A figure for economic and social statistics of Changzhi city [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

People in Changzhi city, Shanxi province, an important revolutionary region in China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), has been working hard to develop the local society and economy over the past 70 years.

As a result, Changzhi now has the second strongest economy in Shanxi province, and its urban and rural areas are changing every day. 

Changzhi has strengthened its five major industries – the modern coal chemical industry, high-end equipment manufacturing, new energy vehicles, new materials, and next-generation information technology – and has also cultivated five new emerging industries – photovoltaic manufacturing and application, general aviation, cultural tourism, medicine and healthcare, and solid waste utilization. The city has formed an industrial system with 25 major sectors and has become one of 12 national industrial transformation demonstration zones and one of China's leading photovoltaic industry centers.

Changzhi has been implementing an innovation-driven strategy by setting up scientific and technological achievement transformation and guidance funds and integrating industrial production, education, and research. 

The city's integration of county and township-level medical and health institutions has proved among the most successful in Shanxi. 

The business environment in the city has also been fully optimized, with 80 new preferential policies helping facilitate local company growth.

Changzhi has considers poverty alleviation a top priority and has been promoting rural revitalization. Through industrial support, relocations, ecological support, and government subsidies, all counties in the city are expected to be lifted out of poverty this year.

The city has implemented a number of policies and measures to build itself into a national demonstration city for green organic dry farming and has accelerated construction on a demonstration zone for organic dry farming. The trademark registration rate among agricultural products in the city has exceeded 85 percent, and the city has been named "China's Millet Capital" by the China Food Industry Association.

Changzhi has also been strengthening environmental protection. Through the implementation of the Taihang Mountain Forestry Project, the city's forest area has exceeded 4,426 square kilometers, and its forest coverage rate has reached 31.67 percent. Trees are being planted to prevent sand from blowing in the wind, and water is being conserved in the Haihe River Basin and the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan region. 

In 2018, the city was selected as a winter clean heating pilot city in North China and a national demonstration city for the treatment of polluted water. Changzhi has also taken the lead in promoting the sorting of urban and rural domestic waste and industrial solid waste in Shanxi province, with the local Changzhi Solid Waste Comprehensive Utilization R&D Center having contributed a lot to the use of solid waste in resource-based areas.

Changzhi is determined to solve problems concerning the public. The city has built a social security system and affordable housing for locals, increased funding for education, given priority to improving teaching infrastructure, and advanced the balanced development of compulsory education in the region. Rural public healthcare services have been greatly improved as well, as more standard rural clinics have been built in the city.