Chen Xiaoman, Deputy Director-General of the Development and Reform Bureau of Jiangmen Municipal Government (Photo by Hu Nan)

With Jiangmen enjoying the benefits of both land and maritime resources and has a rich history of overseas Chinese culture, efforts will be made to develop the city into a new growth centre on the west bank of the Pearl River and into the gateway to the coastal economic belt.

This remark was delivered by Chen Xiaoman, Deputy Director-General of the Development and Reform Bureau of Jiangmen Municipal Government, in a recent interview with Southcn.com and Newsgd.com.

Jiangmen is located in the southwest corner of the Pearl River Delta, some 70 km from Guangzhou. It has excellent waterway access and is the chief agricultural market centre for the coastal region west of Guangzhou. The city is also the birthplace of over 4 million overseas Chinese.

The Jiangmen-Zhanjiang Railway opened on July 1st, 2018, enabling direct rail links between Jiangmen Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen North Stations.(File photo from Nanfang Daily)

Transportation infrastructure to shape the city’s development

According to Chen, transportation infrastructure should be paramount to the city’s development. With Jiangmen railway station planned to be a comprehensive transportation hub on the west bank of the Pearl River Delta, efforts are being made to realise this aspiration.

The Jiangmen-Zhanjiang Railway opened on July 1st, 2018, enabling direct rail links between Jiangmen Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen North Stations. Furthermore the Guangzhou-Zhuhai passage rail link and Nansha Harbor railway are now under construction. Finally in terms of rail access there are the planned Shenzhen-Jiangmen-Yulin-Nanning High-Speed Rail and Zhuhai-Jiangmen-Zhaoqing High-Speed Rail, both key projects as part of wider GBA development.

At the same time, the Huangmao Sea Channel, a sea bridge across the mouth of the Huangmao River connecting Zhuhai with Jiangmen and western Guangdong, has been approved and will start construction next year. The bridge will link with the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.

In terms of airport construction, Chen introduced that Jiangmen is currently planning to build an airport in Enping, a county-level city in Jiangmen. In future, the city is looking at options for a further airport in Taishan, another county-level city in Jiangmen and birthplace of many overseas Chinese.

Kaiping Diaolou in Jiangmen. The diaolou served as housing and as protection against forays by bandits (and later the Japanese). (File photo from Nanfang Daily)

7 cultural brands to link with overseas Chinese

Enterprising Chinese migrants are Jiangmen’s DNA; an important feature of the city. According to the latest statistics, Jiangmen is the birthplace of over 4 million overseas Chinese who are now located in 107 countries and regions across the world. Jiangmen itself has a population of just over 4 million. Hence, the saying, "there is a Jiangmen both in China and abroad”.

Hence, taking fully use of this overseas Chinese dynamic is of utmost importance for Jiangmen to make the best possible contribution to GBA development.

Chen spoke about the city’s seven ‘cultural brands’, such as the World Youth Congress of Jiangmen and the China (Jiangmen) overseas Chinese Festival. Through these events and brands, Jiangmen is striving to build an internationally influential platform for exchange between domestic and overseas Chinese.

Connecting with overseas talent is also an important task for Jiangmen. Chen revealed that Jiangmen has recently established offices in both Japan and France, tailored to recruit overseas talent for the GBA.

Based on the existing close relationships with Hong Kong, Macao and overseas Chinese, the city has established an entrepreneurship & innovation center for Hong Kong, Macao and international talent, and the government has recently issued a policy document including more than 40 measures for attracting talent to Jiangmen.