Planting Seeds for Long-Term Growth
In the summer of 1985, 32-year-old Xi Jinping stepped into the role of vice mayor for Xiamen, a modest port city in southeast Fujian Province on the Chinese mainland. The central government had just expanded the Xiamen Special Economic Zone from 2.5 to 131 square kilometers, sparking debate about how to transform the city into a global hub without losing its unique character.
Under Xi’s guidance, a dedicated team set out to create an unprecedented 15-year development plan—an approach that went far beyond the typical annual or five-year blueprints of the time. “We must think far ahead and see a bigger picture. Acting only for short-term goals leads to inefficiency and strategic drift,” Xi said at a 1986 meeting.
With support from top economists in Beijing and experts from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Xiamen University, over 100 specialists contributed to 21 thematic reports on industry, trade, port logistics, tourism, education and more. Public input played a key role too: a citywide essay campaign invited scholars, engineers, civil servants and workers to share their visions in essays titled “Xiamen in the Year 2000.”
A Vision Turned Reality
“We planted seeds here. Today’s harvest surpasses our expectations,” President Xi said during a 2024 inspection, tracing his fingers over the 300 yellowed pages he helped draft. The final blueprint positioned Xiamen as a strategic economic centre in southern Fujian Province, a bridge for cross-Straits relations and a hub for connections across the Asia-Pacific.
Xi’s bold three-step strategy—bonded zones, a free trade zone and a quasi-free port—laid the conceptual groundwork for China’s national free trade zones decades later. Today, the port of Xiamen ranks among the busiest in the world, a testament to the power of long-term thinking and collaborative planning.
Reference(s):
Under Xi Jinping, China's first 15-year city plan resonates far
cgtn.com
