Xiamen is a popular tourist resort and prosperous port city, but one of its districts is well known to many Chinese for its long tradition in another field - education.

A trailblazing event in China's educational history was the 1913 establishment of Jimei Study Village by famous overseas Chinese businessman and philanthropist Tan Kah Kee, or Chen Jiageng. The village offers comprehensive education from kindergarten to primary, middle and high school, and then on to university.

The city's Jimei district now has 14 institutions of higher learning or scientific research including the Institute of Urban Environment at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jimei University, the Xiamen campus of Huaqiao University and Xiamen University of Technology, which together have more than 200,000 teachers and students.

The district also has a dozen vocational schools. Nearly 10,000 students graduate every year and become technicians.

Together they provide a strong talent pool for local economic development.

The traditional advantage in education is bringing the district to an increasingly important and visible position in the city's development blueprint.

Covering 276 sq km and having a population of 607,000, Jemei's pillar industries include auto manufacturing, building machinery, garments, bathroom fixtures and tungsten processing.

Service sectors

To improve the local industrial structure, the district government said it has promoted the modern service sector in recent years, including information technology, trade, logistics and tourism as well as cultural and creative industries.

A number of new shopping malls and supermarkets recently opened in Jimei. And contracts have been signed for premium car showrooms and cinemas in the district.

Large IT-related facilities now under construction in Jimei include China Mobile's cellphone animation center, China Telecom's cross-Straits communications hub and China Cyberport's Haixi operation center.

Construction on the Xiamen Software Park began in Jimei last year. Requiring a total investment of 36 billion yuan, the 11.8 sq km park is set to be completed in five years.

Tourism is booming in Jimei as well. Must-see tourism destinations include the Xiamen Garden Expo Park, which was built in 2007 and is billed as a "garden on the water".

The Shuanglongtan ecology sports park recently opened and became a popular choice for people to get away from the bustle of city life and get close to nature.

The annual cross-Straits Dragon Boat Race and National Automobile Cross-Country Championships held in the park also attract large numbers of visitors.

Local officials said that by 2015 the service industry will grow to the equal size as the manufacturing industry.

Transportation hub

Also a transportation hub in Xiamen, Jimei is home to the Xiamen North Railway Station that services four rail lines. Annual passenger numbers are expected to reach 11 million by 2030, said local officials.

Other transport is also convenient. Jimei has an advanced highway network and is building two subway lines.

The city of Xiamen includes a namesake island and several surrounding suburbs, including the important gateway district Jimei. The highly developed city center of Xiamen Island has only six passageways out, four of them - the Xiamen, Jimei and Xinglin bridges and Gaoji levee - pass through Jimei.

In 2009, the local authorities in Xiamen formulated a strategy to unify the development in and outside the island. As a result, urbanization has been on the fast lane in Jimei.

The urban area of Jimei has been expanded to 54 sq km, a number is projected to reach 100 sq km by 2020, when the district will be home to 1 million residents, according to local planners.

In 2010 construction on a new urban area in Jimei started with more than 43 billion yuan of investment to date.

Close to the picturesque Xinglin Bay, the key zone of this new town will cover 6 sq km and home to office buildings, residential communities and cultural and entertainment facilities.

hantianyang@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 09/12/2013 page9)