Changsha focuses on innovation and creativity to spur growth

　　Hunan province's capital promotes top industrial standards, area's natural beauty

　　Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, is making efforts to develop itself into a center for the innovation and creativity industries.

　　First and foremost in those efforts is the creation of a cultural and creative business hub in the Malanshan area, which is already home to the Hunan Broadcasting System, one of the largest media groups in China.

　　Hunan Broadcasting has seen its ranking on the annual China's 500 Most Valuable Brands list, released by the United States-based World Brand Lab, continue to rise in the past 10 years. Hunan Broadcasting's ranking on the list improved from 257th in 2005 to 80th in 2016. Its brand value ranked fourth in the media industry, just after CCTV, Phoenix Satellite Television and People's Daily.

　　Chen Wenhao, deputy Party secretary and mayor of Changsha, said the government will leverage Hunan Broadcasting's success by transforming Malanshan into a cultural and creative zone, centered around a video industrial park.

　　"We will apply high standards in the Malanshan cultural and creative zone construction processes to support Changsha's development," Chen said.

　　The zone's focus will be on television creativity and production, games, comics and animation integrated with technologies, e-commerce and intelligent hardware. Combining cultures with high-technology and the internet, the Malanshan cultural and creative zone will become a top national creative center. The output value of the zone is expected to reach 100 billion yuan ($14.8 billion) in 2020, according to local officials.

　　The Malanshan project is just one of many advantages Changsha can leverage in developing itself into a business hub. Yuelu Mountain National University Science Park offers obvious advantages in science and technologies as it is a joint project of more than 20 Changsha institutes and universities, including Central South University, Hunan University and Hunan Normal University.

　　"The Yuelu Mountain National University Science Park will help to boost the integration of higher education, technological innovation and emerging industries and will become a national innovation hub," Chen said.

　　In addition, Changsha will be home to the Meixihu International Culture and Art Center, designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid. The center's builder announced in mid-July that trial operations will begin soon.

　　With a total investment of 2.76 billion yuan, the center embodies the values of functionality, elegance and innovation, all of which will help make it part of the new cultural and civic node for Changsha.

　　In the meantime, Changsha is promoting the constructions and operations of Tanheli National Archeology Heritage Park, Tongguan Kiln and galleries, intangible cultural heritage museums and other cultural projects to boost the development of cultural consumption.

　　Among them, a scenic area along the beautiful Liuyang River was proposed by Changsha's government in 2015 as a high-quality cultural tourism belt with many functions, including sightseeing and leisure, vacation and health maintenance, space for meetings and physical exercise, as well as areas to celebrate folk customs and for industries with an ecological focus.

　　The famous Chinese scholar Yi Zhongtian said: "Since Liuyang River is the mother river of Changsha, the construction of a cultural tourism industrial belt of Liuyang River with a high standard is an integral part of the economic soft power of Changsha."

　　The large-scale live show On the Liuyang River is held at the Longping Rice Museum's outdoor stage, which frames the landscape and emphasizes the surrounding 5,000 square meters of water and rice paddy fields in Changsha's Furong district.

　　"The introduction of On the Liuyang River is a good opportunity for Furong district to demonstrate its beauty," said Yu Xinfan, Party secretary of Furong district. "We have to ensure the preparation work and the quality of performance to make a new brand for us."

　　Yu said the show will be staged at Longping Rice Museum regularly in the future.

　　caoyingying@chinadaily.com.cn

　　(China Daily 07/28/2017 page24)