Even during the Spring Festival, efforts to attract investment continue.

Top officials in many regions are making full use of the Spring Festival holiday to gather with returning entrepreneurs and discuss cooperation opportunities.

Can the bond of hometown ties foster a “mutual pursuit”?

01 Hometown Ties in Investment Promotion Should Also Be “Tailored to Local Conditions”

On the morning of January 20, Ye Luzhong, Secretary of the Lu’an Municipal Party Committee, met with a delegation led by Yu Chengdong of Huawei.

▲ Yu Chengdong is a native of Huoqiu County, Lu’an City. He joined Huawei in 1993 and currently serves as an Executive Director of Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

It is worth noting that Ye Luzhong has met with Yu Chengdong during the Spring Festival for two consecutive years.

On February 1, 2022, while visiting Huoqiu County to inspect the construction and development of the modern industrial park, Ye Luzhong met with Yu Chengdong, who had returned home to visit relatives, at the industrial park.

Research indicates that Huawei has previously established cooperation with Lu'an City in the field of smart cities.

In June 2020, Huawei won the bid for the cloud service project for Lu’an City’s new smart city construction. Using smart city development as a lever, Lu’an City has continuously improved its urban governance capabilities and was named a “2021 Leading Smart City in China.”

By meeting with Yu Chengdong during the Spring Festival for two consecutive years, Ye Luzhong hopes to further deepen the cooperation between the two parties.

He put it this way:

I hope Huawei will look favorably upon the Lu’an Old Revolutionary Base Area and show it special consideration. Building on our existing cooperation, we should strengthen communication and exchange in industrial sectors such as new energy vehicles and smart cities, expand the scope of collaboration, promote the implementation of more high-quality projects, and achieve mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.

Secretary Ye hopes to use hometown ties as a bond to deepen cooperation with Huawei, not only in cloud services but also to promote the implementation of more industrial projects.

Over the years, Lu’an has consistently encouraged entrepreneurs to return home to start businesses, and has indeed achieved notable results.

Dong Jingui, Chairman of Yadea Group; Zhang Yan, Chairman of Jizhi Technology; and Wang Qiongfeng, Chairman of Suoyi Electric, have all responded to the call to return home and start businesses, driving the industrial economy of Lu’an.

In response, Yu Chengdong stated:

"Building on the swift conclusion of cooperation on relevant key projects, we will guide more upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain to visit Lu’an for study tours and investment, thereby making our due contribution to the green revitalization and accelerated development of this historic revolutionary base area."

Attracting Huawei to invest in Lu’an is certainly a major draw.

However, for a “mid-tier city” like Lu’an, competing with the provincial capital, Hefei, for tech giants is indeed a formidable challenge.

Yu Chengdong’s mention of “guiding more upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain to visit Lu’an for study tours and to invest and establish businesses” holds more pragmatic investment opportunities.

In fact, Lu’an’s self-defined positioning is precisely as a “support base for the smart electric vehicle industry.”

Although this title isn’t as “grand” as “Capital of New Energy Vehicles,” component manufacturers play an equally vital role in creating jobs and generating tax revenue.

Therefore, investment promotion based on hometown ties should also be “tailored to local conditions.”

Take Wuhan, for example: as a national central city, it has the capacity to attract Lei Jun back to his hometown to build Xiaomi’s Wuhan headquarters.

Meanwhile, Li Bin of NIO, despite being a native of Taihu County, had to prioritize the company’s development needs and establish its headquarters in Hefei rather than Anqing.

Take Suqian, for instance—a city with the lowest GDP in Jiangsu—which is not yet suitable for hosting a regional headquarters, so Liu Qiangdong merely established a customer service center in his hometown.

Nevertheless, leveraging the JD.com customer service center, Suqian has achieved leapfrog development, growing into a true “customer service capital” and a renowned e-commerce hub.

02: Hometown-Based Investment Promotion Should Not “Skirt the Crucial Issues”

As entrepreneurs return to their hometowns, top officials in many regions seize the opportunity to promote hometown-based investment, turning the Spring Festival into an “investment promotion festival.”

On January 24, Zhu Haodong, Deputy Secretary of the Chizhou Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Anhui Province, held a symposium with 11 prominent entrepreneurs who had returned home.

On January 26, Loudi City, Hunan, held the 2023 “Welcome Home, Return to Your Hometown, Build Your Hometown” Spring Festival Symposium for Chambers of Commerce from Other Regions, where Municipal Party Secretary Zou Wenhui met with chamber presidents and entrepreneurs in attendance.

On January 26, Gao Shiwen, Deputy Secretary of the Fuzhou Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Fuzhou, Jiangxi Province, gathered with representatives of Fuzhou business leaders and local dignitaries to celebrate the holiday and discuss future development.

A caged bird longs for its old forest; a fish in a pond yearns for its former depths.

Building relationships, strengthening bonds, and promoting investment have become a common initiative among top leaders in many regions.

When Yi Lianhong served as Party Secretary of Jiangxi Province, he once convened a symposium to take advantage of entrepreneurs’ return to their hometowns. His heartfelt remarks left a deep impression:

While others may care about how high you fly, the people of your hometown care more about whether you’re tired from flying. Your hometown will always be a strong backing for the vast number of private entrepreneurs from Jiangxi.

I hope that all private entrepreneurs will boldly serve as the “vanguard” of Jiangxi’s revitalization, the “ambassadors” for promoting Jiangxi, and the “pioneers” for investing in Jiangxi, working together to cherish and build this “hometown of our dreams.”

However, “hometown sentiment” is, after all, merely a bond.

No matter how much we hype up the atmosphere, for entrepreneurs, sentiment cannot replace cost and revenue.

Put simply, as long as a company feels it cannot make a profit here, no matter how deep the emotional ties, it will not invest.

Therefore, Yi Lianhong shifted the focus of his remarks. While sharing heartfelt sentiments about his hometown, he also put forward requirements for the government and relevant departments:

To genuinely address enterprises’ practical needs and resolve their challenges; to sincerely respect, cherish, and care for private entrepreneurs; and to build friendships with them openly and sincerely;

truly embody the principle that “the government does its utmost when enterprises need it, and remains unobtrusive when they do not,” providing enterprises with the brightest sunshine, the most fertile soil, and the most nourishing rain for their development in Jiangxi.

Therefore, what truly matters is the concept of “attracting investment.”

Whether entrepreneurs are “returning home like weary birds” or “returning in glory,” local governments must not neglect their ability to “build the nest.”

For instance, the quality of the “nest” is influenced by investment promotion tools—such as government-guided funds and preferential policies—that entrepreneurs care about, as well as the oft-discussed business environment.

Without a suitable investment environment and implementation conditions, even the most promising projects will remain mere pipe dreams.

On the other hand, investment promotion based on hometown ties is not a one-time deal.

• After the Spring Festival meetings, have investment promotion staff been assigned to follow up consistently?
• Have further answers been provided to the questions entrepreneurs raised during the discussions?
• Have clear economic calculations been provided to entrepreneurs based on local resource endowments, industrial foundations, and market conditions?

As long as they have a clear understanding of their local resources and a well-defined strategy, investment promoters can actually use real data to convince entrepreneurs—that investing in their hometown can be profitable.

Only by achieving this level of transparency will entrepreneurs truly look upon their hometown with greater respect and affection.

03 Hometown-Based Investment Promotion: Remember to “Target Efforts Effectively”

Of course, the market is open, and the movement of enterprises should be free.
An entrepreneur’s investment plans should not—and certainly will not—be constrained by labels such as place of origin or hometown.
People from Guangxi can invest in Guangdong, and people from Henan can develop their businesses in Vietnam; this is determined by objective economic laws, as well as the systematic nature of investment promotion and the compatibility of projects.
Therefore, the attention paid by top leaders to hometown-based investment promotion is, in essence, about “not wasting any opportunity to engage with entrepreneurs.”
“Hometown ties” are merely a bond; “investment promotion” is the cornerstone.
I believe that during the Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival, various regions will certainly host a series of “festival symposiums,” and there will also be various “morning tea gatherings” and “luncheons” throughout the year.
As investment promoters, we should prepare early, leverage our “true expertise” in investment promotion to build trust with these prominent entrepreneurs, and uncover the industrial investment opportunities hidden behind them.

Only in this way will the valuable opportunities created by top leaders not be wasted.