"Free Trade Port - Visiting Haikou" event successfully held in Hainan

The team of influencers visit the Haikou Jiangdong New Area Administrative Service Center. (People's Daily Online/Fu Wuping)

People's Daily Online, Haikou, June 29 — On June 28, the "Free Trade Port - Visiting Haikou" event was launched in Jiangdong New Area, Haikou city in south China’s Hainan province.

During the one-day event, internet celebrities and influencers from home and abroad visited Jiangdong New Area, Haikou Yaocheng Ancient Village, Wuyuan River National Wetland Park, Haikou Bund and other places, and praised the rapid changes that have taken place in Haikou in recent years.

"We hope everyone can see a diverse Haikou," said local official Zhang Yan, adding that the aim is to enable domestic and foreign guests participating in the event to have a deeper understanding of Haikou.

Yang Jianguo, a research expert on Chinese industrial agglomeration, was impressed by the vitality of the area. Over the past year or so, the development and construction of Jiangdong New Area has been extremely fast. The headquarters building projects including the International Energy Exchange Center and the Haikou Financial Center have been capped in quick succession. The ecological CBD, which serves as a demonstration model, has begun to take shape, and a number of major infrastructure projects have been completed and put into operation. The main road network in the park has basically taken shape, and the basic supporting facilities have been gradually improved.

The founder of "Free Trade Port Think Tank" Wei Shouhua said that in the Jiangdong New Area, the local government retained the local characteristics, upgraded and transformed the village in accordance with the "one house, one policy” concept, so that the old houses would be restored. While retaining the ancient village and traditional culture, the rural complex created by Hainan Development Holding Co., Ltd using the village-enterprise co-construction model rejuvenated the idle village, and at the same time increased the incomes of the local villagers. It is a new benchmark for the construction of a beautiful countryside.

"I'm very glad that I didn't see high-rise buildings here like in other cities," said Álvaro Lago, a foreign editor from People's Daily Online. In the Jiangdong New Area plan, he saw that the authorities adhered to the idea of symbiosis, inclusiveness, and sharing. The idea is to build a pioneer city and a world-leading ecological CBD. With the exception of landmark buildings, all other buildings must not exceed a height of 80 meters. He expressed deep admiration for the idea, as nowadays CBDs in many cities produce aesthetic fatigue, but the low-density and ecological CBD in Haikou will impress people.

In addition, Haikou Wuyuan River National Wetland Park also left a deep impression on Lago: "There are few cities like Haikou, where such a large area has been designated as a wetland protection area of the city, and a lot of money has been invested to carry out the transformation, so that citizens and tourists can have fun."

At the end of the activity, the members of the visiting group expressed hope that they would have the opportunity to spend more time to experience the vitality of Haikou City.

In order to show Haikou’s new achievements in the process of building Hainan’s Free Trade Port, and to encourage the next step in its development, Haikou planned and organized the event "Free Trade Port – Visiting Haikou", inviting internet influencers to experience Hainan in person and to tell the story of Haikou since the establishment of the Free Trade Port through short videos, photos and other means.