to be a pioneer, gave full play to the development of the private economy, creating a group of market "trendsetters," but also encountered bottlenecks in the development of the private economy early on.

Will the common development of multiple economic systems undermine the dominant position of the public ownership system? Will the development of the non-public ownership economy erode socialist fairness? At the beginning of the 21st century, doubts accompanied the development of Zhejiang's private economy, becoming increasingly pressing.

In response to this situation, Comrade Xi Jinping, on many occasions, highly affirmed the enormous contributions of Zhejiang's private enterprises, clearly stating that "Zhejiang's greatest advantage is its first-mover advantage in the private economy," and emphasizing that the development of the private economy is of utmost importance in enhancing economic vitality, mobilizing the enthusiasm of the people and all sectors of society, and accelerating the development of productivity. In 2004, Comrade Xi Jinping personally presided over the first Zhejiang Provincial Conference on Private Economy and delivered an important speech, emphasizing the promotion of a new leap forward for the private economy.

Zhejiang has given full play to its advantages in the developed private economy, encouraging private enterprises to "go global" and "bring in." Today, Zhejiang Province has a total of 3.5053 million registered private enterprises, accounting for 92.06% of the total number of enterprises, with 56 private enterprises per 1,000 people. In 2024, Zhejiang's private economy totaled 6.1 trillion yuan, with more than 100,000 private enterprises with export records, and export value increased by 10.0%.

Liu Ting, a specially invited member of the Zhejiang Provincial People's Government Advisory Committee, once wrote an article summarizing that whether reviewing the development since the reform and opening up or looking forward to the future of modernization construction, the top priority that Zhejiang has done right and will continue to do is the healthy development of the private economy. In the course of Zhejiang's open development, private enterprises are the undisputed "vanguard" and "pillar," and it is precisely by fully stimulating the enormous vitality of the private economy that a new horizon has been opened up for Zhejiang's open economic development.

—Standing at the Forefront, Carrying Forward the "Four Thousands" Spirit of Entrepreneurs

In the exhibition hall of the Kuahuqiao Site Museum in Hangzhou's Xiaoshan District, there is a dugout canoe with a remaining length of 5.6 meters and a maximum width of 53 centimeters. This is the earliest dugout canoe discovered in East Asia to date, dating back about 8,000 years, silently demonstrating the Zhejiang ancestors' yearning for the distance, their exploration of rivers and seas, and the open and exploratory spirit deeply rooted in their genes.

In the arduous process of entrepreneurship and innovation, the "Four Thousands" spirit has guided countless Zhejiang businessmen to start from small businesses, turning "small businesses" into "big deals," "small commodities" into "large markets," and "small workshops" into "large enterprises." As General Secretary Xi Jinping said in the article "Fearless of Difficulties and Moving Forward" in "Zhejiang New Discourse," "The reason why Zhejiang has been able to develop from a province with small land resources to a major economic province is precisely because the people of Zhejiang, represented by Zhejiang businessmen, have traveled thousands of mountains and rivers, spoken thousands of words, thought of thousands of ways, and suffered thousands of hardships, and it is precisely because successive Party committees and governments have respected the people's pioneering spirit, given strong support, and allowed for development."

At the beginning of reform and opening up, Lu Guanqiu, a farmer from Xiaoshan who raised 4,000 yuan to establish an agricultural machinery factory, went to the United States to investigate to open up the international market, staying in a motel and hand-drawing more than 200 parts drawings, using body language to explain product parameters to customers. In 1984, Wanxiang became the first Chinese auto parts company to enter the US market.

In the late 1980s, the first group of merchants from Yiwu ventured into international markets, armed with calculators. In 1993, the Yiwu Small Commodity Market achieved a turnover of approximately 4.515 billion yuan. By 2024, over 8,000 export companies in Yiwu had sold 588.96 billion yuan worth of goods globally. Today, Yiwu has built an "overseas ecosystem," establishing an "overseas sub-market + overseas warehouse + overseas showroom" system. It has successfully launched 60 brand overseas projects in 28 countries, assisting over 5,000 merchants in expanding into overseas markets.

In the digital economy era, the "Four Thousand" spirit is reborn in the cloud. Facing global shipping competition, Ningbo Zhoushan Port developed a "single quantity, single cut + intelligent supervision" system and established a container turnover time confidence interval model, shortening the container turnover time by about 40%. Taizhou's electromechanical enterprises have restructured their supply chains based on the "industrial brain," and their "digital export" platform has driven over 300 small and medium-sized enterprises to go global together.

The "Four Thousand" spirit fully demonstrates the innovative, courageous, tenacious, and resilient spirit of the people of Zhejiang. From "bartering chicken feathers for sugar" to "buying globally and selling globally," from carrying goods on their shoulders to explore the world to deploying global supply chains as digital "e-commerce," the footprints of "traveling thousands of mountains and rivers" have transformed into a data torrent, and "speaking thousands of words" has evolved into AI multilingual live streaming, but the core remains unchanged.

The essential power of the "Four Thousand" spirit stems from the private economy, the market economy, and the people's unwavering struggle to overcome poverty. It is not only a summary and refinement of the decades-long struggle of the Zhejiang business community, but also an encouragement and expectation for Zhejiang's continued progress in the future. Entering a new era, Zhejiang businessmen continue to break through themselves and innovate, forming a "New Four Thousand" spirit with the connotation of "doing everything possible to improve brands, expand markets, innovate independently, and improve management." This will surely become a new footnote in the high-quality development of Zhejiang's open economy.