Central China secures investment

Shanxi businesses stand out in emerging industries with innovative approach

More than 1,000 businesses from 15 countries attended the 12th Expo Central China held from May 21-23 in Taiyuan, the provincial capital of Shanxi, reaping the benefits of an economic transformation in the province.

Expo Central China is a major investment and trade event held every two years in one of the six provinces in Central China: Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei and Hunan.

Taiyuan also hosted the sixth event in September 2011.

With the slogan of "opening-up, cooperation, transformation and innovation", the 12th session of the expo consisted of 71 events.

The six Central China provinces secured 433 investment projects, including 25 overseas-funded projects worth $1.96 billion and 408 projects funded by domestic investors with investment totaling 571.47 billion yuan ($89.2 billion), according to event organizers.

Businesses from the host province of Shanxi secured 255 projects funded by domestic investors, with investment totaling 398.1 billion yuan, and eight projects backed by overseas investors with funding surpassing $1.18 billion.

In addition, companies from the province signed trade agreements with domestic and overseas companies valuing nearly 2.5 billion yuan in total.

According to event organizers, Shanxi used this year's expo to showcase its latest achievements in economic transformation and local companies displayed their latest products, services and solutions.

The province is implementing an economic transformation featuring reducing reliance on coal mining, cultivating emerging industries and using high technologies to upgrade its traditional industries.

Many Shanxi companies that took part in the event are engaged in emerging industries, especially those in new-generation information technology, new energy, advanced manufacturing, biomedicines and new materials.

One of the cutting-edge products is recombined human-origin collagen III developed by Taiyuan-based Jinbo Biology.

A product at globally advanced level, recombined human-origin collagen III can be used in different sectors ranging from surgery, gynecology and dermatology to skin care cosmetics, according to Yang Xia, founder and chairwoman of Jinbo Biology.

The executive said Jinbo Biology is the only enterprise in the world that mass produces the medicine. Its volume production began in January.

Ultraviolet LED products exhibited by Changzhi-based Zhongke Lu'an attracted visitor attention thanks to their novel applications.

The company's deep ultraviolet LED products are not used for lighting, but for disinfection in hospitals and in case of an epidemic outbreak, according to a company executive.

"Our LED devices emit invisible light that features wavelengths between 200 and 350 nanometers, which can inhibit the spread of bacteria and viruses by changing their genetic DNA and RNA structures," the executive explained. "Our company launched the world's first plant for the mass production of deep ultraviolet LED chips and lighting devices in July 2019."

Other high-tech products and solutions on display included seawater desalination equipment, autonomous buses, hydrogen-powered tractors and light-duty maglev trains, all developed by Shanxi enterprises.

At the 1,800-square-meter outdoor exhibition area at the Taiyuan Jinyang Lake International Convention and Exhibition Center－the main venue of the event, a range of general aviation products were displayed.

In that area, visitors had the opportunity to take hot-air balloon rides or try their hands at controlling drones under the guidance of exhibitor staff members.

Another company using interactive exhibitions to attract visitors was Shanxi-based distiller Xinghuacun Fenjiu Group.

At the company's exhibition booth, a bartender mixed glasses of colorful cocktails with Fenjiu and Zhuyeqing, two liquor varieties produced by the company. Dozens of visitors waited in a line for a taste of the unique cocktail.

The company even built a small distillery in its exhibition area, showing how the time-honored baijiu, or white liquor, is made using ancient techniques.

At the main venue of the expo, there were live shows for the making of Shanxi's cultural heritage items and local dishes as well as displays of Shanxi's cultural tourism hot spots.

The shows allowed visitors to see how the "three treasures of Shanxifahua porcelain ware, Pingyao tuiguang lacquerware and chengni ink slab－were made on site.

Fahua ware is regarded as the ceramic version of cloisonné, where the design elements are separated by copper wires. The items feature bold, deep blue decoration and glazes in turquoise, purple, green, yellow and white.

The hand-polished, or tuiguang, lacquerware produced in the county of Pingyao is another representative of the high-level folk craftsmanship in Shanxi. The technique for making Pingyao's tuiguang lacquerware was included on the national list of intangible cultural heritage in 2006.

Chengni ink slab produced in Jiangxian county, Shanxi province is one of the top four ink slabs in China, along with duan in Zhaoqing, Guangdong province, she in Shexian, Anhui province and taohe in Zhuoni county, Gansu province.

Shanxi's three major tourist attractions, the Yellow River, the Great Wall and the Taihang Mountains were also on display at the three-day event.

Wang Shuang contributed to this story.