Chapter 10 Primer

On October 16, 2008, "People's Daily" published a full-page article titled "Building the Top 100 Chinese Companies through Openness". "Development Survey" is obviously the most authoritative summary of Kunshan's experience at the highest level in China. The editor of "People's Daily" said: In the 30 years of reform and opening up, Kunshan has initially realized the transformation from a single agriculture to the coordinated development of agriculture, manufacturing, and modern service industries, from relying on foreign capital to the common development of multiple ownership economies, and from The transformation from decentralized layout to centralized layout promotes intensive development, economical development, and sustainable development, from the transformation of some people and some regions getting rich first to common prosperity and harmonious progress, from the expansion of urban scale to the coordinated development of urban and rural areas, and from extensive The transition from growth to coordinated development of economy, politics, culture, society and ecology.Kunshan is a microcosm of the "Southern Jiangsu Model", and the "Kunshan Road" eloquently shows that as long as the development method is scientific, fast speed can also have good quality, industrialization can also have a good ecology, and urbanization can also achieve urban and rural integration.As long as we adhere to the guidance of Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of "Three Represents", thoroughly implement the scientific outlook on development, closely integrate with local realities, seize opportunities, and creatively explore development ideas, we can explore the scientific development and harmonious development as the main features. The road to the development of building a well-off society in an all-round way.

To be honest, I have not seen such a comprehensive and highly qualitative evaluation of a place by a central authority.What kind of road has China followed in the past 30 years of reform and opening up?The conclusion and summary of the central government is "the road of socialist development with Chinese characteristics".What is "the road of socialist development with Chinese characteristics"? The editor's note of "People's Daily" told us clearly: The road to Kunshan is the road to socialist development with Chinese characteristics. Kunshan's current reputation has long been known throughout China, because Kunshan is the "top 100 counties (cities)" in the country. Among the top 100 counties (cities), Suzhou's current five county-level cities have always been in the top ten. , while Kunshan has repeatedly ranked among the "top 100".It's not easy, it's not easy. Thousands of counties (cities) across the country want to be ranked among the top 100, and Kunshan is at the top of the top 100, and it has been at the top for many times. Maybe there is no county except Kunshan ( city) can reach this level.

I am in Suzhou, and I understand the competition between several counties and cities in Suzhou.It can be said that from the early days of liberation to the present, there has never been an overt and dark rivalry between them—of course it is a rivalry where you catch up with each other and strive to contribute to the country.This is the kind of passionate competition between regions in a socialist country. It keeps the development of a region with high morale and strives to catch up. Maybe this is the case. Only in Suzhou can we see it for decades.For this, I am proud, and proud of being a Suzhou native.

In my childhood impression, Kunshan was a "low town" - my hometown called the places with good land and good harvests "high towns", and called those places with thin fields and thin land, lakes and ponds, and places with nine floods in ten years. "Low country".Before I left my hometown, if a man from a high country found a woman from a low country to be his wife, even if the daughter-in-law was one in a hundred, the man would lose face in front of everyone.It can be seen how humble the status of the low country people is. My birthplace, Changshu, is in Gaoxiang, so I have a sense of superiority since I was a child: I don’t think much of “little Kunshan” (Kunshan is much smaller than Changshu, whether it’s the area or the old county, or the reputation and status of ancient scholars, Kunshan are all juniors).For many Suzhou people, the main reason to look down on Kunshan is that it is a "low-lying village". Because it is located in a low-lying area, it has been flooded nine times in ten years, and its grain production is extremely poor, so it is called "Little Bazi". Among them, it ranks eighth (in the past, the Suzhou area governed eight counties, and later Jiangyin and Wuxi counties were placed under Wuxi City) - the old and the young.

The "Little Bazi" is now amazing, not only in the forefront of Suzhou counties and cities, but also in the forefront of any Suzhou brother in the whole country, and has the best reputation, and the total economic output has always been leading. A small Kunshan with an area of ​​only 927 square kilometers and a population of 650,000 has several figures that even provincial and municipal leaders in the central and western regions will stare at: Kunshan's per capita GDP is 171,061 yuan (US$23,418), and its fiscal revenue is 20.2 billion yuan.Only 0.01% of the country's land area has gathered 1.7% of foreign capital and one-ninth of Taiwan capital, creating 2.4% of the total import and export volume.

Kunshan is a legend, a Chinese legend.No wonder Chinese leaders have special affection and concern for Kunshan. General Secretary Hu Jintao had many positive dialogues and conversations with the leaders of Kunshan City, and each time he praised Kunshan as a model of socialism with Chinese characteristics with special affection. When Jiang Zemin was the general secretary, he also visited Kunshan many times in person, and his "friendship" with Kunshan deepened because he used to be a "Shanghai native". The relationship between Shanghainese and Kunshan has natural geographical factors. It began to be established in the 1950s and 1960s, and in the 1970s and 1980s it became an unforgettable "love" relationship.

Comrade Deng Xiaoping passed away a little earlier. If he had passed away a few years later, I believe that Deng Xiaoping would have paid more attention and love to the development of Kunshan, even surpassing his affection for Shenzhen.Because Deng Xiaoping put forward the concept of "well-off" in Suzhou, he proposed "quadrupling" in Suzhou, and he planned socialism with Chinese characteristics. He moved from Shanghai to Kunshan during the Spring Festival holiday, because Kunshan is following the blueprint of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics that he conceived to realize the prosperity of the whole society and the strength of the region.

The Kunshan model is a model of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and it is also the practice of the grand blueprint of the "three-step" dream of a modernized and powerful country proposed by the Chinese Communists. However, the 30-year history of Kunshan is not that simple. Kunshan's experience embodies a pioneering spirit of "dare to be the first in the world" and a development path of emancipating the mind and seeking truth from facts.