A group of more than 20 foreign reporters visited the Jining National High-tech Industrial Development Zone on Oct 19 to discover the rapid economic and social development in the area.

A particular highlight of the visit centers on the Jining Digital Economy Exhibition Center, the Huawai Shandong (Jining) Big Data Center and Ruyi Group, a world-renowned innovative technology textile enterprise.

As the only information technology industrial base and one of the three big data industrial agglomeration zones in Shandong province, Jining has built up a series of national industrial bases for construction machinery, special vehicles, biotechnology, new textile materials, the optoelectronic industry and coal chemical industry. IT giants such as Hewlett Packard, Oracle, IBM, Huawei, ZTE and China Soft International have settled down in Jining, laying a solid foundation for the development of a digital economy in the city.

According to Sun Xiao, director of the publicity department of Jining National High-tech Industrial Development Zone, Jining is now making great efforts to develop the information technology industry and promote the development of other high-profile sectors such as software, photovoltaic, intelligent terminals and robots. It is also putting great emphasis on the development of cloud computing, artificial intelligence and other high-end industries.

The first phase of the Huawai Shandong (Jining) Big Data Center covers an area of 24,000 square meters, which can contain 1,064 cloud cabinets, providing 700P of cloud storage capacity. The project aims to build a series of cloud computing data centers, a high-end intelligent manufacturing center, a modern service support center and information consumption center at the provincial or even national level.

"My previous impression of China was that of long history and splendid culture. But during this trip, I witnessed the rapid development if information technology in the country and vigorous economic and social development in Jining," said Kittipong Thavevong, a reporter from Thailand's Nation Multimedia Group.

The reporters were impressed by Ruyi Group's two complete textile and garment industrial chains, involving cotton-to-clothes and wool-to-clothes businesses. They also highly praised the group's efforts in improving its brand image through the acquisition of Bally, Sandro, Maje and other globally renowned clothing brands.

"Through this interview, I learnt that many world renowned fashion brands are owned by Ruyi Group," said Kim Kyungk Mi, a reporter from South Korea's JoongAng Ilbo.

"I am very impressed and I am very optimistic about the future development of Ruyi."

The reporters, coming from the world’s major media organizations, were jointly invited by the Jining municipal government and China Daily, to participate in a four-day-long fact-find trip to report on Jining's achievements in protecting traditional culture, replacing old growth drivers with new ones and rural revitalization over 40 years of reform and opening up over the past 40 years of reform and opening-up.

Foreign reporters visit the Jining Digital Economy Exhibition Center on Oct 19. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Foreign reporters watch the display boards at the Jining Digital Economy Exhibition Center on Oct 19. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] 

Foreign reporters visit Ruyi Group, a world-renowned innovative technology textile enterprise. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]