Changshu Became The First Chinese Brand City

In the economic circle of Suzhou Wuxi Changjiang Delta, there is a city with deep cultural and rich beauty -- Changshu.

She has the Confucian elegance of thousands of years of cultural heritage, with a per capita GDP of more than 12 thousand US dollars, and the natural ecology of the city water, the water city and the landscape city.

In the past 30 years since reform and opening up, Changshu people have been adhering to this city's internal and external culture, self improvement, modest and tolerant, spirited spirit and cultural connotation, striving to forge ahead, and gradually built up a city brand system with comprehensive interaction of history, culture, fine brand, ecological environment and tourism and leisure, thus forming a strong city's comprehensive competitiveness, showing a rapid, balanced and harmonious development of city charm, and achieving a leap from urban brand to brand city.

In December 30, 2008, China's brand city evaluation index system and the first "China brand city" were released in Beijing. Changshou City, Jiangsu Province, became the first city in China to win this honor.

The conference was co sponsored by the economic daily and the center for urban and environmental studies of the Chinese Academy of social sciences.

Liu Haifa, one of the initiators of China's brand city evaluation and director of the economic times daily newspaper group, said that with the deepening of economic globalization, the competition among countries, cities and enterprises has been mainly manifested in brand competition.

Implementing brand strategy, building brand city and enhancing the competitiveness of cities have become the strategic choice of many cities in China.

The purpose of this activity is to sum up the experience of implementing the brand strategy successful city, and to guide our cities to accelerate the implementation of brand strategy, promote the optimization and upgrading of industrial structure, pform the mode of economic development, and achieve sound and rapid development.

Professor Niu Fengrui, director of the expert group and director of the center for urban and environmental studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the evaluation index system of Chinese brand cities can be divided into three systems, namely, brand support, brand drive and utility evaluation, including 16 indicators, such as economic and social development level, urban cultural taste and residents' quality, urban ecological environment, number of famous brands, natural and cultural heritage value and attractiveness, and government efficiency. A comprehensive assessment of more than 80 points indicates that the brand value of the city has reached the "brand city" standard.

After several field visits and data collection by members of the research group and invited experts, Changshou City's comprehensive assessment was 92.24 points, becoming the first "Chinese brand city".

In recent years, Changshou City has implemented the brand strategy as the starting point for implementing Scientific Outlook on Development, changing the way of development, and promoting the sound and rapid development of the economy and society, and achieved outstanding results.

At present, Changshu has 1 famous brands in China, 22 famous brand products in China, 43 well-known trademarks in China, more than 20 enterprises have been involved in the formulation of more than ten national and industrial standards, and 26 national similar products have won the "singles champion".

Changshu has been ranked the top 100 counties in the country for many years. In 2007, the city achieved 97 billion 500 million yuan in GDP, 39% in the service sector and 12 thousand in per capita GDP.

As the first batch of "national historical and cultural cities", Changshu has successively gained honor such as "national health city", "national environmental protection model city", "national garden city", "national excellent tourist city", "national comprehensive administration of public security and advanced counties and cities", "national smooth engineering model management city" and "International Garden City".

Wang Xiang, Secretary of the CPC Changshu Municipal Committee, delivered a speech at the meeting, pointing out that Changshu is a cultural city with profound historical details and a beautiful landscape city. It is also a vibrant city of innovation and a brand name city with famous brand names. It is also a harmonious city with coordinated economic and social development.

In recent years, we have conscientiously implemented the Scientific Outlook on Development, always adhered to the concept of comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development, and maintained a sound and fast economic and social development momentum, showing a positive interaction between enriching the people and strengthening the city, coordinating economic and social progress, promoting urban and rural prosperity, and improving the environment and development simultaneously. The comprehensive strength has been among the top 100 counties (cities) in the whole country, and has become one of the first counties in Jiangsu to enter the "well-off society".

Brand is a huge intangible asset of the city. It is an important platform to display the city's characteristics, enhance the city's charm and enhance the city's cohesion.

In the future, we will closely rely on the resources and advantages of "China's brand cities" to accelerate the development of "industrial cities, tourist markets, business and rich cities, cultural cities and science and education". We will strive to enhance the connotation of brand cities, constantly enhance the vitality of brand cities, and strive to build Changshu into a "brand city" with a wide range of radiation, strong cohesion and high reputation.

Changshu has the reputation of being "dressed by the world". It is China's textile base and famous Chinese leisure clothing city. It is famous for its world-famous brand Bosideng from Changshu.

After more than 30 years of market competition, Changshu's garment industry has highlighted its industrial advantages.

So far, there are more than 4800 clothing and apparel enterprises in Changshu, employing more than 300 thousand people, producing 800 million pieces of clothing each year and selling more than 60 billion yuan.

While speeding up the upgrading of traditional industries such as garments, Changshu has actively optimized its economic structure, and has made efforts to build the "three major plates" of the state-level Changshu Development Zone, the provincial southeast development zone and the Yushan high-tech industrial park. It has formed eight major industrial clusters, including fluorine chemical materials, functional rubber and new textile materials, and new industries such as equipment manufacturing, precision machinery, bio pharmaceuticals, and new materials have begun to rise.

So far, Changshu enterprises have won the "singles champion" in the sales of industrial products in 26 industries of the whole country. Among them, two products of hydraulic jack and steel toolbox are sold in the first place in the world.

The city has 22 famous brand products in China, 43 famous trademarks in China, 171 famous trademarks and famous brand products in Jiangsu Province, and has formed a strong brand matrix. The comprehensive strength ranks among the top ten counties in the country.

So far, Changshu has 21 state-level high-tech enterprises, 124 high-tech enterprises in Jiangsu, 23 engineering and technology research centers in Suzhou, 4 in science and technology public service platform, 3 in postdoctoral workstations, 12800 in patent applications, and 24 in enterprise participation standards.

Editor in charge: Yang Jing