A place without sunlight should be deprived of spring.

A battle that must be won demands careful consideration.

On November 5, the 5th China International Import Expo officially opened. County magistrates will lead delegations to Shanghai to attend the event and conduct investment promotion activities.

Today, let’s take the liberty of discussing:

What should investment promoters look for during the trip to Shanghai?

As local officials, what should county magistrates focus on?

Understanding Industries Through Enterprises

Seeking Transformation Opportunities for the County Economy

At the last China International Import Expo, Mingyue Lenses became a sensation.

We witnessed the convergence of emerging and traditional industries, as well as the underlying development of Danyang—China’s “Eyewear Capital.”

Frontline investment promotion officers may be impressed by the high-tech features of eyewear, leading them to explore the new materials and eyewear industries, study the entire industrial chain, and identify investment opportunities based on the county’s actual conditions.

However, as local leaders, county magistrates often take a broader view, look further ahead, and think more deeply.

What the county magistrate sees are issues at a higher level:

• On the path to becoming “China’s leading lens manufacturer,” why did Mingyue Lenses choose to stay in Danyang rather than relocate to a major city?

• In fostering and expanding distinctive industrial clusters to become a Top 100 County and a 100-billion-yuan county, what has Danyang done—and what has it not done?

• To unleash the vitality of private enterprises, what institutional reforms has Danyang implemented? How has the government’s role evolved?

Looking at industries through the lens of enterprises to identify pain points in county-level economic development—and thereby seek new opportunities for investment promotion—may well be the county magistrate’s key mission during this trip to the China International Import Expo.

Therefore, during this trip to Shanghai, the county magistrate will uncover many issues and use this opportunity to raise many questions.

These issues will become research topics for the deputy county magistrate in charge of investment promotion, the director of the Investment Promotion Bureau, the investment promotion task force, and the industrial chain task force. Through continuous inquiry, they will develop concrete action plans.

To all of you involved in investment promotion: why not adopt the county magistrate’s perspective to identify problems, reflect on them, and resolve them?

Regarding asking and probing questions, I’d like to share a story:

A director of investment promotion noticed that an increasing number of electronics and information technology companies were coming from Guangdong to invest. He thought it would be a good idea to hold a promotional event in Shenzhen, so he took the opportunity to ask the county magistrate for his opinion.

He expected a simple yes or no answer.

But the county magistrate didn’t give him a direct answer; instead, he asked:

“What is the most important thing right now?”

He replied, “Holding a promotional event in Shenzhen to attract the relocation of the electronics and information technology industry.”

Then the county magistrate began to question him: “Are you sure? Is there anything more important? Why is this the most important thing?”

He began to hesitate, thought for a moment, and said, “Maybe not,” then gave another answer.

The county magistrate continued to ask him, “Are you sure?”

And so, he and the county magistrate talked for nearly two hours, with the magistrate essentially asking the same questions the whole time.

Finally, he offered this solution: “First, spend a week visiting every local electronics manufacturing enterprise above a certain scale to assess their needs.”

By the time the county magistrate asked him, “Are you sure?” again, he was already very resolute.

So what were the results of this decision?

This single survey alone led to five companies increasing their capital and expanding production, and it also attracted 2 billion yuan in investment through “business-to-business investment promotion.”

Good questions can help a team see the big picture, identify the right targets, make changes, and focus those changes on a specific action.

Good questions are a scarce form of productivity.

Viewing the Present Through the Lens of the Future

Seeking support from all quarters for industrial investment promotion

Good questions can also help you gain a more comprehensive understanding of your partners.

In recent years, many regions have issued policies vigorously promoting “market-oriented investment promotion”:

encouraging the introduction of specialized firms to act as investment agents or manage park development; and encouraging the use of platforms and resources such as financial institutions, investment consulting firms, and industry chambers of commerce to match investment needs.

Most of these companies are headquartered in Shanghai.

Therefore, visiting and engaging with market-oriented investment promotion agencies is also a key objective of county leaders’ trips to Shanghai.

How do you choose a reliable investment promotion partner?

With 14 years of deep experience in the investment promotion industry, GuChuan United’s advice is:

Look to the future, but keep a clear view of the present.

At the national level, GDP growth represents the “present,” while realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation represents the “future.”

Choosing to stabilize employment and safeguard people’s livelihoods, rather than forcing a pursuit of a 5.5% growth target, is what it means to look to the future while keeping a clear view of the present.

At the county-level investment promotion level, facilitating project signings and completing investment targets represents the “present,” while fostering and expanding industrial clusters and advancing high-quality development represents the “future.”

How can we balance the “present” and the “future”?

Against the backdrop of high-quality development, the national evaluation criteria for county-level cities are no longer limited to economic indicators but also include population size.

The “Opinions on Promoting Urbanization with County Towns as Key Carriers,” issued by the General Office of the State Council in May, indicates that only county towns with population growth will receive greater support in terms of fiscal resources and land quotas.

Population growth is linked to factors such as social welfare and the natural environment, but the most critical factor remains employment opportunities.

Attracting enterprises to set up operations will create more jobs.

However, if enterprises start production this year only to relocate next year, or if residents go to work today only to lose their jobs tomorrow, employment opportunities—and consequently the population—will inevitably fail to grow.

Only when enterprises can be attracted, retained, and allowed to thrive can local officials live up to the present and face the future with confidence.

This requires us to conduct targeted investment promotion based on the actual conditions of our county, ensuring that enterprises fit in precisely like a well-crafted component, rather than being forced in and left battered and bruised.

We must not only identify companies with investment intentions from among hundreds of millions of market entities—to engage in outreach, site visits, and negotiations—but also thoroughly assess our local resources, do our homework, and optimize our strategies. Only then will we have a chance to stand out in county-level competition and secure a more prominent position within the province.

This ability to assess our strengths, do our homework, and optimize our approach is what we often refer to as—industrial research capability.

Therefore, when conducting site visits and exchanges with market-oriented investment promotion agencies, assessing their industrial research capabilities must be a top priority.

For example, many industry chambers of commerce, law firms, and consulting firms possess substantial corporate data and can identify potential investment opportunities.

However, without a thorough understanding of the county’s situation—gained through careful observation, inquiry, and analysis—it is impossible to prescribe the right solutions to address the county’s challenges.

Simply “plotting strategies” from afar in Shanghai may not be enough to persuade enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta to travel across mountains and rivers to invest and build factories in the Northwest.

Without a thorough understanding of the operational logic of the county-level economy, it is also difficult to provide truly effective solutions to potential problems.

Therefore, in the context of high-quality development, when selecting investment promotion partners, one must prioritize both investment promotion capabilities and industrial R&D capabilities—and in some cases, industrial R&D capabilities should even take precedence over investment promotion capabilities.

During your trip to Shanghai, engage in more discussions with your counterparts about local specialty industries and explore their experience in county-level investment promotion. This will undoubtedly provide you with a more comprehensive understanding of this investment promotion agency.

Freeing Our Minds to Look Ahead

Laying a Solid Industrial Foundation for China’s Rise

As the saying goes: Stand in the future to see the present clearly.

However, emphasizing the “future” does not mean abandoning the “present”; rather, it means saying goodbye to the “past.”

To move toward the future, we must discard old ways of thinking and bid farewell to those notions that seem self-evident.

For example, we used to believe that cars are driven by people, that cars run on gasoline, that cars are mass-produced on assembly lines, and that cars are meant to drive on roads...

For instance, we used to believe that project resources were the most important factor, and that an investment promotion agency was professional simply because it attracted a large number of companies...

For instance, we used to believe that investment cooperation must be paid for on a project-by-project basis, and that the “upfront payment plus intermediary rewards” model wouldn’t work…

Under the new development philosophy, innovation takes precedence.

The old model of investment promotion—which relied on piling up resources and preferential policies—is now on its last legs. Investment promotion methods must be revitalized, which is why regions across the country are now vigorously promoting “market-oriented investment promotion.”

This shift in mindset is the greatest test of a leader’s wisdom—and it is also what can create the greatest miracles of development.

Over the past 40-plus years of reform and opening-up, China’s development miracle has been spearheaded by “emancipating the mind.”

Today, the world is undergoing a once-in-a-century transformation at an accelerating pace, and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered a critical phase.

China’s path to industrial upgrading, its journey from a developing to a developed nation, and its pursuit of common prosperity all require a powerful surge of vitality starting at the county level.

Especially in critical areas such as industrial development, local leaders must remain calm in the face of crisis, seize opportunities amid turmoil, and forge new paths forward.

Innovation is the new mission entrusted to us by the new era, and it is also a new opportunity for every county and every local leader.

Shanghai is widely regarded as one of the world’s most innovative cities.

The China International Import Expo brings together the world’s new products, technologies, services, industries, and ideas.

This trip to the Shanghai CIIE is destined to be a journey toward the new.

I sincerely wish you all a fruitful and rewarding experience.