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Coal mine city shifts to wind power and seeds
Source: Xinhua |
June 11, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
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OFFICIALS in China's oldest coal production base used to boast that it produced enough coal over the last 60 years to recreate the Great Wall of China two and half times over.
That's more than 600 million tons of coal, which could generate more than 180 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.
These days they are more likely to take pride in the fact that sunflower seeds from Fuxin, Liaoning Province, are sold in supermarkets in Europe and the Americas.
In the last decade, the Zhenlong Local Specialty Co of Fuxin, in northeast region, has grown from a small workshop to the city's largest exporter.
"We started up hiring more than 20,000 people to shell melon seeds, then processed and exported them," says Wu Kai, the company manager.
Last year, the company export volume totaled US$38.6 million. The company is part of three new pillar industries that have been established to expand the city's economic base - away from its total reliance on coal for burning in China's power plants, factories and homes.
With its coal reserves dwindling, Fuxin was chosen as China's first pilot city for a green economy revolution in December 2001.
China has 118 resource-dependent cities that face the twin crises of environmental degradation and disappearing reserves after years of heavy development - unless they change to a sustainable economic growth pattern.
Fuxin's successful transformation has guaranteed the fast growth of local business, says Wu.
Liu Wenqi, director of Fuxin's Development and Reform Commission, says agricultural produce processing, coal-based chemicals and renewable energy are the new pillar industries. "These industries are Fuxin's future."
Food processing, accounting for 27 percent of the industrial base, is the second largest sector after coal production sector. In 2001, it accounted for just 12.7 percent of the industry sector.
The local government is aiming for the renewable energy sector, dominated by wind power, to equal the Fuxin Mining Group, the backbone of the city's coal industry, in terms of output.
Arduous task
Pensioner Li Haifeng walks every day in through the trees in the city's National Mining Park, once Asia's largest open air coal mine. The 78-year-old worked in the mine for 32 years.
"The shanty houses used to stink in the summer," Li says. "But after the mine became a park, many people come here for morning exercise."
The Haizhou Opencast Coal Mine was closed in July 2005 as the coal reserve was depleted. Two years later, the government turned the eight-square-km site into a park.
Despite progress Fuxin has made over the years, Liu warns that the city still faces many difficulties and problems to secure a greener economy, such as lack of skilled workers and damage to local environment caused by years of mining.
"Treatment of a 110-square-kilometer ground sinking in the city's mining area alone needs a lot of time and huge funds," Liu pointed out. "Transformation of a city can't be done overnight."
That's more than 600 million tons of coal, which could generate more than 180 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity.
These days they are more likely to take pride in the fact that sunflower seeds from Fuxin, Liaoning Province, are sold in supermarkets in Europe and the Americas.
In the last decade, the Zhenlong Local Specialty Co of Fuxin, in northeast region, has grown from a small workshop to the city's largest exporter.
"We started up hiring more than 20,000 people to shell melon seeds, then processed and exported them," says Wu Kai, the company manager.
Last year, the company export volume totaled US$38.6 million. The company is part of three new pillar industries that have been established to expand the city's economic base - away from its total reliance on coal for burning in China's power plants, factories and homes.
With its coal reserves dwindling, Fuxin was chosen as China's first pilot city for a green economy revolution in December 2001.
China has 118 resource-dependent cities that face the twin crises of environmental degradation and disappearing reserves after years of heavy development - unless they change to a sustainable economic growth pattern.
Fuxin's successful transformation has guaranteed the fast growth of local business, says Wu.
Liu Wenqi, director of Fuxin's Development and Reform Commission, says agricultural produce processing, coal-based chemicals and renewable energy are the new pillar industries. "These industries are Fuxin's future."
Food processing, accounting for 27 percent of the industrial base, is the second largest sector after coal production sector. In 2001, it accounted for just 12.7 percent of the industry sector.
The local government is aiming for the renewable energy sector, dominated by wind power, to equal the Fuxin Mining Group, the backbone of the city's coal industry, in terms of output.
Arduous task
Pensioner Li Haifeng walks every day in through the trees in the city's National Mining Park, once Asia's largest open air coal mine. The 78-year-old worked in the mine for 32 years.
"The shanty houses used to stink in the summer," Li says. "But after the mine became a park, many people come here for morning exercise."
The Haizhou Opencast Coal Mine was closed in July 2005 as the coal reserve was depleted. Two years later, the government turned the eight-square-km site into a park.
Despite progress Fuxin has made over the years, Liu warns that the city still faces many difficulties and problems to secure a greener economy, such as lack of skilled workers and damage to local environment caused by years of mining.
"Treatment of a 110-square-kilometer ground sinking in the city's mining area alone needs a lot of time and huge funds," Liu pointed out. "Transformation of a city can't be done overnight."
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