The Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Wuhan Kang Seung-seok and his wife, deputy British Consul-General in Wuhan Martin Walley and Economic Consul Rodolphe Girault of French Consulate General in Wuhan toured around Jingzhou, Yichang, Wuhan and other cities in Hubei on July 28-30, exploring Hubei’s ecology, economy and history.
After the three-day visit, they had a deeper understanding and gained stronger confidence in the development of and cooperation with the province.
Honghu City, a county-level city reputed “the hometown of fish and rice” in the province, is their first stop.
When told that the performers of the show staged in the Honghu eco-tourism scenic area were villagers nearby, Kang Seung-seok was pleased, saying "the approach that government help villagers increase income through their own job is very meaningful."
Jingzhou City of Hubei is considered to be the cradle of Chu Culture. At the Jingzhou Museum, the consuls were impressed by the exquisite cultural relics. "The beauty and science are both considered. I didn't expect ancient Chinese craftsmanship to be so exquisite," he marveled.
Rodolphe Girault was still amazed by the profound cultural heritage and humanistic atmosphere of the ancient city of Jingzhou even though it is his third visit to the city.
After taking a close look at the world’ s largest water conservancy and hydropower project Three Gorges Dam in Yichang City, Kang Seung-seok noted that the efforts of the builders made to the project were pretty admirable, and which have ensured the project to benefit the people over the years.
Between 2003 and 2020, the Three Gorges Dam has been used to control the flood for 61 times, with a total impound water of 191 billion cubic meters. In the past ten years, the project has also played as an ecological regulator, adjusting the discharge flow to produce artificial flood peaks to aid the fish reproduction.
Martin Walley is more interested in the operation of the five-tier Three Gorges ship lock. The ship lock at the Three Gorges Dam began operations on June 18, 2003. As of June 17 this year, it had seen the transit of 912,400 ships, 1.6 billion metric tons of cargo, and 12.23 million passengers.
"The construction of such an advanced ship lock is astonishing," he gasped with admiration, "I feel the trip is worthwhile when seeing how the ship lock works with my own eyes."
In Yichang, the consuls also stepped into the Perth Music Group and Yichang Humanwell Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. to learn about the new development trend of Hubei enterprises.
According to the person in charge of Parsons Music Corporation, the company has achieved independent production of the entire piano industry chain, with an annual output of 70,000 pianos. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the company plans to enhance the annual output to 100,000.
At present, the Yichang Humanwell has business in more than 20 countries around the world, including South Korea, the United Kingdom and France. In the next step, the company will continue to expand international cooperation, the person in charge the company introduced.
"I am delighted to see the exchanges between British and Chinese companies. I believe that in the future there will be more opportunities for cooperation between the two sides in the field of new drugs," Martin Walley said.
The consuls returned to Wuhan and came to Wuchang Red Lane to visit the former site of the Central Peasant Movement Training Institute and Mao Zedong's former residence at the last stop of the trip.
As the three-day trip ended, the consuls were more aware of Hubei's ecological civilization, economic development, and historical evolution.
"Hubei is an important transportation hub in China. With this geographical advantage, Hubei's high-precision and sophisticated industries have been developing rapidly, especially in the fields of automobiles and biomedicine," Kang Seung-seok said, "I believe that Hubei is able to overcome the impact of the epidemic and achieve a higher-quality development."
“The British Consulate General in Wuhan has always been committed to promoting exchanges and cooperation between Hubei and the UK in the fields of healthcare, education, and advanced manufacturing,” Martin Walley said, “I am very pleased to see Hubei’s rapid recovery and robust economic growth after the hard hit by the epidemic. I am optimistic about Hubei’s development!"
(Source: en.hubei.gov.cn)
