CHINA'S AREA OF INTERNATIONAL CUISINE AND GREAT NIGHTS OUT

Livelihood

Changsha, capital of Hunan province, has taken measures to create an enabling environment in which residents and businesses are motivated and feel satisfied, happy and secure. Housing prices in Changsha remain stable and affordable while many big cities around China have seen growing costs in the last few years. Changsha also paid significant attention to enhancing the quality of life for its residents in areas such as living environment, education, healthcare services and elderly care. The city features an abundance of historic relics including the Mawangdui Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) tomb. It has created a slew of cultural programs for people to learn about its legacy. It also strives to remove barriers and optimize its business environment.

Changsha, capital of Hunan province, has for 13 consecutive years won the title of China's happiest city.

Changsha is also proclaimed as a city of international cuisine, and has China's most bustling night economy. Other international accolades include being declared a capital of world media and art, and a capital of East Asian culture.

For a long time, Changsha has explored its own ways of growing the happiness of its residents. Among them, was creating a unique cultural environment, a beautiful living environment and a good business environment.

A better future

The affordable house prices in Changsha are the result of the local government's strict and effective measures which have played an important role in both improving residents' well-being and attracting talents from elsewhere.

According to a public survey conducted by the Changsha division of National Statistics Bureau in 2020, about 90.2 percent of the respondents said they were "very satisfied" and "comparatively satisfied" with the effectiveness of house price regulation in Changsha.

With growing prosperity in the local economy and the continuous improvement of residents' sense of happiness, Changsha is able to attract more and more talents from all over the country. In the past decade, Changsha's population has increased by more than 3 million. Currently, the city's total population exceeds 10 million, according to the Changsha city government.

The good house prices in Changsha help lower the threshold for entrepreneurship and therefore promote urban prosperity. By July, the number of market players in Changsha exceeded 1.3 million. Economic development has increased residents' income. In 2020, despite the effects of COVID-19, the per capita disposable income of residents in Changsha reached 51,477 yuan ($7,962), a year-on-year increase of 5.7 percent.

Social welfare

Listening to the public and caring about common people with regard to their daily lives, the Changsha government puts people's social welfare as its top priority.

According to the local government, the city's public financial expenditure focuses on improving people's livelihoods, accounting for more than 70 percent of the city's general public budget.

The city government is striving to build a social welfare protection system covering labor, education, healthcare and elderly care.

The Changsha government has also worked to improve residents' living environment through a series of renovation projects. To make city life more convenient and comfortable for example, the government is transforming old urban areas, run-down areas, villages in the city and old communities. Through a pilot project, the living environment in more than 500 old communities in Changsha have been greatly improved.

The Changsha government has listed 30 livelihood projects, at both provincial and city level, in its 2021 work plan. By the end of July, 10 provincial-level tasks had been fulfilled, and 15 tasks are progressing ahead of schedule.

The Changsha government is also building historical and cultural projects. Typical ones include a 64 kilometer-long historical and cultural footpath and more than 30 historical and cultural blocks in the city.

Doing business better

Changsha's good business environment is key to stimulating market vitality. In recent years, the city has crafted relevant policies and regulations, hoping to build a leading business environment and make itself a benchmark in the central regions of China.

In 2020, Changsha ranked 12th on a list of China's 100 cities with the best business environment, up three places from 2019. It ranked sixth among provincial capitals. The city has also won the title of benchmark city for international business environment twice.

Last year, Changsha released a new regulation to optimize its business environment, which provided more convenient, faster services for enterprises through a series of reform measures.

As a result, a large number of investors have settled in Changsha. From July 2020 to June 2021, a total of 57 domestic and foreign business projects worth 57.62 billion yuan in total settled in Changsha. By the end of 2020, the number of Fortune Global 500 companies in Changsha had reached 173.

Tencent has established its smart industry headquarters in Changsha and Gree Electric Appliances has built its 10th-largest production base in the world in the city.