[Today in Zhenhai] Taking Root in Zhenhai, Extending the Vine: The “Sweet Potato Economy” Helps Enterprises Build Resilience

Reporters Zhang Chaoliang and Pan Zhijie

Correspondents Qiu Hui and Le Qianqian

On the eve of the “May Day” holiday, under the joint supervision of the design, supervision, construction, and project-ownership entities, as well as the Quality Inspection Station, the main structural acceptance inspection for the 15,000-unit-per-year smart power equipment project of Haiyue (Hubei) Electric Co., Ltd., located in the Xiaochang Economic Development Zone of Hubei Province, was successfully completed.

“It is a great honor to be able to contribute to my hometown throughout my career and personal growth,” said Liu Ajie, whose hometown is Wuxue in Hubei Province, his eyes shining with pride. In June 2022, as the project’s chief executive, Liu Ajie was among the first team to arrive at the construction site in Xiaochang County, Hubei.

As a key project in Xiaogan City, Hubei Province, this initiative is being invested in and developed by Ningbo Haiyue Electrical Appliance Manufacturing Co., Ltd., a company based in Luotuo Subdistrict, with a total investment of RMB 500 million. The project will primarily manufacture intelligent power equipment, including high- and low-voltage switchgear, photovoltaic inverters, and charging stations. Upon completion, the project is expected to achieve an annual output value of RMB 2 billion and create 350 local jobs.

Since 2023, the term “sweet potato economy” has repeatedly emerged as a buzzword. Ningbo Haiyue has taken the lead in piloting and experimenting, extending its “vines” westward to establish a presence there. Liu Ajie has worked at Ningbo Haiyue Electrical Appliance Manufacturing Co., Ltd. for 11 years; starting as an ordinary technician, he has steadily advanced to become the project’s chief director. Although Xiaochang is more than 200 kilometers from Wuxue, for Liu Ajie, being dispatched by Ningbo Haiyue to work in Xiaochang represents a profound sense of responsibility and commitment. In March, the Office of the Leading Group for Optimizing the Business Environment in Xiaochang County appointed Liu Ajie as a Business Environment Observer for the county. “This is a vote of confidence and recognition from the local government toward us, the outside investors,” he said. While the added responsibility weighs heavily on his shoulders, it also fills him with a deep sense of pride.

Over the past two decades, Ningbo Haiyue, firmly rooted in the “mass entrepreneurship and innovation”–rich environment of Luotuo Street, has grown into a robust manufacturing enterprise specializing in the production of complete sets of power equipment. Its products have been deployed in projects such as Ningbo Lishe International Airport and the Second Hospital of Ningbo, as well as in countries and regions including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia, and Lebanon, with an annual output value exceeding RMB 250 million.

“Enterprises are proactively seizing development opportunities, which is fully aligned with the ‘sweet potato economy’ concept,” said Zhang Leiming, Chairman of Ningbo Haiyue. In March 2022, Ningbo Haiyue unveiled an investment plan. Over the course of three months, the company evaluated 16 specific criteria—including transportation connectivity and proximity to its headquarters in Zhenhai—and compared location advantages across multiple provinces. Ultimately, it decided to locate the project in Xiaochang, more than a thousand kilometers away from Zhenhai.

According to the plan, Ningbo Haiyue will build a new 66,000-square-meter factory in Xiaochang, spanning 94 mu of land, with the ambitious goal of establishing a green, zero-carbon, state-of-the-art smart manufacturing facility. The plant will supply high-end power equipment—including inverters, energy-storage systems, step-up transformers, and grid-connection solutions—for photovoltaic power-generation projects, as well as application-oriented products such as electric-vehicle charging stations, thereby supporting the nation’s development of new-energy power. “In the face of increasingly scarce resources, particularly land, we have proactively planned ahead and engaged a third-party firm from Guangdong to spearhead production-line design, ensuring that this project features digital workshops and intelligent production lines,” said Zhang Leiming, his gaze fixed on the future.

Ningbo Haiyue operates in multiple provinces, including Hubei, Guangxi, Sichuan, and Shaanxi. Owing to its strategic geographic location, Hubei is renowned as the “crossroads of nine provinces.” According to Zhang Leiming, Ningbo Haiyue has recognized the advantageous location of Xiaochang, using it as a central hub to extend its products and services to numerous domestic provinces such as Hubei, Guangxi, Sichuan, and Shaanxi, thereby reducing transportation costs. At the same time, Xiaochang’s proximity to Wuhan enables Ningbo Haiyue to leverage the city’s universities’ robust research capabilities, providing strong support for the development of new products.

In March 2023, after four months of construction, the project’s R&D building was topped out ahead of the factory buildings and other areas. “Corporate development hinges on innovation. Because the factory buildings are steel-framed, their construction progressed rapidly. Once the R&D building is completed, we still need to carry out interior fit-out and install laboratory equipment. Therefore, the R&D building must be completed one step ahead of the factory buildings and other areas,” Zhang Leiming stated frankly.

As the factory buildings and other physical infrastructure are rapidly constructed, parallel progress is being made in software support such as research and development. Under this project, Ningbo Haiyue will add a production line for photovoltaic inverters. “We are jointly developing photovoltaic inverters with a team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. That team has already visited Ningbo Haiyue’s facility in Luotuo Subdistrict twice and has held numerous video conferences to discuss technical approaches, all with the goal of launching a new photovoltaic inverter product in 2024,” said Zhang Leiming.

On Luotuo Street, Ningbo Haiyue’s development story is far from an isolated case. As early as six years ago, Bailong Oriental’s spinning base in Vietnam—the Ningbo Park—already boasted an annual production capacity of 500,000 spindles… Over the past decade, numerous enterprises on Luotuo Street have actively seized the development opportunities presented by the Belt and Road Initiative. Today, Luotuo Street and its businesses are working tirelessly to ensure that the “sweet potato economy” takes deeper root and extends its vines ever further, thereby boosting the capability and efficiency of our district’s manufacturing sector.

To ensure that the “tubers” grow stronger and larger, Luotuo Subdistrict is making all-out efforts to help enterprises alleviate their difficulties, accelerate the “cage-changing” initiative, uphold innovation-driven development, and tap into endogenous growth momentum. In 2023, Luotuo Subdistrict once again focused on the targeted campaign to attract investment, benefit businesses, and ensure business stability, firmly committing to strengthening the foundations of manufacturing, maintaining scale while enhancing quality, and pursuing excellence through innovation. Key efforts are being made to optimize industrial chains, rebuild industrial foundations, leverage the digital economy, cultivate champion enterprises, and deepen precision services, with the aim of accelerating the development of the “154” industrial clusters and promoting high-quality development of manufacturing in Zhenhai.