LAST STAND: Grass planted to control expansion of the desert in Zhongwei, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (YU HONG)

Wan Xuedao, Deputy Director of the Tourism Bureau of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, said with its unique desert and river resources, Zhongwei has good prospects for accelerating the transformation of its tourism industry. With Shapotou as its flagship, Zhongwei has established a series of tourist attractions including Tengger Wetland Park, Sikou Tourist Area, etc. that integrate history, culture and natural landscapes.

By taking measures such as holding desert sports events and desert-themed rock-and-roll music festivals, and operating chartered flights in nine major tourist source cities, as well as promoting the tourist resources via social media platforms such as Weibo and WeChat, Zhongwei has both improved the environment of tourist areas and actively promoted its tourist attractions through various means.

Xu Liqun, Mayor of Zhongwei, said the city will further coordinate its tourist resources, improve its industrial chain, and better the quality of services provided by local enterprises and the city's transportation facilities.

On the southern edge of Tengger Desert and to the south of Alxa Left Banner of Alxa League, Inner Mongolia, there are stretches of solar panels which resemble a brilliant blue ocean lying on the golden desert. This is where Zhongwei Desert Photovoltaic Industrial Park is located. With a planned area of 4,300 hectares and an investment of 20 billion yuan ($3.25 billion), the park houses a photovoltaic manufacturing section, a photovoltaic power generation section, a photovoltaic agricultural warm house and a tourism section.

Industrial takeoff

"The photovoltaic industry is an ever-flourishing industry. In theory, the longevity of this industry is limited only by that of the sun," said Li Zheng, General Manager of Zhongwei Yinyang New Energy Co. Ltd. The company has established a complete industrial chain for the production and manufacture of silicon materials, silicon chips, photovoltaic modules and photovoltaic power generators.

Upon completion, Zhongwei Desert Photovoltaic Industrial Park is expected to produce 2.79 billion kilowatt-hours of power with an output value of 7.1 billion yuan ($1.15 billion), saving the equivalent of 1.12 million tons of coal and reducing emissions by 2.79 million tons in terms of carbon dioxide, 84,000 tons in terms of sulfur dioxide and 42,000 tons in terms of nitrogen oxides.

During the past decade, Zhongwei has established three major industrial parks and six special industrial parks, attracting a total of 205 companies.

In 2004, there were only 31 enterprises with annual revenue from primary business above 5 million yuan ($813,010), while in 2013, 106 enterprises in the city had annual revenue above 20 million yuan ($3.25 million). By 2013, 53 enterprises in the city had annual output value of more than 100 million yuan ($16.26 million) and five had annual output value of more than 2 billion yuan ($325.2 million). In 2013, the city attracted investment of 16.96 billion yuan ($2.76 billion), 34.4 times the figure when it was established 10 years ago.

Over the last 10 years, Zhongwei has been focusing on attracting large companies and large projects.

In 2013 alone, Zhongwei attracted Amazon.com, Ningxia Park of Zhongguancun Science Park and Ningxia West Cloud Valley Technology Co. Ltd.

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