Wind and tourism put city of Shanwei on road to riches

Editor's Note: China Daily is running a series of stories on old revolutionary bases with profound history and heritage that are striving to lead local people on the road to prosperity in the new era.

Wealth of natural and historical resources sets once impoverished area up for prosperous future

A hundred years ago, people from Shanwei city, Guangdong province, often left their impoverished hometowns for the sea to make their fortune abroad.

Shanwei, which is one of southern China's old revolutionary bases, is now turning to its coastal advantages and marine resources to develop an offshore wind power industry to accelerate its economic development.

According to city authorities, every effort is being made to develop a green energy sector and an offshore wind power manufacturing industry, to allow Shanwei to catch up with its more prosperous counterparts in the Pearl River Delta area.

The plan also includes the creation of an integrated upstream and downstream industrial chain focused on research and development, design, manufacturing, construction, operation and maintenance of offshore wind power stations.

Bai Jianzhong, Shanwei regional general manager of the Mingyang Smart Energy Group, a Shanghai Stock Exchange-listed company, said the city is planning to develop an offshore wind power manufacturing industrial cluster capable of an industrial output of 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion).

"Shanwei is going all-out to build an offshore engineering center and wind power industrial chain that integrates the electric energy and advanced equipment manufacturing sectors," he said, adding that the city already has several offshore wind farms currently under construction.

The first phase of the Shanwei (Lufeng) Marine Engineering Base has attracted major players in the wind power sector. Producing fans, blades, towers, pile foundations and submarine cables since 2019, it is now the country's largest offshore wind power port.