Sijing: Writing a new chapter of "scientific and technological innovation oasis, vibrant ancient town, livable new city"
On June 28, the "Second National Characteristic Small Town Brand Development Conference and 2024 Characteristic Small Town Communication Heat Index Release Conference" hosted by China City News was held in Sijing, Songjiang, aiming to discuss the challenges and problems facing the current urban development, showcase the development achievements of new urbanization, and promote higher-quality development of town economy. The conference was held in Sijing and the relevant honors were awarded, which is quite intriguing.
Sishui River flows slowly and the ancient style is majestic. Sijing is a place where the historical and cultural context of Songjiang gathers. The thousand-year-old town gave birth to the writer Tao Zongyi, the Shanghai newspaper giant Shi Liangcai, and the Chinese education pioneer Ma Xiangbo; it gave birth to the Shijinxi gongs and drums and Jiangnan shadow play; it left behind the Futian Temple and Anfang Tower; it preserved the unique misty corridor and Ming and Qing Dynasty buildings in the Jiangnan water town.
In March last year, the model section of Sijing Ancient Town opened grandly, attracting widespread social attention. Amid public anticipation, the protection and renewal of Sijing Ancient Town has been accelerated and entered the fast lane. The new Sijing Ancient Town brand IP of "culturally vibrant ancient town, quiet and charming water town" has become increasingly prominent, and its popularity continues to rise.
With culture as nourishment, the vibrant ancient town is renewed, and Sijing's economic development is also comprehensively upgraded, embarking on a new path of high-quality development. In 2023, Sijing Town will complete a total tax revenue of 3.285 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 89.5%. Local fiscal revenue will hit a record high of 777 million yuan, and the proportion of real estate in local fiscal revenue will drop to 19.6%. The retail sales of goods above the limit will reach 20.8 billion yuan, and the retail sales of social consumer goods above the limit will reach 5.79 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 59.1%, ranking first in the district. It is worth noting that in the first half of this year, the above-scale output value of Sijing Town exceeded 15%, of which strategic emerging industries contributed more than 80% to the output value. At the same time, Sijing insists on building an innovative ecology and cultivating more than 300 high-tech enterprises, specialized and new enterprises, etc.
Through years of exploration and exploration, Sijing's three business cards of "scientific and technological oasis, vibrant ancient town, and livable new city" have shined brightly, opening a new chapter of high-quality development.
The highlights of the ancient town's renewal and protection are prominent. The relocation of the core area has been basically completed, and the restoration of cultural relics has been promoted at a high level. Sijing currently has 54 district-level cultural relics, and the restoration of 23 cultural relics buildings in the style area with a total area of about 20,000 square meters has been completed, achieving the greatest extent of "restoring the old as it is".
Tailor-made business implantation has been carried out, and Jinshi Cultural Center and Zhao's Workshop have become another popular check-in spot after "Wind, Flowers, Snow and Moon". A number of destination collections based on historical celebrities have been opened for use, further enriching the historical and cultural heritage of the ancient town. The former residence of Shi Liangcai, a municipal patriotism education base, the former residence of Ma Xiangbo, a district patriotism education base, and the "Sishui Qingfeng" anti-corruption plaque cultural center based on the story of the historical figure Li Jian have all been opened to the public, and Tao Zongyi Cultural Life Center will also open this year.
The national intangible cultural heritage "Sijing Ten-brocade Gongs and Drums", the municipal intangible cultural heritage "Shadow Play", district-level intangible cultural heritage skills such as "Haipai Paper-Cutting, Sijing Noodle Sculpture, A Liu Rice Balls, Sijing Tofu, and Guangli Zongzi Making Skills", and the Sijing Ancient Town Folk Collection Art Society have made the intangible cultural heritage teaching base Majiating more and more attractive.
As the reputation of Sijing Ancient Town continues to improve, many high-quality "element type" and "leisure experience type" cultural tourism projects have favored this thousand-year-old ancient town with superimposed opportunities, which not only greatly enriched the leisure experience of tourists, but also played a "catalyst" role in better continuing the red culture, better innovatively developing and creatively transforming the excellent traditional Chinese culture, better demonstrating the charm of Jiangnan culture and Shanghai culture, and creating more competitive cultural and business cards. 15 element type projects such as Songfeng Tingyin Guqin Museum, Jinshi Cultural Museum, Zhao's Workshop, Luban Art Museum, Root Carving Museum, Shenbao Cultural Museum, Nancun Yingxue Xinhua Bookstore, Shanwufang, and 18 leisure experience projects such as "Waiting for a Flower to Bloom" Xiaolin Comics, Yueqi Huaming Tea Culture Exchange Center, Starbucks, Yichi Garden, Kaijiang Market, Yu Tavern, Sixiaolong Old Shanghai Snack Shop, Jinguzhen Specialty Snack Shop, Guzhen Zongzi Shop, Tianwo Food have been opened to the public, providing tourists with a variety of cultural tourism experiences such as fashion art innovation and commercial consumption.
Traditional culture and fashion trends collide and blend here, making this thousand-year-old town full of cultural heritage a cultural and tourism destination that visitors from all over the world yearn for.
The construction of a livable new city has achieved remarkable results. The ecological environment has been continuously improved. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, a total of 2.7 kilometers of river regulation has been completed, 4.67 kilometers of river ecological restoration has been implemented, and Class V water bodies have been completely eliminated. The PM2.5 concentration has continued to decline, the green coverage rate has reached 19.64%, and the energy consumption per unit of GDP has reached the target set by the district. Social undertakings have developed in an all-round way, 3 new schools of various types have been built, the average number of students per class in the compulsory education stage has reached 40.8, and the main health indicators of residents have reached the level of developed countries and regions.
In recent years, Sijing has actively integrated into the construction of the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor in the Yangtze River Delta through forward-looking planning and strategic layout, firmly grasped the strategic initiative of high-quality development in the new era, and achieved phased progress and results in specific goals and tasks in comprehensive economy, industrial development, ancient town construction, ecological environment, and people's livelihood security, achieving a major transformation and leap in regional development.
The ancient towns in the Jiangnan region are not only an important carrier of "Jiangnan culture", but also an important carrier for inheriting and promoting Chinese traditional culture and demonstrating Chinese civilization.
Sijing Town is one of the first towns approved by the State Council in 1953. It is a famous historical and cultural town and village in China, a hometown of folk culture and art in Shanghai, and a historical and cultural district in Shanghai. It is an important part of the construction of "Humanistic Songjiang". Sijing Ancient Town has many cultural relics and sites that need to be protected and inherited, and it also carries the people's memories of regional historical changes, social development, and cultural accumulation.
Where four rivers meet, blue bricks and small tiles, flying eaves and corners, and ancient temples are quiet. Sijing Ancient Town is the core area of Songjiang Xiatang Historical and Cultural Area, with a total land area of 15.72 hectares. The ancient town moved according to "public opinion", was repaired according to "folk customs", built for "people's livelihood", and prospered because of "folk traces". We strive to build an inclusive, open and tolerant ancient town with warmth to seek and place homesickness.
At present, Sijing has completed the relocation of 1,509 households in the old town renovation area and 603 households in the old renovation area of No. 51 Kaijiang West Road, with a completion rate of 99%. In the process of promoting relocation and resettlement, Sijing Town respects the opinions of residents who are willing to stay in the ancient town to continue working and living, and uniformly implements the facade renovation and beautification project of stores to improve the working and living environment of residents.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, Sijing developed into a village; in the Yuan Dynasty, it was built as a town, so it has the reputation of "the first town of Sijing among the 18 towns in the east of the county", with a history of nearly a thousand years. Sijing Ancient Town is a gathering place of humanities. Tao Zongyi, a famous historian in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, once built a thatched cottage in the ancient town to live in, opened a library to teach, and left behind precious historical materials "Nancun Chuogenglu"; Sun Daoming, a bibliophile in the Yuan Dynasty, Fan Yunlin, a calligrapher and painter in the Ming Dynasty, as well as Ma Xiangbo, the founder of Fudan University, and Shi Liangcai, the founder of Shenbao, founded Sijing Rice Industry Yangzheng Primary School in Sijing. A large number of celebrities and scholars have lived in Sijing and left many cultural stories and precious wealth for future generations.
Therefore, Sijing adheres to the idea of "repairing the old as it is, seeking its authenticity" and focuses on 4 district-level cultural relics protection units and 25 cultural relics protection sites. By "retaining, renovating and demolishing" at the same time, it promotes the protection, development and construction of the style area with high quality. As of June 2024, 20 cultural relics protection buildings have been repaired, with a repair area of more than 15,000 square meters.
During the renovation process, Sijing insisted on following the principles of "minimum intervention, reversibility, and recognizability" and, where conditions permitted, preserved traditional architectural elements such as doors, windows, ridge decorations, and battlements as much as possible, truly preserving the original architectural features and value and allowing the integrity of the building to continue.
"Full-factor planning" promotes the renewal of historical features. By widely soliciting opinions from citizens and holding expert consultation meetings, Sijing Ancient Town has formed a package plan for the nine Jiangnan water town landscapes of "water, streets, lanes, towers, temples, corridors, bridges, courtyards, and workshops" on the basis of protecting the complete street and river pattern and the classic water town style, and is committed to creating eight unique IPs of Sijing Ancient Town, including Anfang Xiaoyue, Traditional Chinese Medicine Renshou, and Misty Rain Corridor.
"Full scene integration" promotes the revitalization and utilization of cultural relics. Adhere to the principles of cultural relics repair such as "repairing the old as it is, in order to seek its authenticity" to restore the architectural style of the ancient town. Take Ma Xiangbo's former residence as an example. After renovation and functional upgrades, the former residence "restores" Ma Xiangbo's life with unique Jiangnan elements and diverse exhibition forms. On the walls and display cabinets of the entire former residence, there are not only graphic introductions to Ma Xiangbo's life experience and outstanding contributions, but also physical exhibitions of old books and old documents used in his childhood. Introduce high-quality social resources to make cultural relics come alive. Take the "Songfeng Tingyin" Guqin Culture and Art Museum as an example. It was originally Jiang's house. After renovation, "Songfeng Tingyin" focuses on Guqin culture display, Guqin teaching and other contents, combined with "qin, chess, calligraphy and painting, poetry, fragrance, flowers and tea" and Sijing characteristics to spread Guqin culture.
"All-industry linkage" integrates innovative cultural tourism brands. Adhere to "Humanistic Songjiang" as the main line, make good use of the cultural endowment of the ancient town, build an immersive scene that integrates traditional regional characteristics with cutting-edge trendy culture, and create four popular check-in places: "Wind", "Flowers", "Snow" and "Moon". Promote the entry of Hilton Garden Inn, Zhao's Workshop, Jiafeng Yinchuan Jinshi Cultural Center, Luban Art Museum and other industries, and explore and practice colorful cultural industries and night economy. Promote the national intangible cultural heritage "Sijing Shijinxiluogu", the municipal intangible cultural heritage "Songjiang Shadow Play", and Sijing's characteristic folk activities such as "Nancun Lecture Hall, Ancient Town Stage, Pingtan Everyday Performance" into the ancient town. Since its opening in March this year, the Sishui Qingfeng Plaque Integrity Culture Base has received 12,000 visitors.
[“One great leap” promotes the overall upgrading of Sijing’s industrial layout and its full-speed rise]
Sijing is the northeastern gateway of Songjiang. It faces Dahongqiao to the north, is adjacent to Songjiang New Town to the south, is connected to the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor in the east, and is connected to Sheshan National Tourist Resort in the west. It has resource advantages such as industrial hinterland, proximity to universities, and direct rail transit. It has become an important bearing area of the "one corridor and nine districts" of the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor in the Yangtze River Delta.
Since the 14th Five-Year Plan, the district committee has proposed a new positioning for Sijing, "to build it into a demonstration zone for industrial-city integration in the northeast of Songjiang", which has laid the main tone for Sijing's future development. To this end, we have always implemented the new development concept unswervingly, and have consistently implemented the primary task of high-quality development. We have consistently refined the "new blueprint" into a "construction drawing" and transformed it into a "real scene painting", and have made every effort to write a new chapter of "scientific and technological innovation oasis, vibrant ancient town, and livable new city".
From being the vanguard of the economic take-off of towns in the past to being the pioneer of industrial innovation today, Sijing has "taken a leap" to break out a new path of "park within a park" transformation. Its successful cases were published on the front page of the Liberation Daily and in the special issue of the 6th CIIE. Focusing on the goal of "no shortage of land for good projects and no shortage of space for good industries", we took the initiative to break the "ceiling" of industrial land, formed a development pattern driven by 23 park platforms, and achieved major basic institutional innovation "from 0 to 1".
The experience of promoting the revitalization of inefficient land and solving the problems of "parks within parks" and "factories within factories" tells us that shortcomings are potential and new opportunities are contained in the wind. In the development plan of the whole town, we have re-arranged the 157 acres of stock land of the former Jiangnan Shipyard and built a one-stop modern automobile science and technology park - Hand in Hand Automobile Port. We have vigorously introduced four major delivery centers and more than ten new energy vehicle brands, including Zeekr New Energy, Changan Deep Blue, Huawei Seres and Dayun New Energy, and together with the first delivery center of Xiaomi Automobile in the country in Jiugan 168 Industrial Park, we have shaped the advantages of the new energy vehicle industry and fully released the potential of automobile consumption. The park pays 35 million yuan in taxes annually and its commodity sales reach 5 billion yuan, driving the town's social retail sales data to grow by 70 percentage points in an adverse environment.
Relying on the scale advantage of Songjiang's "6X" strategic emerging industries, we have focused on creating a "14X" key industrial cluster with Sijing characteristics, leading the gradual formation of a modern industrial system "from 1 to 10". In 2023, the output value of strategic emerging industries will account for 80% of the total industrial output value above designated size, and the scale of key industrial clusters will be nearly 20 billion yuan.
In recent years, we have made a key move in the information and innovation industry. Taking the opportunity of G60 Songjiang Information and Innovation Industrial Park being selected as the third batch of characteristic industrial parks in Shanghai, we focus on developing five major industries, including commercial cryptography, 5G, cloud computing, Internet of Things, and big data. We are deeply aware that the park is not a simple gathering of enterprises, but an orderly agglomeration of industries. In accordance with the idea of "strengthening the leading enterprises, supplementing the chain, and cultivating clusters", a number of leading enterprises in the fields of commercial encryption and information and innovation have been introduced, and the scale effect and radiation effect of the park have gradually become prominent. Quectel Communications has been recognized as the first batch of Shanghai innovative enterprise headquarters; Chuangyuan Xinke has been rated as a national intellectual property demonstration enterprise; Zhixun Cryptography has undertaken the construction of a national commercial cryptography testing center. The G60 Commercial Cryptography Industry Innovation Cluster has gathered more than 50 upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain. The industrial cluster led by the leading enterprises has built the "Sijing advantage" in the field of information and innovation.
In recent years, the district committee has continuously deepened the construction of the science and technology innovation ecology in Songjiang, the source of the G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor in the Yangtze River Delta, and released a clear signal of vigorously promoting scientific and technological innovation. We give full play to the amplifying, superimposing and multiplying role of innovation in economic development, put the construction of an innovation ecology in a prominent position in high-quality development, and promote the development of industries in the region towards specialization, precision and innovation and high-precision and advanced directions. Up to now, the town has cultivated 142 high-tech enterprises, 52 specialization and innovation enterprises, 40 listed companies, 11 enterprise technology centers, 9 "manufacturing single champions" and technology giants of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, 5 Shanghai Academician Expert Service Centers and workstations, and 2 "Shanghai Hard-core Technology Enterprises TOP100".
The "source of fresh water" for the surging power of innovation is the promotion and implementation of key projects and major scientific research platforms. We have introduced the global headquarters of Quectel Communications, the Asia-Pacific headquarters of Comau, and the headquarters of Chuangyuan Group, and the economic level of the headquarters has continued to improve. The innovative achievements of functional platforms such as the National Science and Technology G60 Digital Intelligent Industrial Park, the G60 Commercial Cryptography Industrial Base, and the Jiaoke Innovation Park have emerged, forming a good situation of "dislocated development, distinct characteristics, mutual support, and parallel progress".
