Heilongjiang:Innovations on High-Quality Development

Fertile land stretchesfor hundreds of milesalong the SonghuaRiver. Bird songs areaccompanied by the clatter ofheavy machines and precisioninstruments at work， resultingin an innovative aura. Raremigratory birds choose the areafor summer nesting， and wildSiberian tiger tracks can be foundin the winter snow. The locale isHeilongjiang， the northernmostprovince in China’s northeastregion， known as the country’snorthern gate. In recent years，Heilongjiang has been focusingon the primary task of promotinghigh-quality development and thestrategic goal of building a newdevelopment pattern. Poised at anew starting point， the provinceis working hard to secure abrighter future.

Technological Innovation Driving Development

China’s home-grown SpaceEnvironment Simulation andResearch Infrastructure （SESRI）passed the national-levelacceptance review and officiallybegan operations in Harbin，the capital city of HeilongjiangProvince， on February 27， 2024.Developed under the leadershipof the Harbin Institute ofTechnology， the project wasChina’s first large-scale scientificfacility in the aerospace field.Dubbed the “terrestrial spacestation，” the ground-3a6cac8d0dc19caffe752eb28862671bdc21e9d5c82a507b0d84a6369f7edb69basedfacility is capable of simulatingnine major space environmentalfactors. Building such a basicscientific research platformcapable of simulating the realcosmic space environment isakin to bringing a space stationto Earth. Many experimentsthat previously required spacetravel can now be conducted onthe ground.

SESRI is just a microcosmof Heilongjiang’s effortsto promote scientific andtechnological innovation. Asone of China’s older industrialbases， Heilongjiang is home toplenty of leading enterprisesin various industries. Theseenterprises have stronginnovation capabilities and havecompleted multiple nationalkey projects as well as variousresearch and development（R&D） tasks. The province isalso home to 78 institutions ofhigher education including theHarbin Institute of Technologyand Harbin EngineeringUniversity as well as 120independent research institutes.The province boasts significantinnovative resources in fieldssuch as aerospace， marinepropulsion， and electricalequipment.

Heilongjiang has injectedmore momentum intohigh-quality developmentby integrating scientific andtechnological innovationresources. In 2023， the totalR&D investment across theprovince increased by 11.9percent compared to theprevious year， and thenumber of national keylaboratories increased to 12.In recent years， to promote thecommercialization of scientificand technological achievementsand better serve high-qualitydevelopment， Heilongjiang hasintroduced specific policiesand measures such as specialsupport for the industrializationof major research achievements.

Safeguarding National Food Security

Heilongjiang is China’s largestgrain-producing province，ranking first in the countryin terms of total grain output，commodity grain volume， andvolume of grain transferred toother parts of the country. Oneout of every nine bowls of rice inChina comes from the province.In recent years， Heilongjiang hasfocused on developing largescalemodernized agriculture，coordinating the developmentof agricultural technology， greenagriculture， quality agriculture，and brand agriculture. It aimsto build large bases， enterprises，and industries for modernagriculture. The province leadsthe nation in both total area ofhigh-standard farmland andcomprehensive mechanizationrate of crop production.

To build a more stable，reliable， and secure “biggranary” for the country，Heilongjiang is working hardto improve its comprehensivegrain production capacity. Theprovince is implementing a planto increase its comprehensivegrain production capacity to 90billion kilograms by 2026.

Agricultural developmentdepends on modernization，scientific and technologicalprogress， and innovation.Heilongjiang’s high-endintelligent agricultural machineryequipment R&D， manufacturing，promotion， and applicationpilot zone has been approvedby the state. The province’scomprehensive mechanizationrate for crop planting， cultivation，and harvesting has reached morethan 98 percent， ranking firstin the nation. The number ofplant protection drones in theprovince has reached 31，000，also topping the whole country.These advantages have helpedHeilongjiang establish a fullagricultural brand system withunique features that generatesstrong value. A total of 378enterprises and 923 productshave been authorized to usethe “Heilongjiang Black SoilQuality Product” label. “Betterquality， greener， tastier， andsafer” has become the hallmarkof Heilongjiang agriculturalproducts.

High-quality Ecological Environment

“Welcome to Heilongjiang，southern snow seekers，”“Harbin seeks to please everyvisitor and deserves to bepopular”…. News relatedto Heilongjiang tourismfrequently became trendingtopics during the 2023-2024 iceand snow season. Serving alldomestic and overseas touristswholeheartedly， Heilongjiang hasseen explosive growth in wintertourism， achieving harvests inboth market and reputation.Throughout the year， a totalof 220 million domestic andoverseas tourists visited theprovince， an 85.1-percent increasecompared to the previous year.Tourism revenues exceeded 221.5billion yuan （US$30.57 billion），a year-on-year increase of 213.8percent.

Drawing on the experiencegleaned from the 2023achievements， Heilongjiangplans to maintain the boomingmomentum of winter tourismin 2024. It will upgrade andenhance key scenic spotssuch as Harbin Ice and SnowWorld， Yabuli Ski Resort， andSnow Town. In 2024， the icestorage capacity of Harbin Iceand Snow World will exceed200，000 cubic meters， nearlythree times the amount of2023. The province is pullingout all the stops to promotehigh-quality development ofall-region and all-season tourism.It has spared no effort to developcharacteristic travel programsincluding forest tourism， wetlandtourism， and border tourism，promote new tourism formatssuch as camping and self-drivingtours， travel photography，study tours， and eco-healthcaretourism. Finally， by expandingand amplifying the spillovereffect， Heilongjiang will promotethe integrated development oftourism with primary， secondary，and tertiary industries suchas culture， sports， healthcare，catering， and outdoorsequipment， thereby ensuringfresh experiences for tourists.

Fueled by new qualityproductive forces， Heilongjiangis honing new advantages andadding the finishing touches toa new image as it unleashes newmomentum for high-qualitydevelopment.