A 4G phone in my left hand, a 5G phone in my right.

The average person wouldn’t notice any difference.

But in coal mines hundreds of meters underground, 5G technology has become an essential necessity.

At the Baodian Coal Mine in Zoucheng, Jining, not only are critical devices above and below ground connected at high speeds, but the mining process has also entered the era of automation.

Yet on the other side of the globe—

Europe is in the throes of an energy crisis, with many countries restarting coal-fired power plants.

Yet coal mines there have lain dormant for decades, and the necessary machinery and industrial workers are nowhere to be found.

Energy is the lifeblood of a nation. The world’s most advanced coal mining equipment and intelligent mining technologies are found in China.

Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot about one term: high-quality development.

What is high-quality development?

For the coal industry, the transition toward informatization and intelligent operations is high-quality development.

From working underground at the risk of one’s life to achieving automated mining, technological progress has not only boosted production capacity but also driven the transformation and upgrading of the entire industry.

Take Yankuang Energy, for example, which was founded in Zoucheng, Shandong—a county-level city under the administration of Jining.

Today, its operations span three continents.

Its business scope has expanded to include the chemical, power, logistics and transportation, equipment manufacturing, and new energy industries.

In March of this year, the Shandong Energy Smart Manufacturing Park, developed by Yankuang Energy, held a groundbreaking ceremony.

Eight major projects, with a total investment of 3 billion yuan, broke ground simultaneously. These projects focus on coal machinery manufacturing, attract high-quality enterprises, and promote the integrated development of the entire coal industry chain.

This is a major event for the coal industry and for Jining.

Lin Hongyu, Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, attended the event and delivered a speech, stating that the city would redouble its efforts to optimize the business environment and fully commit to accelerating project construction and improving efficiency.

Entrepreneurs will vote with their feet on whether the business environment is favorable.

Recently, Jining has seen another major development:

CATL has established a presence in Jining, investing 14 billion yuan to build a new energy battery industrial base.

How did Jining “set the stage” to attract the “King of Batteries” to join the game?

Of course, the availability of key resources is important.

For instance, although Jining is located inland, it has a strong connection to water and is currently working full steam ahead to build the largest inland waterway shipping hub in northern China.

Industrial infrastructure is also crucial.

For instance, Jining has invested tens of billions of yuan to transform former coal mining subsidence areas into floating solar power stations. Its green electricity production capacity has become a key factor in attracting CATL.

However, in my view, the most crucial factor remains the emphasis placed on industrial research.

The “Northern Inland Waterway Shipping Hub” is a grand strategic initiative.

But the specialized field is complex and obscure, with various technical routes intertwined—should it be LNG ship propulsion, hydrogen fuel systems, or lithium-ion battery systems?

Behind each technical route lies a series of critical strategic deployments across the entire industrial chain, each with its own leading players.

How can we untangle this complexity and strike with precision?

In August 2021, Jining City established the “Command Center for Building a Strong Manufacturing City.” The Municipal Party Secretary and Mayor serve as the commanders-in-chief, with one office, seven industrial cluster development task forces, and seven resource support groups operating under the center.

Party Secretary Lin Hongyu’s vision is:

To drive extraordinary, leapfrog development across the city through major breakthroughs in the Command Center’s work.

This marked a complete shift in the city’s approach to investment promotion.

Task force members, accompanied by support teams, went to the front lines to engage with enterprises, helping them solve problems, identifying market demands and upstream/downstream connections, and mapping out the industrial landscape.

They are targeting upstream and downstream enterprises one by one, gradually winning them over to come to Jining.

Can this specialized investment promotion model help this coal-resource-based city find its place and secure a share of the pie in the rapidly growing emerging industries?

The high-profile arrival of CATL is the answer.

In the first half of this year, Jining’s GDP reached 258.037 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.1%.

This growth rate ranks among the highest in the province.

Mid-tier cities in Shandong, represented by Jining, have demonstrated vigorous momentum for development.

On September 2, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Supporting Shandong in Deepening the Transformation of New and Old Growth Drivers to Promote Green, Low-Carbon, and High-Quality Development."

This represents significant policy support for Shandong at the national level.

The document states that efforts must focus on both upgrading traditional growth drivers and fostering new ones, striving to build a pilot zone for green, low-carbon, and high-quality development.

This is a very clear mandate.

Shandong is taking the lead and getting to work.

In fact, looking across the country, major energy-producing provinces such as Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, and Inner Mongolia are all advancing the transformation of old and new growth drivers in the energy sector.

State-owned energy giants, led by the coal industry, are shifting their focus to photovoltaics in an effort to achieve a “clean energy transition.”

Some are entering through the photovoltaic manufacturing sector, others are focusing on photovoltaic power plants, and some companies are expanding in both areas simultaneously.

The low-carbon transition of the coal industry.

So surreal, yet so real.

Summer is fading day by day, and Europe is drawing closer to its bitter winter.

Natural gas shows no sign of dropping in price.

Countries have been forced to return to the old ways—coal.

Germany had planned to phase out coal entirely by 2030, but is now accelerating the legislative process to restart coal-fired power plants as a temporary alternative.

France’s Ministry of Energy announced plans to restart coal-fired power plants that were shut down just last March.

The Netherlands has decided to lift restrictions on coal-fired power generation between 2022 and 2024.

The Austrian government has restarted the country’s last remaining coal-fired power plant.

However, while coal mines can be shut down at a moment’s notice, they cannot be restarted just as easily; both machinery and workers pose challenges.

Of the 16 coal-fired power plants Germany plans to restart, half cannot be reconnected to the grid due to excessively outdated equipment.

And after years of dedicated research, where can one find the world’s most advanced and comprehensive coal industry solutions—encompassing equipment, technology, and information systems?

China.

Who has taken proactive measures to secure a leading global position in new energy technologies—including solar, wind, and energy storage?

China, once again.