A DELEGATION representing Huaqiangbei Pedestrian Street attended the 6th Beijing Wangfujing International Brand Festival, supported by the Department of Circulation Industry Development of the Ministry of Commerce and China General Chamber of Commerce on Sept. 20. The festival gathered representatives of world-renown commercial streets from France, Germany, Russia, Turkey, South Korea, Mongolia and Portugal and experts from relevant fields. Invited by the organizer of the festival, Ye Wenge, vice head of Futian District, led a delegation including Chen Xiaozhong, secretary of the CPC work committee of Huaqiangbei Subdistrict and Xie Jianian, vice director of Futian Economy Promotion Bureau, to study Wangfujing Street’s management methods and communicate with experts and scholars from home and abroad. The unique features of the electronic industry, the dynamic business environment and the prospective commercial future of Huaqiangbei all draw the attention of onlookers from home and abroad. “In the spring of 1979, an old man drew a circle on the side of the South China Sea, which is Shenzhen,” said Chen, explaining that this year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening-up. Taking advantage of the reform and opening up, Huaqiangbei has experienced rapid development and become a young commercial street with unique industry features. With the opening of three metro lines and four metro stations, Huaqiangbei has been turned into a pedestrian street in a real sense. Huaqiangbei, which is 60 meters wide, is the widest pedestrian street in China with the richest variety of plants. A nearly one-kilometer-long underground commercial street has also opened recently and formed a stereoscopic space with the part on the ground. Currently, the daily pedestrian volume reaches 600 thousand and the annual trade volume reaches 200 billion yuan (US$28.88 billion). “Its products are totally different from other commercial streets. We are advanced in the electronics industry and the majority of the products in the counter are electronic components and parts. A small bag of chips is equal to the value of a large number of other products, which explains the high trade volume,” explained Chen. Chen also stressed that various government departments are also focusing on creating an international intelligent R&D center based on the high-tech and creative features of Huaqiangbei. To this end, the Futian government released a series of preferential policies for creating a good business environment. Chen said that Huaqiangbei is a street of dreams. Over the past 20 years, renowned domestic mobile brands including Huawei and Xiaomi have all left their footprints there. Companies like Tencent have also grown up there. Currently, with the building of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Corridor, it holds great growth potential. (Chen Xiaochun) | 