New business link forged from historic bond
昔日战时情 今日共发展
ZHENG YANGPENG

    In Nov 1945, when Kim Gu, president of the provisional government of the Republic of Korea, finished six years of exile in Chongqing and left for home, he expressed his gratitude to the Chinese government in an open letter for its “generous” financial support, especially when China itself was also experiencing extreme hardship.
    1945年11月，当大韩民国临时政府总统金九结束了在重庆长达六年的流亡生涯并准备启程回国时，他在一封公开信中向当时的国民政府表示感谢，尤其感激中国在自身状况都极其艰难的情况下仍“慷慨”的资金援助。
    That wartime friendship has not been forgotten by South Koreans, as many still choose to pay a visit to the site of their exiled government when they visit China.
    韩国人民也没有遗忘当年的战时友谊。每次到中国时，他们当中很多人都会去当时的韩国流亡政府旧址参观。
    Now, as Chongqing, the largest city in China by population, opens itself to the world in pursuit of economic progress, memories of those dark days are frequently cited as an important emotional link between the two East Asian countries, which have a tradition of building business ties on personal relationships.
    如今，当重庆这个中国人口最多的城市正以开放的姿态寻求经济发展时，那段苦难岁月仍时常被提起。它作为这两个东亚国家间重要的情感纽带，也体现了这个地域需要在人际关系上建立业务往来的传统。
    South Koreans are not only guided by old alliances, but are also lured by the exciting business opportunities in western China, which is still relatively underdeveloped compared with the eastern coastal region.
    韩国人民不仅念旧情，同样也被中国西部的广大商机所吸引，因为和中国东部沿海地区相比，西部区域仍相对欠发达。
    In September 2011, the two governments signed an agreement to launch the Sino-Korean Industrial Park in Chongqing Liangjiang (Two Rivers) New Area, the third national development area approved directly by the State Council after Shanghai’s Pudong New Area and the Binhai New Area in Tianjin. It is also the third industrial park jointly built with a foreign country, after ones in Suzhou and Tianjin, both in collaboration with the Singapore government. This gave South Korea a foothold in a strategically important growth engine in China.
    2011年9月，两国政府签署协议，决定在重庆两江新区建立中韩工业园。两江新区是继上海浦东新区和天津滨海新区后第三个由国务院直接批准建立的国家级开发区。中韩工业园也是继苏州和天津与新加坡政府合作后第三个中外合建的工业园区。这也使韩国在中国有了重要的战略增长引擎立足点。
    “In the 1980s, watch Shenzhen; in the 1990s, watch Pudong; in the 2000s, watch Binhai; in this new decade, watch Liangjiang”, the catchphrase repeatedly propounded here, crystallizes a feeling of pride and expectation, that for too long, the inland mega city, a temporary capital during World War II, had been resting on former glories and envying the prosperity of once lesser-known cities, such as Shenzhen and Suzhou, brought about by their proximity to the international market. Now, finally, it is Chongqing’s time.
    “80年代，看深圳； 90年代，看浦东； 00年代，看滨海；新十年，看两江。”这句凝结着长久以来骄傲和期待之情的标语在重庆被反复提及。这座中国内陆之城，二战陪都，多年来都被置于往昔的辉煌里。它眼羡着那些曾经默默无闻的城市，如深圳和苏州，因接近国际市场而步入繁荣。现在，终于是时候轮到重庆了。
    In the past decade, the “go west” campaign launched by the central government changed the landscape of the less-developed western provinces — highways, railways, bridges and airports have been built on a massive scale; GDP growth has been faster than their eastern counterparts for the past six years; and people’s incomes have grown considerably.
    在过去的十年里，中央政府提出的“西部大开发”计划让西部欠发达省份发生巨变：公路，铁路，桥梁和机场如春笋般兴建；在过去的六年间，西部地区GDP增长一直快于东部地区，其人均收入也急剧攀升。
    Chongqing has more reasons to be optimistic. In 2010, a 1,200-square-kilometer area across from the north bank of the city’s central Yuzhong peninsula was pinpointed as a “New Area”, a national-level pilot zone to test new policies, introduce foreign investment and drive future growth.
    重庆有足够的理由感到乐观。2010年，一个正对城市中心渝中半岛北岸1200平方公里的区域在被确定为“新区”。这个国家级试点区将用于试点新政策，引进外资，推动增长。
    As China opens up more, expanding from the east coast to areas along major rivers and borders, Chongqing is well positioned as the largest city on the upper stretch of the Yangtze River, China’s golden waterway.
    随着中国的开放从东部沿海深入到内陆沿主要河流地区，重庆作为长江上游的最大城市非常有利地处在中国的黄金水道位置。
    It is also the starting point of a strategic inter-continental railway line, crossing north through the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, Kazakhstan and Russia to Duisburg in Germany. After the route opened, Chongqing suddenly found itself at the forefront of opening up to the European market.
    同时，重庆也是一条战略洲际铁路线的起点，该线路过新疆，哈萨克斯坦与俄罗斯并最终到达德国杜伊斯堡。开通后，重庆已处在面向欧洲市场开放的最前沿。
    “We do not regard ourselves as an inland city. We consider Chongqing as a yanbian (along the border) city,” says Hao Ming, deputy director-general of the administrative committee of Liangjiang New Area, which houses the Sino-Korean Industrial Park.
    “我们不认为重庆是一座内陆城市，而是把它看作一个边境城市，”两江新区管委会副主任郝明说。
    “Foreign companies do not regard the western area only as a production base. Rather, they deem it as the gateway to a 300-million population market.”
    “外国公司并不把西部地区看作一个生产基地。相反，他们把它视为一个通向拥有3 亿人口的市场门户。”
    Hao’s views are shared by many Korean businessmen working in Chongqing, attracted by what they see as a huge and largely untapped market.
许多在重庆工作的韩国商人也持有和郝明一样的观点。他们完全是冲着这个巨大而又尚未充分开发的市场而来。
    “It is definitely the center of the western region,” says Chang Maeng-Keun, factory director and vice-president of Hankook Tire Group, which is investing $954 million (705 million euros) in the Sino-Korean Industrial Park.
    “这绝对是西部地区的中心，”韩泰轮胎集团副总裁和厂长张孟根说。该集团在中韩工业园投资了9.54亿美元（7.05 亿欧元）。
    Completed this June, the first phase of the project has a production capacity of 2,400 truck tires a day. When the second phase is finished in early 2015, the company expects to produce another 16,000 car tires a day.
    一期工程于今年六月完工并投产，日均产量达到2400个卡车轮胎。据悉，二期工程预计将于2015年上半年完工并投入使用。届时，日均轮胎产量还将增加16000个左右。
    Hao says the fact the investment was made before there was a whole-car production factory in the city, underlines Hankook’s eagerness to access the market. Though Chongqing is an auto parts and motorcycle manufacturing hub, less than 30 percent of Hankook’s tires are sold to western China.
    郝副主任透露，在韩泰轮胎的发展计划里，针对两江新区轮胎厂的投资早在重庆还没有汽车整车制造厂的时候就已经规划好了。这充分表明了韩泰对抢占西部轮胎市场的决心和迫切心情。重庆虽然是汽车零件以及摩托车制造的枢纽，然而仅有百分之三十不到的韩泰轮胎销往中国的西部地区。
    As most of Hankook’s products are either transported by trucks or ships to other markets, sound infrastructure was another reason why Hankook settled on Chongqing, Chang says.
    韩泰大部分的产品都是通过卡车或者轮船进行运输，因此，完善的基础设施是韩泰进驻重庆的另外一个原因。
    The Chongqing plant is Hankook’s third in China, after Huai’an in Jiangsu province and Jiaxing in Zhejiang. Chang has overseen both these factories for more than 10 years. He says Chongqing’s electricity and gas prices are 30 percent cheaper than for the eastern plants, and he claims that although the company pays the same wages for Chongqing workers, they are more diligent and efficient.
    继江苏淮安和浙江嘉兴之后，韩泰把它在中国的第三个工厂设在了重庆。张孟根负责这些工厂已有十余年了。他介绍到：“与东部地区相比，重庆的电、天然气价要便宜百分之三十左右。此外，虽然我们付给这几个工厂工人们的薪水都是一样的，重庆工人们明显要勤劳、高效得多。”
    However, it isn’t all smooth going. When Hankook decided to open the factory in Chongqing, China’s GDP growth was still above 10 percent. This year it has dropped to 7.6 percent, and tire sales are currently lower than expected. China’s labor costs have also risen significantly since the factory was built, which forced the company to increase investment in automatic equipment.
    然而，并不是一切都进展顺利。韩泰决定在重庆设厂的时候中国的GDP年增长率仍高于百分之十。2013年已下降到百分之七点六，轮胎的销售情况也没能达到预期的目标。自工厂投产以来，整个国家的劳动力成本大幅上升，这使得韩泰不得不得加大对自动化设备的投资力度。
    Xing Jun, a team leader of Chongqing Yuhan Lithium Ion Battery Materials Co, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SK Group, also says the key reason for his company investing $100 million in the Sino-Korean Industrial Park is the potentially huge market of the western region.
    重庆渝韩锂电材料有限公司是韩国SK集团旗下一家独资公司。该公司一位团队负责人透露，之所以SK集团会在位于重庆的中韩工业园投入1亿美元完全是被西部地区这个巨大的潜在市场所吸引。
    His company will start production in the first quarter of 2014 producing 2,400 metric tons of battery materials a year. SK Group is also in a joint venture building a chemical plant and semiconductor plant in suburban Chongqing.
    这家锂电材料公司将于明年一季度正式投产，预计年产锂电池材料2400吨。此外，SK集团还在重庆成立了一家合资公司。这家公司在重庆的郊区修建了一家化学工厂以及一家半导体工厂。
    According to Chongqing government data, by the end of last year, 107 South Korean enterprises had registered in the municipality  with an implemented investment of $316 million. Fortune Global 500 companies such as Hyundai Motor Company and Pohang Iron and Steel Co Ltd are negotiating with the Chongqing government over major deals.
    据重庆政府数据显示，截止去年年底，共有107家韩国企业在重庆投资了约3.16亿美元。包括韩国现代汽车以及浦项钢铁在内的几家世界五百强企业也在积极与重庆政府协商相关合作事宜。
    Closer business ties have also resulted in increased demand for travel with the number of direct flights between Chongqing and Seoul increasing from two to four a week.
    商业上的密切合作同时也促进了两地的旅游业。数据显示，往返于重庆和韩国首府首尔的直飞航班已由每周两趟增至四趟。
    However, officials of the Liangjiang New Area say attracting foreign investment was not its main focus. They are more concerned with fostering industry conglomeration.
    两江新区政府官员谈到，与吸引外资相比较，产业集群的打造才是他们更为重视的。
    “We are not attracting business for the sake of it,” says Hao Ming. “We want to share emerging development benefits with foreign investors. We don’t care that much about the specific number of landed businesses. We care about cultivating a function for the park.”
    “我们并不是为了招商而招商，我们是想同外商一起来分享我们的新兴发展成果。事实上，我们对真正能落地的企业究竟有多少并不是太关心，我们在意的是中韩工业园区功能的建设。”郝副主任介绍到。
    That function, he says, lies in being multifunctional, in creating different areas for different uses. For example, the Jiangbeizui area is designed to be a financial district just like Shanghai’s Lujiazui, and the bonded zone is designed to be a huge logistics and processing center.
    中韩工业园的功能建设应该是多样性与功能性并存的。例如，江北嘴的功能定位与上海的陆家嘴一样，都是金融区；寸滩保税港区则是被打造成了一个大型物流加工基地。
    The Sino-Korean Industrial Park is less a physical park and more a concept, he says. The official vision is that different kinds of Korean enterprises will be located in different functional areas.
    实际上，中韩工业园的提法更多的是偏向于概念性。官方的解释是：不同类型的韩企将被安排在不同的功能区里。
    “Only when the function is cultivated, can the best practitioners come and gain recognition, just as performers do on the stage. And we mean to attract the top industries and technologies,” Hao says.
    “就如同舞台上的演员一样，舞台搭建得好与坏对他们来说是十分关键的。同样，园区的功能建设对于入驻企业来讲也起着举足轻重的作用。只有把功能建设落实好了，园区才有资本吸引那些高精端企业与技术的入驻。”郝副主任说到。