Material Empire

Guo Shuqing is an official with a scholar background. He has been working in the policy research department of the province in the early years. He was highly praised by the provincial leaders for his sharp thinking and outstanding writing style. He was appointed to Yiping when he was just over 40 years old. The city acts as secretary and is responsible for overall work.

Although he has never done practical work at the grassroots level, Guo Shuqing is no stranger to the rules of the grassroots government. He knows that all cities and counties have long regarded economic development as the top priority of government work, and evaluating the performance of a secretary or mayor depends on how much money they have introduced, how many enterprises have been established, and how many people have created. How much output value, this has become a practice in officialdom.

Guo Shuqing didn't want to confuse himself with these colleagues. He hoped that he could become a maverick official, and only in this way could he stand out among many bureaucrats at the same level. The position of secretary of the municipal party committee is unattainable in the eyes of many people, but for Guo Shuqing, he is not satisfied. A secretary is nothing more than a department-level cadre. There are nearly 50,000 department-level officials in various departments and bureaus under the central ministries and commissions, various departments in the province, and more than 300 prefecture-level cities across the country. How would he make his presence felt among 50,000 people if he was acting like everyone else?

After more than 20 years of rapid development, China has initially shaken off poverty and solved the problem of food and clothing for the people. After the problem of having enough to eat is no longer difficult, the discussion on the development path has become more and more prosperous. Recently, newspapers have frequently appeared such statements as "against the worship of GDP" and "the pursuit of GDP does more harm than good". Guo Shuqing is keenly aware of this trend and realizes that it is not enough to get ahead just by doing well in the economy.

With this in mind, after he took office, he did not develop the economy as aggressively as other secretaries, but worked hard to find a different development path. He thought about the ideas of revitalizing the city through culture, tourism, livability, leisure and even religion, etc., but all these ideas have difficulties in implementing them, so it is difficult to introduce them as a policy for a while. Gusev just presented him with the concept of a post-industrial city, claiming that it was more than 50 years ahead of the times, which moved Guo Shuqing quite a bit.

In China, one of the criteria for evaluating the quality of something is "foreign style". The so-called "foreign style" means that it is different from the local Chinese things, with a little bit of Western fairy spirit. Don't you see, when real estate developers develop real estate, they often choose names such as "Australia", "Maple Leaf" and "Provence", which makes people feel that the place they live in has a strong exotic style; Consumer goods merchants obviously produce stinky tofu and chili sauce, but they want to put up a "Napoleon" or "Elizabeth" trademark, as if foreigners are much more noble after eating it. Even non-mainstream teenagers on the street have to dress up in a European style, with a one-foot-long copper ring hanging on their noses, so they don't mind the trouble of eating.

At the level of experts and scholars, the appearance will not be so vulgar, but the essence is the same, that is, we must use Western theories as the basis, and don't talk about Confucius and Laozi, which seems too rustic. Guo Shuqing himself had such an experience. When writing a speech for the leader, if he quoted a few ancient poems such as "hanging the clouds and sailing to help the sea", it would inevitably make people laugh, but if he could add a few lines "Aristotle De once said" or "Laplace has a famous saying", immediately appear high-end atmosphere, this is the effect of the so-called foreign style.

The best way to propose a brand-new urban governance concept and build a distinctive city is to learn from foreign countries. If you can use concepts that are even advanced in foreign countries, it will be even better. Guo Shuqing is no stranger to the word "post-industrial", but the connection between post-industrial and urban still makes him feel bright. He has a premonition that Gusev's visit will bring him unexpected gains.

"Mr. Gusev, can I understand it this way? You think cities should get rid of industrial functions, so as to avoid the alienating effect of industry on people. However, if we abandon industry, how can we achieve full employment and social development in cities?" Guo Shuqing asked shamelessly. road.

"A city should be a center of wealth accumulation, not a center of wealth production. This is the awareness that a city manager should have." Gusev said loudly, before Guo Shuqing questioned him, he changed the topic and said: "Of course, for a country like China, complete deindustrialization is still difficult to achieve at present. Your government needs GDP as its political performance, isn't that true?"

Guo Shuqing felt a little hot on his face. He said: "I am extremely opposed to the worship of GDP. I don't think GDP can promote the welfare of residents. However, if there is no GDP, the funds needed for urban development will be difficult to solve. How can we provide What about providing a high level of service to citizens?"

"In our west, there are many quiet small cities. They don't have prominent industries. The income of residents has not increased for many years, but their lives are very comfortable and the living environment is very beautiful. You don't think this is a very good way. development model?" Ekin interjected.

"That's true." Guo Shuqing nodded and said, "I have been to some small cities in Europe. The environment in those cities is very good, but there is no local industry. I have never known how they do this."

"Through finance, information services, etc., economic development can also be promoted. Moreover, this development model can be closer to the needs of citizens. In the post-industrial era, people have given up their endless pursuit of money. They prefer to have leisure and The dignity of work," Gusev said.

"I feel the same way." Guo Shuqing said, "However, it may not be easy to do this, right?"

Hearing what Guo Shuqing said, Gusev and Ekin exchanged glances. They both realized that Guo Shuqing had been successfully introduced into the pit, and the next step was how to fill the pit with soil. Didn't they travel thousands of miles to China just to bring the Chinese into the pit?

"To transform an industrial city into a post-industrial city, of course it takes some effort." Akin said, "We came to Yiping City today to introduce this path to Mr. Guo and your government officials. of."

"I would like to hear the details." Guo Shuqing sat upright, and took a notebook, ready to record. This is still a habit he developed when he was the director of the political research office in the province. Whenever the leader speaks, he must record it verbatim.

Ekin said: "We have investigated more than 200 cities around the world, including cities that have achieved post-industrialization, and cities that have not yet begun to industrialize. Of course, the latter are mainly distributed in poor countries such as southern Africa and South Asia. We believe that an industrial city To transform into post-industrial, three steps are required. The first step is the transformation of industrial form, gradually transforming from heavy industry to light industry, and shifting from mainly relying on resources and capital investment to relying on technology input.”

"Well said." Guo Shuqing nodded repeatedly.

"The second step is to reduce the proportion of industry in the economy, increase the proportion of industries such as finance, technology, culture, and life services, and finally achieve deindustrialization. Then the third step is to shift the city's functions from economic development to humanistic care, and to realize Convenience of life, clean environment, and political democracy are the characteristics of a post-industrial city." Ekin continued to fool around.

"De-industrialization..." Guo Shuqing chewed the words translated by Xu Yang, with a serious expression on his face.

Xu Yang said: "Secretary Guo, I think what Mr. Ekin said is correct. Last time an expert came to Yiping to give a lecture, he said that in today's world, first-rate countries make brands, second-rate countries make technology, and third-rate countries make brands. Products. A superpower like the United States no longer develops industry. They only do brand and technology. Only China is proud of OEM. If Yiping wants to stand out from the crowd, we should gradually realize deindustrialization and transform into a real first-class city.”

"This is a shocking statement." Guo Shuqing said with a smile.

"It's because Secretary Xu, you are an astonishing leader." Xu Yang flattered him without losing the opportunity.

"Xiao Xu, you are a technical background, how did you learn to flatter?" Guo Shuqing pretended to be critical, but said clearly in his tone: Young people are skilled and comfortable in shooting, I like it.

Xu Yang said: "Secretary Guo, I think Mr. Gusev and Mr. Ekin's ideas are very good. All the cadres and citizens of our city need to learn this idea. I suggest that they give a training to the cadres in the city. It’s best to give ordinary citizens a few times of science popularization, which is very necessary for you to implement new policies.”

"Well, that's true. I don't know if Mr. Gusev and Mr. Ekin have time." Guo Shuqing said.

Xu Yang translated Guo Shuqing's words, Gusev showed a bright smile on his face, and said: "We are very willing to do such a thing, which itself is the purpose of our organization."

"Since this is the case, then your Science and Technology Bureau will be responsible for implementing this matter." Guo Shuqing ordered.

"Understood!" Xu Yang said happily, puffing out his chest.

Guo Shuqing didn't know, but Xu Yang and Gusev's party actually sang a double reed in front of him. Long before joining the Municipal Party Committee, Gusev had already explained to Xu Yang the purpose of his visit, that is, he hoped to have an opportunity to preach the idea of ​​de-industrialization to the citizens. He asked Xu Yang to help him create such an opportunity. In exchange, he could ask the Blue Sky Organization to help Xu Yang contact the opportunity to go to Europe for gold plating.