As fireworks lit up the night sky of Beijing at the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics, China showed the world its unique style of romance and beauty, as well as its technological innovation and low-carbon environmental protection.

 

Little known was the fact that the electric arm-in-the-air working platform applied to carrying athletes in the ignition ceremony of the Olympic flame was from a construction machinery enterprise－Sinoboom－in Ningxiang, Hunan province.

 

Sinoboom's stepping on to the Olympic stage is an epitome of the development of Hunan's advanced manufacturing industry, local officials said.

 

As a strong province in manufacturing, Hunan has a very prominent foundation and advantages for development in its advanced manufacturing industry.

 

Hunan has three industries each valued at 1 trillion yuan ($158.28 billion)－consumption, materials and equipment－and 15 industries each worth 100 billion yuan, including construction machinery, electrical engineering and electric apparatus and electronic information.

 

Central China's Hunan province is striving to become an important engine for high-quality development in the central region and for the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, said Zhang Qingwei, Party secretary of Hunan province.

 

Last year, Hunan made solid progress in advanced manufacturing, especially in the fields of construction machinery and advanced rail transit equipment, with more than 6,700 new enterprises founded in the province's free trade zone, Zhang added.

 

The total output value of Hunan's construction machinery industry cluster has exceeded 200 billion yuan, becoming the world's third-largest construction machinery cluster after Illinois in the United States and Tokyo in Japan, according to the local government.

 

With leading construction machinery enterprises like Sany, Zoomlion and China Railway Construction Heavy Industry, Hunan has had its construction machinery products sold to 180 countries and regions across the globe, even including traditional machinery manufacturing powers such as the US, Germany and Japan.

 

Tunnel boring machines are hailed as the "underground aircraft carrier" in the field of construction machinery, and China used to mainly rely on imports.

 

Represented by CRCHI, Chinese companies are committed to core technology research and development. They have achieved great progress in recent decades, with a large amount of major tunnel boring machine equipment now selling to the overseas market.

 

"Looking ahead, we will continue to strengthen scientific and technological efforts and enhance the capability of independent and controllable technologies, to contribute to building Hunan into a national important advanced manufacturing center," said Liu Feixiang, chairman of CRCHI and a deputy to the National People's Congress.

 

In addition, Hunan is stepping up its efforts to become a hub of scientific and technological innovation with core competitiveness.

 

Li Zhijian, director of Hunan's Science and Technology Department, said: "We have always taken serving national strategies and major needs as our primary mission, participated in undertaking major national projects, and achieved a number of landmark results, which include super hybrid rice, Tianhe supercomputer series, ultrahigh-speed rail transit traction technology and electromagnetic prospecting equipment."

 

Every year, Hunan implements 10 key technology research projects. Those projects organize and mobilize superior scientific research forces to overcome difficulties in frontier technologies, key industrial technologies and applied basic technologies.

 

This year, the province will strive to achieve a number of original scientific and technological achievements in fields including seeds, computing, equipment manufacturing, the health industry and new-generation rail transit efficient drive system technology.

 

With its advanced manufacturing enterprises going global, Hunan has been opening up at an accelerating pace in recent years, local officials said.

 

In 2021, Hunan's import and export volume reached 598.85 billion yuan. Of this volume, exports reached 421.27 billion yuan, up 27.5 percent year-on-year.

 

Hunan attracted foreign direct investment of $2.41 billion last year, up 72.3 percent year-on-year, which is 52 percentage points higher than the national average.

 

In the first two months of this year, the Changsha section of China (Hunan) Pilot Free Trade Zone signed seven projects, with a total investment of 15.92 billion yuan. The projects cover new energy, auto parts and equipment manufacturing.

 

Changsha Huanghua International Airport is to become a global aviation hub. GUO LILIANG/FOR CHINA DAILY

 

A new tunnel boring machine, with a maximum excavation diameter of 16.07 meters, rolls off the production line at China Railway Construction Heavy Industry. CHINA DAILY

 

A light-rail train produced by CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive. CHINA DAILY

 

Zhang Qingwei (center), Party secretary of Hunan province, learns about the latest research breakthroughs and achievements in key technologies at Central South University's high-speed train research center in December 2021. TANG JUN/FOR CHINA DAILY

 

The Yuelu Mountain Seed Industry Innovation Center is located in the China (Hunan) Pilot Free Trade Zone. CHINA DAILY