Shopping malls from South Korea, fast food chains from the US, international hotels and R&D centers from Japan; In less than three years, the foreign brands and projects that are flourishing in Huaqiao have created a cosmopolitan atmosphere. People making calls to the Doubletree by Hilton Huaqiao and the Huaqiao office of France-based Capgemini will be greeted in fluent English. This cosmopolitan business satellite city has meant that investments are made on a daily basis by the tens of thousands of foreign talents working here and the batches of foreign companies on their field surveys. Now, with its beautiful ecological environment and improved infrastructure and facilities, the Huaqiao International Service Business Park is emerging as a cosmopolitan new city. Business people from China and abroad all speak highly of this energetic city in the eastern part of Jiangsu Province.

"Internationalized" infrastructure and facilities

The cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Huaqiao International Service Business Park is first and foremost highlighted by the cosmopolitan design of the city's infrastructure and architecture. During the daytime, rows of spacious and clean company compounds with various national flags flying can be seen among green areas and streets lined with trees. In the evening, light shines from the street lamps onto tree-lined boulevards and parks. Rows of skyscrapers, such as the Doubletree by Hilton Huaqiao, the SEG Electronics Market, Asia-Pacific Plaza, the China International Purchase Center (CIPC) and Greenland 21 City, have created a dazzling skyline for Huaqiao. People witnessing Huaqiao's development process have said with buildings growing higher, roads wider, buildings more artistic, Huaqiao has become increasingly cosmopolitan. [Flashback] The China Welfare Institute Greenland Kindergarten located in Greenland 21 City was jointly founded by Shanghai Greenland (Group) Co. Ltd and the China Welfare Institute. The establishment of this kindergarten was a part of Huaqiao's principle of prioritizing the installment of facilities and introducing the best education resources to create a cosmopolitan satellite business city. Fei Hongwei, the principal of the kindergarten, said proudly, "As well as children from the Service Business Park and Kunshan City, 80 percent of our children come from Shanghai, and we also have some foreign children." The cosmopolitan atmosphere of Huaqiao is also reflected by the presence of foreign supermarkets and hotel chains. "Since our opening, our sales of imported foods have been highest among all ten E-market outlets in the Greater Shanghai area. Resident consumer capacity here is as vibrant as in Shanghai," said Ma Jun, general manager of E-mart's outlet in Huaqiao. In the Pioneer District of the Huaqiao International Service Business Park, a 24-story hotel, the Doubletree by Hilton Huaqiao, has been completed. The hotel's show guestroom interiors were designed by prestigious Hong Kong designer Steve Leung and his designing team. The showrooms combine a modern style with Eastern elements, creating a fashionable and elegant ambience with the unique charm of East meets West. John Burger, the hotel general manager, said that the reason they chose Huaqiao for their second Doubletree By Hilton in China and first in East China is its great development potential. In the future, sustained development will turn Huaqiao into a modern service sector base accommodating around 300,000 high-end, middle-end and low-end business people. The opening of Doubletree By Hilton Huaqiao has helped to improve supporting business facilities for this service base and satisfy the high standards and demands of a business city. The Huaqiao International Service Business Park has been equipped with excellent facilities for shopping, catering, accommodating, transportation and education, creating an international environment that is comfortable for people in the service sector to start their own businesses and live a convenient life.

Renowned ecological environment

Prioritizing the creation of an excellent ecological environment was a wise decision by the Huaqiao International Service Business Park and has become an advantage for it to create a good international investment environment. Compared with the central business districts (CBDs) in big cities, the perfect combination of green areas, ponds, trees, squares and buildings in Huaqiao allows companies to enjoy the beautiful views of architecture, people and nature, which coexist in harmony, while paying low production costs. This livable, ecological and people-centered business city has been deeply rooted in the hearts of business elites. [Flashback] The headquarters base of the Huaqiao International Service Business Park is the Join In International Business Park, and involves an investment of 200 million yuan and a construction area of 80,000 square meters. This complex has used a geothermal heat pump system as its central heating and air conditioning system. With the adoption of this advanced technology, the complex uses the earth as a source of heat in the winter and as a coolant in the summer, without the need to build boiler rooms or cooling towers. The geothermal heat pump central conditioning system creates zero pollution while reducing energy consumption by 30 to 40 percent compared with traditional electric central conditioning systems. In addition, is has a lifespan of up to 20 years. The use of geothermal heat pump technology is only one shining example of Huaqiao's efforts to popularize energy-saving construction and ecology-friendly technologies. In recent years, Huaqiao has planned and built a large number of parks, such as the Central Park and the Huaxi Park, both built to high standards. Huaqiao is also committed to popularizing technologies for energy-saving construction among companies and the generous use of environment-friendly materials and technologies, such as solar power, geothermal heat pump and the use of recycled water, which has created a green ecological business city with internationally advanced technologies. Insiders from the Huaqiao International Service Business Park said that in the process of global economic integration, in particular, a new round of financial BPO sector restructuring driven by the financial crisis, the relocation of service companies and the outsourcing of business processes will prefer distinctive venues with perfect functionality. Building an ecological business city is what sets Huaqiao apart from other business parks and what defines Huaqiao's competitiveness. Therefore, the Huaqiao International Service Business Park has been internationalized with regard to its facilities and has completely upgraded its function as the "world's office" and an ecological office area. In the near future, Huaqiao will have 471 hectares of green area and 360 hectares of three-dimensional recreational ecological space. By then, up to 15 percent of Huaqiao's total area will be green area while another 15 percent will be recreational lakes and rivers. These areas will be highest among all cities in the Yangtze Delta. These ecological facilities, which are unthinkable in other business parks, exhibit Huaqiao's international standards.

International infrastructure

How can a business park become so "international?"

The secret lies in Huaqiao's charm, which was provided by the plan to build it into a "Lujiazui" or a "Manhattan" in Kunshan. This charm is not only reflected by buildings above the ground, but also the development of underground space. Guided by a foresighted development plan, the Huaqiao International Service Business Park uses international development concepts to extend its underground development space and makes enormous efforts to achieve three-dimensional development. [Flashback] In Pioneer District of the Huaqiao International Service Business Park, dozens of high-rise buildings, such as Orient Overseas, the Asia-Pacific Plaza and the Zhonghuan Plaza are under construction. With large-scale development underway above the ground, an underground development project occupying 80,000 square meters and a construction area of around 140,000 square meters is also progressing at full speed. As China's only provincial-level development zone to be dominated by the modern service sector, land in the Huaqiao International Service Business Park is precious and expensive. Therefore, to raise overall development efficiency, Huaqiao has introduced advanced planning concepts from developed countries, such as the US and European countries. While building high-rise buildings, Huaqiao has been developing its underground space. The 140,000-square-meter underground space in Pioneer District consists of three blocks of land under the Grand Gateway, Guanghua and local government. These blocks have been developed together, saving construction costs of underground building and reducing the number of entrances and exits. Underground pedestrian walkways have been adopted that connect different areas and a multi-layer functional space has been created which maximizes the development and utilization of "three-dimensional resources" of the core blocks. In addition to Pioneer District, which has a high concentration of office buildings, projects like the regional headquarters base, the Join In International Business Park, have also developed large underground spaces. Advanced three-dimensional planning imported from abroad has not only improved Huaqiao's supporting facilities, it has stimulated the maximum utilization of resources and left sufficient room for Huaqiao's future development. Meanwhile, as part of its urban construction, Huaqiao has strengthened its control over architectural forms, road signs and commercial signs according to the requirements of elegance and uniformity so as to enhance the city's overall image and feeling and to create a brand identity for an international business city.

Source: Kunshan Daily Page A1 Reporters: Yao Xiaoyan and Cao Yong