Huqiu district (Suzhou New District) has emerged victorious in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and successfully developed a moderately prosperous society in all aspects.
Over the past year, regular epidemic prevention and control work in the district proved effective, with all COVID-19 patients cured, no hospitals getting infected, and social production and people's daily lives getting back on track.
The district also performed well in terms of economic strength and yields in 2020. Regional GDP is expected to reach 143 billion yuan ($22.1 billion), growing 4 percent year on year. The revenue in the general public budget was up 3.8 percent year-on-year to 17.5 billion yuan, and the total value of industrial companies above a designated size (meaning they have annual revenue of over 20 million yuan) was 300 billion yuan.
In addition, the district continued to strengthen its innovative capacity in science and technology, with the Suzhou Campus of Nanjing University breaking ground, three local companies going public, and 15 unicorn companies and 11 provincial-level enterprise technology centers making the district their home.
It has also shown strong development vitality, with all administrative affairs able to be handled online, the total value of local imports and exports reaching $38 billion, and the amount of foreign capital in actual use growing 4.2 percent year-on-year to $552 million.
Furthermore, the district achieved coordinated urban-rural development in 2020. Metro lines 6 and 8 started construction, and a total of 1,378 base stations for 5G communication were established. Around 97.5 percent of local buses were transformed into new energy buses.
Public services are improving as well, with 36 projects concerning people's livelihoods being completed, 90.5 percent of local kindergartens being ranked excellent, and 96.5 percent of students sitting the gaokao (national college entrance examinations) being admitted to colleges and universities.
