Shandong Province is situated along the east coast of China, in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. The Shandong Peninsula extends between the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea facing the Liaodong Peninsula across the waters. In land, Shandong shares borders with Hebei, Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu provinces stretching from north to south.
Shandong, a significant industrial base and the strategic stronghold for economic development in northern China has comprehensively implemented the new development concept, firmly grasped the primary task of high-quality development and concentrated on building a green, low-carbon and high-quality development pilot zone.
By focusing on strengthening the foundation, building advantages, addressing weaknesses and fostering growth drivers, Shandong is accelerating the construction of a modern industrial system anchored in real economy.
Shandong has 36 national key laboratories and 210 national enterprise technology centers ranking first in the country. The number of high-tech enterprises and small and medium sized high-tech enterprises exceeded 35,000 and 50, 000 respectively.
More than 90% provincial major science and technology innovation projects are spearheaded by enterprises. The total number of academicians in Shandong from the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and overseas academic institutions reached 168.
Shandong keeps in mind the requests of President Xi by taking the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy as the core focus of its work on “agriculture, farmers and rural areas” in the new area. The province continuously deepens its understanding, strengthens its measures, and explores new paths. A picture of rural revitalization characterized by strong agriculture, beautiful rural areas and wealthy farmers is gradually unfolding.
The total output of farming, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery reached 1.28 trillion yuan marking a 3.9 % increase. The production capacity of grain and important agricultural products continues to strengthen.
A total of 77.59 million mu of high-standard farmland has been built and 53.59 million mu of efficient water-saving irrigation has been developed.
A total of 136,000 family farms, 218, 000 specialized farmer cooperatives and 1,322 key leading enterprises at or above the provincial level in agricultural industrialization have been fostered. Shandong has newly built or upgraded 7,570 km of “Four-Good Rural Roads”, while achieving a 95% of coverage rate for scaled water supply systems in rural areas.
The province has established 246 nationally recognized and 4,295 provincially recognized “Civilized Villages/Towns” through cumulative efforts.
With a long history and a rich culture, Shandong is an important cradle of Chinese civilization and the birthplace of Confucian culture. In recent years, Shandong has based on its cultural advantageous, adhered to the principle of being upright and innovative , earnestly practiced the cultural thoughts of President Xi, and focused on creating new trend-setters for “ Liang Chuang” ( Innovative Transformation and Development” of Chinese culture, contributing to promoting cultural prosperity building a cultural power and constructing modern Chinese civilization.
Based on its geographical and resource advantages, with the implementation of the major national strategy of the Yellow River as the traction, Shandong has thoroughly implemented the regional coordinated development strategy. The leading role of the Shandong Peninsula City cluster has become more prominent, and it has strived to take the lead in promoting ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin.
Shandong positioned at the eastern bridgehead of the Eurasian Continent, leverages its exceptional geographical advantages through the connectively of land and sea, east and west.
Shandong has embraced the responsibility of “building new heights for opening up,” actively exploring innovative paths and methods to expand its openness and cooperation. This effort contributes significantly to accelerating the establishment of a new dual-cycle development pattern.
Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets. In recent years, Shandong has made greater efforts to build a beautiful Shandong, promote a comprehensive green transformation of the economy and society, push for the construction of a green, low-carbon, high-quality development pilot zone, and promote harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. There have been historic, pivotal and comprehensive changes in ecological and environmental protection with the province’s ecological environment quality reaching the best level on record.
The livelihood of the people is the foundation of their happiness. The party committees and governments at all levels in Shandong regard safeguarding and improving people’s livelihoods as the starting point and foothold of all their work, insist on safeguarding and improving people’s livelihoods in the course of development, continuously increase investment in people’s livelihoods, quickly make up for the shortcomings in people’s livelihoods and ensure a reliable safety net for people’s livelihoods.
The protection of people’s livelihoods is strong and effective and the standard of living of the people is steadily improving.
BY ADDISALEM MULAT
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 24 MAY 2025
