A view of Chaotianmen port in Chongqing city Photo: Liu Yang/GT

"Hearing about something 100 times is not the same as seeing it once. I love Chongqing, and most of us have been blown away by the scenery, by the nature and by the atmosphere of the megacity," Moritz Nicolaus Lohmann, co-founder of Hamburg Welcomes You, Germany, told the Global Times on Saturday. 

Lohmann said he was very impressed with the city's strong desire for pursuing high-quality development and opening-up.

Lohmann is one of the foreign journalists who participated in the 2024 Belt and Road Journalists Forum, which kicked off in Southwest China's Chongqing city on Saturday. The forum also provides the attending journalists with tours to the city's flourishing industries from advanced manufacturing plants to major tourism attractions. 

During the tours, many foreign journalists hailed the development model of the mountainous city - increasingly driven by the green development and new quality productive forces. They noted that Chongqing has provided pragmatic experience for their home cities' future upgrade and high-quality development.

Sustainable growth model

"For someone like me who visited Chongqing about 10 years ago, the city is nearly unrecognizable now. There are high-rise buildings, new bridges, and a few metro lines have been built," Lohmann said.

However, things that used to look a little bit run-down were not all replaced by new high-rise buildings. Instead, they were upgraded through processes of urban revitalization, Lohmann noted.

At Beicang Cultural and Creative Street in Chongqing, worn-out warehouses were turned into public gathering places and cafes, old streets into fashionable walking alleys, and factories into galleries. This not only saves resources like cement and benefits the environment, but also creates a welcoming space that appeals to both locals and tourists, Lohmann said.

"I call for more projects like these in the cities, and suggest that other countries like Germany can learn a thing or two. We will probably not build many 30 story high-rise buildings any time soon. But we might be able to turn an industrial area into an artistic district, just like the city of Chongqing," he said.

Kirtan Bhana, director and editor of The Diplomatic Society, a media outlet in South Africa, was impressed by the automated robotic arms he saw at one of China's leading electric vehicle (EV) makers Seres Group's super factory. 

Visiting the increasingly intelligent automotive manufacturing factory, people can observe that each assembly procedure is implemented smoothly and precisely, with minimal human touch. The massive factory floor has more than 3,000 robots, with major procedures already realizing 100 percent automation, while a new car rolls off the assembly line every 30 seconds, according to the Seres Group.

"What South Africa can learn from Chongqing and the rest of China is that how to develop sustainably without damaging the ecology, that is to say, a way of environment-friendly development," Bhana told the Global Times on Saturday, noting that green products such as EVs are crucial to meet the goal by cutting carbon dioxide emissions.

The green development has become a major trend in the world. Bhana noted that China and South Africa can enhance cooperation in this field under the great framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as the African continent has many of the minerals that are needed to make EV batteries.

In addition to promoting urban renewal and green transformation, Chongqing has also pursued the high-quality development of its tourism industry which fits well with its ecological protection. 

Located in the southeastern part of Chongqing, along the Wujiang River, the largest tributary in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Wulong district is endowed with abundant natural resources and charming natural landscape including the Fairy Mountain. 

The Three Natural Bridges, located in the Fairy Mountain, is a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site renowned for its breathtaking karst landscape. While exploring the geological wonder, Elizabeth Sade, a senior reporter from the Media Association of Solomon Islands, was struck by the three massive natural stone bridges, marveling at the wonders created by nature. 

"The three bridges that we visited were something that I was thrilled about. Alongside, the strong connection that I saw between locals and the environment has amazed me," Sade told the Global Times on Saturday.

He Qing, secretary of the CPC Wulong District Committee of Chongqing, told the Global Times that the local government has strengthened ecological environmental protection while developing tourism, by eliminating predatory way of resource exploitation seen in the past. 

At the same time, the first real-time monitoring system for caves at a heritage site in China has been established, He Qing noted.

Ecological protection

"It is a global issue when we consider the challenges of climate change, especially for Pacific island nations like the Solomon Islands," said Sade. 

"In Chongqing, I saw that the city can integrate ecological protection and tourism development at the same time. So I hope that when our media outlets come back home, they can speak to authorities or go out and do more stories that will influence them to come up with good policies that will be able to promote tourism and at the same time, keep the ecology as green as possible," Sade noted.

On August 23, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held a meeting in Beijing to review policies and measures to open up a new vista in the large-scale development of China's western regions.

Efforts should be made to "deepen reform comprehensively and blaze a path of Chinese modernization that suits the realities of the region," the meeting said, while identifying work priorities in a number of fields, including promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, advancing green and low-carbon development as well as enhancing the openness of the Chinese economy.

Chongqing is an important pivot point for the development of western part of China, as well as a crucial link between the BRI and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Boosted by policy support, unique geographical advantage and new technologies, the flourishing manufacturing sector and other industries seen in Chongqing mirror the high-quality development of China's western region in the new era and the opening-up of the country's western region.

"Through visiting Chongqing, we realize that China is sharing its development knowledge and information with us," said Bhana, adding the BRI not only increases connectivity among the world's peoples, but also creates better understanding among them. "This is where I see the idea of peace and prosperity," he noted.