Infrastructure

Beijing’s new airport opens on September 30th    Designed by Iraqi-British architect Dame Zaha Hadid, the airport terminals cover over a million square metres.   It cost RMB 80 billion (£9.3 billion) and took five years to build. Beijing Daxing International Airport will handle 45 million passengers annually by 2021, 72 million by 2025 and 100 million passengers a year by 2040. China Southern, China Eastern, Beijing Capital Airlines and …

Scotsman Sir Danny Alexander, 47, spent ten years as a Liberal Democrat MP and was Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the coalition government headed by David Cameron. For the past three years, he has been Vice-President and Corporate Secretary with the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. In a wide-ranging interview, Sir Danny talks to Mark Graham about his role within the bank, how its infrastructure projects are helping poor …

Fei-Ling Wang, Professor of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology and expert on China’s megacities explains the pros and cons of creating these new urban city groups   To sustain continued, robust economic growth – something of crucial importance to its legitimacy and stability – the Chinese government has lately employed a bold stimulus plan of “city grouping” (chengshiqun), the creation of a few megacities by integrating groups …

Tom Pattinson speaks to London-based town planner and social economist Dr Wei Yang about China’s urban planning and how a Victorian town planner of British home county towns might have a big impact in China Wei Yang might speak softly but she talks boldly about what China could learn from Britain. We meet in a majestic hotel in her adopted home of London to compare notes on the last three …

As the Leeds City Region rapidly becomes Yorkshire’s media hub, a range of other businesses are also seeing the benefits of Chinese investment, writes Tom Pattinson The Leeds City Region, which includes, amongst others, the surrounding areas of Harrogate, Bradford, Barnsley, Huddersfield, Wakefield and York has also been very active in attracting Chinese investment. The area has a strong manufacturing history and has become a major northern media hub with …

With Manchester one of the more prosperous cities in the north of England, there is much to be gained as it links with Chinese markets, writes Tom Pattinson To date, there is an enduring sense that there is significant disparity in government expenditure between the north and south of England. Whilst some argue that there are similar levels of public spending between the two, a recent report from the Centre …

The launch of the UK’s first TusPark Innovation Centre in Newcastle acts to provide a strong foundation for UK companies wishing to enter the Chinese market, writes Tom Pattinson On the other side of the country, TusPark Innovation Centre launched its first UK campus in Newcastle. TusPark – or Tsinghua University Science Park – originated as an innovation centre and high-tech incubator next to the famous Beijing-based university. There are …

In both Liverpool and Lancashire, there is a strong sense of Chinese cultural heritage which canny operators are using to develop their business, writes Tom Pattinson  Liverpool’s deep relationship with China goes back to the 1830s when ships bringing silks and cotton and tea from China docked in Liverpool’s famous port. Alfred Holt who founded the Blue Funnel Shipping Line, hired a large number of Chinese seamen in the 1860s …

As China asserts its authority on the world stage, European countries, including the UK, have found themselves to be one of the chief beneficiaries, writes Tom Pattinson As China comes increasingly close to taking the title of world’s largest economy it has been on something of a spending spree over much of the last decade. During the 2008 global recession, some struggling Western companies were up for sale at knock-down …

  Xiong’an New Area is situated just 60 miles southwest of Beijing. Established to house institutions and companies struggling to find space in the crowded capital, the area also aims to develop technological innovation as China shifts to high value-added industries. It is being developed to alleviate the pressure from China’s capital and absorb it into the broader area of Jing-Jin-Ji – the region that includes Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. …