But it opened up a new track... I once wanted to build the "first CBD in the suburbs of Shanghai", this town of Shanghai
Not long after, the annual Nanxiang Xiaolong Culture Exhibition will start again. This cultural and tourism activity with local characteristics of Shanghai will be held for the 17th time this year, which also makes the food "Xiaolongbao" have a deep impression on Nanxiang.
Compared with other towns in the suburbs of Shanghai that cannot find special brands and are struggling to find IP, Nanxiang has obvious advantages - Xiaolongbao, Guyi Park, Old Town Street... Nanxiang not only has IP, but also many IP. But you know, what is the best industry in Nanxiang? Is it the catering industry around Xiaolongbao or the cultural tourism industry around the ancient town?
None of them are. The best industries in this ancient and charming town are actually cutting-edge anime and games, as well as biomedicine. At present, more than 2600 game manufacturers have settled in Nanxiang, including leading enterprises such as Lilith and Yingjiao. Nanxiang has contributed more than 10% of the national game output value; In terms of biopharmaceuticals, Nanxiang has gathered more than 300 precision medicine enterprises, including Zhongsheng Funuojian. From January to April this year, it achieved a production value of 400 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35.3%.
This may not be quite what you imagine heading south. In the process of urbanization in the suburbs of Shanghai, almost all towns are undergoing transformation and upgrading, and the ancient town of Nanxiang is no exception. How exactly should we transform? Some transformation stories are about "wind trends", some are about "location", some are about "strategy", and some are about "characteristics". The story of Nanxiang tells us a simple truth: in the process of regional development, the word "timing" is so important.
"Nanxiang Xiaolong" store recruitment
Where is the way out of the suburban ancient town
Traveling northwest along the S5 Hujia Expressway from the downtown area of Shanghai, Nanxiang is the first exit. At the morning peak on weekdays, this exit will probably be blocked by traffic - a large number of urban population will enter Jiading from Nanxiang, visit Guyi Garden, eat Xiaolongbao, and visit old streets and modern shopping malls.
Nanxiang has a commercial gene. This place has been prosperous since ancient times and is known as "Little Shanghai" and "Sai Suzhou". This "commercial gene" has continued to this day. On August 25, 2020, the largest pure commercial shopping center in Shanghai, Nanxiang Impression City MEGA, officially opened. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is already the commercial center of the North Shanghai region, and Nanxiang's commerce has attracted passenger flow from the city center and even surrounding cities such as Kunshan.
Nanxiang Impression City MEGA
Nanxiang never lacks foot traffic and popularity. However, regional development is not enough just to attract people and popularity, and Nanxiang's ambition clearly goes beyond that. In July 2009, half a year before the official opening of Line 11 of the rail transit system, Nanxiang boldly and proactively shouted a slogan: to build the first CBD in the suburbs of Shanghai.
Regional development sometimes requires a bit of imagination, and the important manifestation of this imagination is the prediction of timing. Indeed, the goal of rebuilding a CBD in the suburbs outside of areas such as Lujiazui and the Bund has been controversial since its inception. However, the people of Nanxiang at that time had already keenly realized that the time for "transformation and development" had arrived.
From the outside, the upcoming Rail Transit Line 11 has historically pulled Nanxiang into the development circle of Shanghai center. This area faces Putuo District across the road and can receive direct radiation from the Dahongqiao Business District, especially after the opening of the Jiamin Elevated Road, it only takes a few minutes to travel south to the Hongqiao transportation hub. At the same time, the commercial costs such as building rent in Nanxiang are only about one-third of those in the central urban area, and the cost-effectiveness of enterprise settlement is extremely high.
From an internal perspective, at that time, Nanxiang indeed had to transform. In the first wave of urbanization in the past decade, Nanxiang was committed to developing from agriculture to manufacturing. Due to the land transfer price of only 20000 to 30000 yuan per mu, it suddenly attracted more than 2000 small enterprises, and the development of a pancake style quickly hit the "ceiling" of construction land.
Driven by both internal and external factors, Nanxiang has begun a "bone scraping and detoxification" transformation: it has completely eliminated the low-end manufacturing industry of "three highs and one low", and carried out a major transformation of the entire industry. More than 2000 small enterprises have sharply decreased to less than 100, and commercial buildings have been built on the basis of "vacating cages and exchanging birds". The Nanxiang Zhidi Enterprise Headquarters Park, built on the old factories of Shanghai Machine Tool Electrical Factory and Yonghong Coal Mine Machinery Factory, is a typical representative of it.
Can suburban areas give birth to CBD? It doesn't make much sense to dwell on this issue now: between the "name" and "reality" of regional development, the latter is far more important than the former. No matter what the slogan Nanxiang shouted at that time was, "industry transformation" was an important part of transformation. Only by holding back the temporary decline in taxes and GDP in those years and accelerating transformation can we lay a solid foundation for seizing greater opportunities in the future.
How to "make something out of nothing"
Up to now, there are not a few areas with similar "CBD" functions outside Shanghai center. For example, in the construction process of five new cities, almost every new city has a dedicated "core area". A person familiar with the development of Nanxiang's industry told reporters that the goals of Nanxiang Town at that time were somewhat scientific, but the conditions were not fully mature at that time.
"Firstly, at that time, Shanghai's urban development stage may not have reached the time of giving birth to the 'suburban CBD', and even the five new cities today were not treated as traditional 'suburban'. Secondly, in the suburbs, if there were no high-energy and promising leading industries, only commercial buildings would be difficult to form a CBD."
Where is the leading industry? After a round of industrial transformation, Nanxiang finally found its own track - anime games and biomedicine. It is interesting that the connection between Nanxiang and these two tracks is somewhat groundless and innovative.
While precision medicine elsewhere is still on the PPT and in the paper, Nanxiang has quietly begun to explore the path of industrialization of precision medicine. As early as 2017, Fudan University and Jiading District jointly initiated the establishment of the Shanghai Precision Medicine Industrial Park, which officially opened in November 2018.
Shanghai Precision Medicine Industrial Park
Taking Shanghai Funuojian Biotechnology Co., Ltd. as an example, which is the world's second-largest oncolytic virus company by market value, settled in Nanxiang in 2018. In 2021, the Zhongsheng Funuojian mRNA Vaccine Industry Base project was launched, and an intelligent mRNA vaccine production workshop with an annual production capacity of 2 billion doses has been built.
As for the anime and gaming industry, the reason for its connection with Nanxiang is even more accidental. In 2009, Pei Jiawen, the general manager of Blue Sky Economic City, met the 28 year old founder of Youzu Network, Lynch, who was looking for a new home for his gaming company. The Blue Sky Economic City solved Lynch's demands, and the company generated 2 million yuan in taxes the following year after landing, far exceeding traditional manufacturing enterprises. Afterwards, more and more ACG companies settled in Nanxiang.
Youzu Network
Fantasy Horse Culture
Through the injection and reshaping of emerging industries, regional development can seek new highlights and build growth points. The so-called "timing" actually doesn't have much mystery, it ultimately boils down to understanding the overall situation and aligning with the overall trend. It is precisely because of this that there is a possibility of "something out of nothing" - for Nanxiang, these industries are "something out of nothing", but from the perspective of Jiading, Shanghai, and even the whole country, these new tracks are part of the overall industrial planning layout, and "something out of nothing" has a clear internal logic.
For example, biopharmaceuticals is a key area of national strategic emerging industries, one of the three leading industries vigorously developed in Shanghai, and also one of the "three billion level industries" in Jiading District. As for anime games, according to relevant data statistics, the sales revenue of online games in Shanghai in 2021 was 125.03 billion yuan, accounting for one-third of the national total. In recent years, the construction of Shanghai as the "Global Esports Capital" has been orderly promoted.
More importantly, both of these are high value-added industries, which are extremely suitable for Nanxiang, which has undergone several transformations and every inch of land is worth every penny. Nowadays, Nanxiang has become a town with a tax revenue of 10 billion yuan. In the first half of this year, the total amount of inbound taxes completed was 6.83 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 50.8%, and an increase of 13.2% compared to 2021.
The core area of Nanxiang Game Valley
Seize the opportunity, but more importantly, create opportunities
Seizing the opportunity is certainly important, but more importantly, creating opportunities and taking initiative to create sustainable development space for oneself. After experiencing the smoke from villages and finding the leading industry, where is the driving force for the next round of development in Nanxiang?
Seeking kinetic energy from science and technology innovation is Nanxiang's proactive choice for future development. The Nanxiang Zhidi Park, which was renovated from an old factory, introduced the "Technology 50 Entrepreneurship Competition" many years ago as an entrance to introduce innovation and entrepreneurship projects into the park. Although the service needs of small and micro science and technology startups are diverse, they have high entrepreneurial enthusiasm, a large number of groups, and their growth potential is far greater than that of mature enterprises. In the long run, they can provide rich returns for the park.
The person in charge of Shanghai Precision Medicine Industrial Park also told reporters that the park's revenue mainly relies on technology research and investment returns, rather than the rent difference between land and houses. In the technology intensive industry of precision medicine, many companies do not have fancy buildings or hundreds or even thousands of employees, and often only need a small team of a few PhDs to carry out technological breakthroughs. Therefore, the criteria for selecting enterprises in the park are mainly based on their development potential.
The researchers of Junsai Biology, a company settled in Shanghai Precision Medicine Industrial Park, are working
"We are actively participating in the planning and formulation of the precision medicine industry in the entire region, envisioning the creation of a full industry closed loop of precision medicine 'incubation acceleration industrialization' in Nanxiang, and implementing the core functions of research and development strategies." said Chen Jie, Secretary of the Nanxiang Town Party Committee.
Nowadays, the total number of high-tech enterprises in Nanxiang has reached 599, accounting for about a quarter of the entire region. In the first half of the year, there were 23 new specialized, refined, and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as 26 innovative small and medium-sized enterprises. In order to introduce these enterprises, Nanxiang has also freed up a lot of space, allowing the research and development achievements of new technology enterprises to be quickly transformed and implemented. In the first half of this year, Nanxiang Town sorted out 417 pieces of inefficient industrial land, totaling 5950 acres, and 22 projects such as Shanghai Hongxing Sewing Machine Needle Factory revitalized and freed up 559 acres of development space.
At the same time, Nanxiang is quietly promoting the transformation of urban functions, and the urban spatial layout is no longer only focused on the old town area, but also expands the perspective of spatial optimization to the entire town area. In May of this year, the special transportation plan for the new central hub area of Nanxiang was released, which aims to build Nanxiang and its surrounding areas into a comprehensive transportation hub, achieving a transformation from the "urban edge" to the "urban node".
Schematic diagram of planning scope
The "new center" naturally corresponds to the "old center". In the future, Nanxiang will form two main centers: the cultural core of the ancient town and the new center of Nanxiang, becoming a link connecting Jiading New City, the strategic location of "North Transformation" in Baoshan District, and the Dahongqiao area. In the future, Nanxiang will not only be a scenic and ancient town, but also a major industrial town, and more importantly, a functional town. Nanxiang, the "Xiaolongbao", will be more interesting and colorful in the future.
