Are Dongguan, Guangdong and Suzhou, Jiangsu the same level of cities? What do you think?

I don’t know much about Suzhou, but I know relatively well about Dongguan. Looking at GDP alone cannot explain all the problems. The world’s factory is not in vain. In the 1980s and 1990s, At the beginning of the reform and opening up in the 1990s, the country was still very poor. I remember Deng Xiaoping said to the leaders of Guangdong Province during his first southern tour: The central government has no money to give you, so you should be bold and fight for a bloody way. From then on, foreign-invested factories sprouted everywhere in Guangdong, especially in Shenzhen and Dongguan. At that time, the country was poor and short of foreign exchange. Dongguan, which was just a county, only had an area of ??more than 2,000 square kilometers, and the foreign exchange generated accounted for one-tenth of the country! In other words, every ten years of the country’s Dongguan earns one yuan of foreign exchange, ranking third among major cities in the country, second only to Shenzhen, Shanghai, and even Guangzhou. Although Dongguan's GDP has not yet exceeded one trillion, due to statistical system reasons, a large number of companies headquartered in Shenzhen and Guangzhou actually have their production bases in Dongguan. Is Dongguan’s contribution to the country’s huge foreign exchange reserves still small today? Can Guangdong as a whole, especially the Pearl River Delta, contribute as much to the country’s profit and tax revenue generation as it did at the beginning of reform and opening up as it does today?

I think I have a say in this issue, unlike some people who are just keyboard warriors.

I have been in Dongguan for nine years. During this period, due to work, I was in charge of the East China branch for a year. The area I was in charge of at that time was Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, so I was responsible for the cities in these provinces. Been there too.

Suzhou and Dongguan are two cities with completely different genes. If they have to compare the two cities, the only data they can compare is GDP.

But how can one GDP explain the difference between two cities?

Suzhou is a water town in the south of the Yangtze River, with many small bridges and flowing water, and its gardens are even more famous.

Dongguan has a Lingnan style, a land of hundreds of rivers and a dazzling array of fruits.

Regarding urban construction, Suzhou has a clear city center, while Dongguan is composed of 33 towns. Each town is very, very developed and has its own industry, so you can’t find it in Dongguan. The so-called city center, because there are city centers everywhere.

About sex. This thing exists in any economically developed city or region, and every city has a red light district.

Dongguan is famous because the manufacturing industry here is very developed. Many people have never been to Dongguan, and they have no idea that buses are crowded every day. situation, and they are all wage earners in their 10s and 20s.

It is said that the anti-pornography campaign in Dongguan led to economic recession. In fact, the reason is exactly the opposite. It was the economic recession that led to the decline of the pornographic industry. Except for the pornographic industry, all other industries are declining. Many people reverse the cause and effect. relationship, but thinks he knows everything.

Dongguan and Suzhou are both new first-tier cities. In China’s manufacturing landscape and positioning as the “world’s factory”, there is a saying that Dongguan is in the south and Suzhou is in the north. However, compared with Suzhou, although Dongguan belongs to the same level, The gap is still huge.

In terms of economic aggregate, Dongguan has lost hundreds of billions. In terms of industrial structure, Dongguan is mainly light industry, undertaking the industrial transfer from Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and many mobile phone manufacturing is located here; Suzhou and Foshan are similar, mainly heavy industry, with more foreign investment and Taiwanese investment, and both state-owned and private enterprises are stronger. .

In terms of infrastructure, in addition to Suzhou University and the Suzhou campus of Renmin University of China, many universities such as the National University of Singapore have campuses in Suzhou. China’s off-site schools are Qingdao, Central Suzhou, and South Shenzhen. It is said that Dongguan has only now begun to think about building Dongguan Polytechnic, and it started too late.

Of course, when it comes to other supporting facilities, such as medical care and transportation, Suzhou is close to Shanghai and Nanjing, and Dongguan is close to Shenzhen and Guangzhou. They are basically evenly matched. But when it comes to cultural heritage, Suzhou, as the core of Jiangnan culture, is probably not even a bit better than "Wan-style service".

I don’t think so.

The main content is as follows:

Although Suzhou and Dongguan are both similar industrial cities, Suzhou's industrial foundation is stronger than Dongguan's, and Suzhou's industry is more developed than Dongguan's. Suzhou is located in the Yangtze River Delta and Dongguan is located in the Pearl River Delta. Both places are very developed. But Suzhou is not only industrial, but also has a strong position in finance and economy. Moreover, Dongguan's industry is relatively single, with basically nothing else except industry. Suzhou also has financial industry, tourism industry, etc.

The second point is that based on actual conditions, Suzhou is worse than Dongguan from multiple perspectives such as GDP. The reasons are as follows: 1. The transportation in Dongguan is not as good as that in Suzhou. The expressways in Dongguan are ranked among the best in the country, but Dongguan is lacking in traffic jams and public transportation. Second, Suzhou is more livable than Dongguan. Suzhou is a garden city with a very good environment and good air. Compared with Suzhou, Dongguan still has a lot of room for improvement.

The third point is that I think the two cities have different feelings. Few people like to use Dongguan's bus transportation, and Dongguan's bus transportation is really... Suzhou's nightlife and commercial facilities are also more developed than Dongguan. As soon as you enter Suzhou, you will feel that it is a city with a unique flavor in the south of the Yangtze River. The environment is also very good. But when I go to Dongguan, the feeling is very different.

To sum up, I think Dongguan and Suzhou are not in the same echelon. Dongguan still has a lot of room for improvement for Suzhou.

Dongguan and Suzhou are prefecture-level cities under the jurisdiction of Guangdong and Jiangsu respectively. They have been selected as new first-tier cities many times in recent years. From the perspective of development model, they are almost the same, both are export-oriented economies. Mainly, it is an ordinary prefecture-level city or large industrial city that mainly focuses on manufacturing. Suzhou is next to Shanghai, and Dongguan is sandwiched between Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Both have received industrial spillover from first-tier cities and are developing very well!

Of course, Suzhou's overall strength is much stronger than Dongguan. Needless to say, Suzhou's history, culture, science and education, humanities, etc. can be said to be inferior to Dongguan in this aspect. After all, Suzhou is a national historical and cultural city. , has been a prosperous city since ancient times, while Dongguan was originally just a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Huizhou. In order to adapt to economic development, it was upgraded to a prefecture-level city in 1988. According to the ranking of China's top 100 cities published by the Wharton Economic Research Institute, Suzhou ranks 7th and Dongguan 28th.

Suzhou is also much larger than Dongguan. Suzhou covers an area of ??about 8,488 square kilometers, has a permanent population of 10.72 million, and a GDP as high as 1,859.747 billion yuan. It is known as "China's most impressive prefecture-level city"; while Dongguan's area is only It is 2,465 square kilometers, with a permanent population of 8.34 million and a GDP of 827.859 billion yuan, which is equivalent to 44.5 of Suzhou. Dongguan is also relatively strong and is known as the "world factory".

Both Dongguan and Suzhou have done relatively well in economic transformation in recent years. As of 2018, Dongguan has 5,798 national high-tech enterprises, second only to the four first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in number; while Suzhou has 5,798 national high-tech enterprises. There are 5,416 national high-tech enterprises, following Dongguan. Dongguan's smartphone industry is developed. A number of Dongguan manufacturing and Dongguan brands such as Huawei, OPPO, and vivo have emerged and gradually developed into leading companies. Suzhou is currently working hard to improve its urban development platform.

I am from Jiangsu and work in Dongguan. I would say that Suzhou is not as good as Dongguan except for the county-level cities below it. Dongguan does not have county-level cities but is all a town, and Dongguan used to be just a county. Dongguan has a population of more than 8 million, of which more than 6 million are immigrants and there are more than 1 million locals. What about Suzhou? Can it attract more outsiders than Dongguan? In addition, Shenzhen was basically developed by outsiders. Why? Only when the city is attractive can people work hard. The educated and capable people will start businesses, and the rest will go to work. In addition, I think every city in Jiangsu is ranked very well, not to mention those in other provinces, but those in this province are also very ranked. Basically, every city or even every county operates independently, and its own family planning control is so good, but its ability to attract outsiders is not strong. No one talks about development? Southern Jiangsu was a little better, attracting people from central Jiangsu and northern Jiangsu.

There are fewer and fewer locals in central Jiangsu and northern Jiangsu, and few outsiders come. They are destined to decline.

Let’s simply compare a few aspects,

1: Cultural heritage, Suzhou is much higher than Dongguan.

From ancient poems, it is said that in Suzhou, the moon is setting, the crows are crying, the sky is full of frost, and the rivers, maples, and fishing fires are facing melancholy. At Hanshan Temple outside Gusu City, the bell rang for the passenger ship at midnight. In terms of life, there is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below.

In terms of natural scenic spots, Suzhou has beautiful scenery of Taihu Lake.

In terms of places of interest and historical sites, Suzhou gardens are the best in the world.

Suzhou is far ahead in terms of celebrities from past dynasties.

2: In terms of economic status, Suzhou’s total GDP and per capita GDP are higher than Dongguan. In terms of provincial status, Suzhou is the most economically developed city in Jiangsu Province. Is Dongguan the most developed in Guangdong?

3: From the perspective of modern development, Suzhou’s urban construction is more reasonable than Dongguan. You can come and visit the industrial park where the urban layout is more reasonable.

4: The most important thing is that the public security in Suzhou is really very good, especially in the park, new district, and ancient city area. It is very safe for a person to go out on the street at one or two o'clock at night.

5: There are many outsiders here in Suzhou, it is very tolerant, and it is suitable for living with four distinct seasons.

To be honest: Suzhou compared to Dongguan: there is no comparison! Dongguan is only one-third the size of Suzhou: Dongguan used to be ahead! Later, Suzhou surpassed: the place is too small! For example, Dongguan has a large area like Suzhou; it is not bad; plus seven or eight years ago: Dongguan Liu Zhigeng vacated the cage to change the bird: the bird flew away and the people were gone! Dongguan has lost about 5 million people in the past seven or eight years! The economy must be affected! It is indeed worse than Suzhou at the moment: but there is Shenzhen in the front, Guangzhou in the back, and Dongguan is still okay! Ordinary mind: Just talking casually!

Although Suzhou and Dongguan are both new first-tier cities, Suzhou is much higher than Dongguan in terms of history, culture, science, education and economy.

Looking at GDP alone, Suzhou’s GDP in 2018 was 1.8 trillion and Dongguan’s was 0.8 trillion. Suzhou was 2.5 times that of Dongguan. Suzhou’s per capita GDP ranks fourth in the country, while Dongguan cannot even enter the top 20. Suzhou ranks 10th and Dongguan 28th in terms of urban sustainable development. The total amount of urban funds in Suzhou is 11, and Dongguan cannot enter the top 20. Suzhou is the most livable city in the world in mainland China.

In terms of political status, Suzhou and Dongguan are both prefecture-level cities. Suzhou is next to Shanghai, and Dongguan is sandwiched between Guangzhou and Shenzhen. They are both geographically very good. Dongguan was the first to develop under the reform and opening up, while Suzhou developed under the southern Jiangsu model in the 1990s. In 2018, Suzhou's total industrial output value was 3.6 trillion, even higher than Shanghai's 3.3 trillion, making it the city with the highest total industrial output value in the country.

Let’s not compare the city area and unit output. Judging from the current economic development and sustainable development of the city, and its popularity in the world, I think Suzhou and Dongguan are not on the same level now. (Personal opinions, welcome to discuss, please don’t comment if you don’t like it)

In terms of level, prefecture-level cities are on the same level. When it comes to reputation, it's no different.

Now let’s talk about a city’s innovation capabilities. Yesterday (April 5), Forbes China released a list of the 30 most innovative cities. Suzhou became the biggest dark horse, surpassing Shanghai and ranking third after Shenzhen and Beijing. This has greatly changed people's perception of Suzhou as a manufacturing base that only manufactures but does not create. As a gathering place for the processing industry, the old impression is that Dongguan is a place where three complement each other. However, it has also made rapid progress in innovation in recent years. It ranks 7th in this ranking, which shows that while it has a relatively complete manufacturing industry chain, research and development has also followed suit. .

Both cities have very good economic performance. Although Dongguan loses half of Suzhou's GDP, it is also a developed economic zone, especially in foreign trade, which has strong competitiveness.

It is not fair to compare Dongguan and Suzhou. Suzhou has been a prosperous place since ancient times, with outstanding people, its economic level has always been among the best, and its rich history spans thousands of years. Dongguan, on the other hand, developed completely after the reform and opening up. Before the reform and opening up, Dongguan's economic size was only one-fifth of Suzhou's.

If you consider the area and the original foundation, it is a remarkable achievement to be able to reach today's level.

Suzhou and Dongguan are not on the same level economically. Suzhou was once stronger than Shanghai. In Jiangsu, its economic strength is not inferior to that of Nanjing, the provincial capital, and its GDP is much higher. It is known as the most powerful prefecture-level city. There is no comparison between Dongguan and Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province. Next to Shenzhen and close to Guangzhou, the positive role of the two first-tier cities is to drive, but the side effect is that resource overflow can only play a supporting role.

The humanistic environment is even more incomparable. There is heaven above and Suzhou and Hangzhou below. Suzhou’s cultural accumulation is not only the characteristics of gardens, but also has a solid foundation in education. Many academicians have been produced. Dongguan basketball has developed well, but other places cannot be compared. Culturally, compare with Suzhou.

If the two cities develop more rapidly than they did later, and Dongguan cannot compete with Suzhou in terms of innovation now, then it will basically be determined that Dongguan will not be able to surpass it for quite some time, and it should be content to be its younger brother.