Liuyang, the hometown of fireworks: income from fireworks was exported overseas a hundred years ago, with an annual output value of hundreds of billions.

On October 1st and 4th, there were two fireworks displays in Orange Island, Changsha, which were the last two fireworks displays in Orange Island this year. This activity originally came from the weekend fireworks in Orange Island. Since August 28th, 2010, there will be gorgeous fireworks over Orange Island every Saturday night. These fireworks and discharge technologies are provided by companies in Liuyang, Hunan, the hometown of fireworks in China. (Text /AI Finance and Economics Intern Jiang Wenhua, Editor/Yang Shufang)
Liuyang is located on the border of Hunan and Jiangxi, in the northeast of Hunan Province, and is managed by Changsha City. In 2016, Liuyang achieved a GDP of 121.82 billion yuan, and the county economy and basic competitiveness jumped to the 19th place among the top 100 counties in China. When it comes to Liuyang, most people will think of the lyrics in Liuyang River: "Liuyang River, which bends through nine bends, reaches Xiangjiang River by 50-mile waterway"; Some people will think that this is the hometown of Tan Sitong and Wang Zhen; Others remembered that the words "Liuyang Fireworks" were printed on the fireworks wrapping paper bought during the Spring Festival.
Mashi Old Street in Mashi Village is the dividing line between Jiangxi Province and Hunan Province. One side of the street belongs to Jiangxi Province and the other side is Hunan Province. The history of fireworks in Liuyang can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty. In the fourth year of Tang Wude (AD 621), Li Yi, the founder of fireworks, was born in Mashi Village at the border of Hunan and Jiangxi. This village belongs to Fuli Town, Liling City, Hunan Province, with Shangli County, Pingxiang City, Jiangxi Province in the east and Jingang Town, Liuyang City in the north. Due to disasters and epidemics for years, Li Yi filled a small bamboo tube with nitrate, led it to ignite, and dispersed the miasma in Shan Lan with smoke, thus reducing the epidemic of plague. Soon, firecrackers filled with small bamboo tubes became popular.
Later, Li Yi passed on the firecracker production technology to his neighbors, so that they could get rid of the dilemma of "relying on the weather to eat". Because of this, Li Yi was regarded as the founder of fireworks. In the third year of Hongwu in Ming Taizu (AD 1370), the local people designated Li Yi’s birthday and April 18th of the lunar calendar as the Fireworks Festival. At present, the main producing areas of fireworks, such as Liuyang and Liling in Hunan, Shangli and Wanzai in Jiangxi, have all built Li’s ancestral temples.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, fireworks for entertainment appeared and became popular. Emperor Yangdi of Sui Dynasty has a poem: "There are thousands of lights on the trees, and seven flowers bloom." In the Song Dynasty, there was Xin Qiji’s "Thousands of trees bloom in the east wind night, and the stars are like rain". Liuyang, adjacent to Li Yi’s hometown, the production of fireworks reached its peak in the Northern Song Dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, Liuyang fireworks became a tribute to the capital, and they were exported to East Asia, South Asia, Europe and America from 1875.
In 1980s and 1990s, with the re-recognition of the private economy, large and small fireworks factories began to spread in every corner of Liuyang. Most of these fireworks factories are family-based, and the workshops are just a few earth houses. Outside the earth house, there is a metal ball standing. Everyone needs to hold the metal ball to eliminate static electricity before entering the fireworks factory. In addition, no matter who wears clothes that are easy to generate static electricity, it is forbidden to enter.
1986年,浏阳花炮在摩纳哥第21届国际焰火大赛中获得金奖。这也是中国首次在国际烟花节上获得大奖。九十年代,伴随着浏阳撤县建市,花炮出口创税总额达到全市90%以上。1995年,浏阳市被国家授予“中国烟花之乡”称号。但烟花之乡一直存在散、乱、差、科技含量低等问题。此外,爆炸事故也时有发生。1998年,浏阳推进花炮产业升级,取缔了近万家非法生产的手工作坊,并制订花炮企业强制性安全生产标准。
到了2002年,浏阳烟花进入南美市场。六年后(2008年),浏阳获得北京奥运会开闭幕式焰火燃放权。在20多分钟时间里,共有12万发礼花绽放,浏阳烟花占到了整个燃放量的70%左右。奥运会开幕式的焰火表演上,由浏阳制造的29个特效烟花“脚印”,沿着北京的中轴线,从永定门、前门、天安门、故宫、鼓楼一步步走向奥运会主会场,代表奥运会从发源地雅典一步一步走到中国。
In 2010, Liuyang Fireworks Industry Cluster achieved an output value of 12.46 billion yuan and a tax revenue of 972 million yuan. In 2016, Liuyang Fireworks have been exported to more than 100 countries and regions, with a total export volume of 2.76 billion yuan, accounting for 60% of the total national export volume. However, with people paying more and more attention to environmental protection in recent years, many cities have successively issued "prohibition orders" for fireworks. Hunan plans to reduce more than 1,000 fireworks enterprises in 2017. Among them, only Liuyang will be reduced by more than 100.
Fireworks enterprises in Liuyang are divided into one, two and three categories. One type of enterprises can enjoy generous policy and financial support, followed by the second type, and the third type will be included in the key supervision and rectification targets. Many enterprises rebuild their factories, but they don’t "upgrade" easily, because upgrading means more investment, and some family enterprises are often overwhelmed. The new situation makes the future of Liuyang fireworks enterprises full of uncertainty. Just like the fireworks in Orange Island, considering the environment and other factors, the number of fireworks is decreasing year by year. How many times can it be set off next year is still unknown.
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[A comprehensive view of the economic situation in the middle of the year] How to realize the stable and healthy development of the property market

  Since the beginning of this year, affected by many factors, the real estate market in some cities has warmed up, and some cities have shown signs of overheating. Some cities have increased the regulation and supervision of the real estate market due to the city’s policy and precise regulation.

  Experts believe that in the second half of the year, we should continue to adhere to the positioning of "houses are used for living, not for speculation", not regard real estate as a short-term means to stimulate the economy, fully implement the long-term mechanism of stabilizing land prices, housing prices and expectations, and promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market. What are the problems in the real estate market at present? What areas should the real estate market develop steadily and healthily? In response to these problems, the Economic Daily reporter interviewed relevant experts.

  Continuously standardize market order

  The long-term mechanism of real estate regulation is constantly developing and improving. Liu Hongyu, director of Tsinghua University Real Estate Research Institute, believes that the policy toolbox of real estate market regulation will be enriched continuously. The regulation and control of the real estate market will comprehensively use a series of means such as land, finance, administrative means, finance and taxation to form a joint force and play a role, and continue to adhere to the positioning of "housing and not speculating".

  Regulation by administrative means is still an important link to promote the stable and healthy development of the real estate market. In Liu Hongyu’s view, the main responsibility of local governments in real estate regulation should still be further developed. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said that cities with poor regulation and control and large market fluctuations should be resolutely held accountable.

  Yu Xiaofen, vice president of Zhejiang University of Technology, believes that in addition to implementing the main responsibility of the city government, it is also necessary to play the role of supervision and supervision by the provincial government. There are many prefecture-level cities and county-level cities in China. It is not enough to rely solely on the supervision and monitoring of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. The role of provincial governments should also be brought into play. For example, Zhejiang Province has established a monitoring system for the prices of new commercial housing and second-hand housing in prefecture-level cities and county-level cities, which has played a good role in housing price monitoring.

  In terms of land supply, we will speed up the improvement of the working mechanism of "stabilizing land prices", optimize the rules of land auction, and establish an effective review system for enterprises’ land purchase funds. In this regard, Wang Ruimin, an associate researcher at the Institute of Market Economy of the State Council Development Research Center, believes that the land supply in hot cities, especially the proportion of residential land supply, should be increased to ease the contradiction between supply and demand and guide residents’ expectations. Wang Ruimin suggested that in terms of housing supply structure, we should stick to ordinary commercial housing, form commodity housing with different prices and levels, and meet the housing needs of most groups through market-oriented methods. For cities with insufficient land resources, such as Shenzhen, we can promote the urbanization of housing-related public services in neighboring areas through interconnection with infrastructure in neighboring areas to meet the needs of citizens.

  At the same time, relevant departments will continue to regulate the order of the real estate market, effectively manage intermediaries and other institutions, and resolutely investigate and deal with market chaos. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development recently said that it will seriously investigate and deal with illegal acts in real estate development, intermediary, property and leasing, purify the market environment and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the people.

  Strictly investigate the illegal entry of credit funds into the market

  The illegal entry of credit funds into the property market has become an important factor for the excessive rise in housing prices and will also gather financial risks. Strengthening the financial management of real estate has become a prominent feature of China’s real estate market regulation. In the second half of the year, real estate regulation will firmly grasp the key of real estate finance.

  For real estate financial management, Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of Zhaolian Finance and part-time researcher of Fudan University Financial Research Institute, believes that to realize the stable and healthy development of the real estate market, finance needs to be clearly positioned, do something different and play its due role appropriately. Financial institutions should strictly implement the regulation policies of the real estate market, especially fully implement the centralized management of real estate loans and the "three lines and four files" financing management requirements of real estate enterprises, curb the blind expansion of real estate enterprises, reduce excessive dependence on financial leverage, and further stabilize the expectations of the real estate market. In the specific work, we should strictly control the risk, comprehensively review the flow of credit funds, and prevent funds from illegally flowing into the real estate market. For real estate enterprises, strengthen the examination and do not provide financing support for unqualified real estate development projects; Do not provide channels or credit guarantees for projects that violate the policies of the real estate industry. For individual users, the operating loans and consumer loans issued need customers to provide proof of use, and strictly prevent the transfer of funds to the real estate market through consumer loans, operating loans, credit card overdrafts, etc.

  At the same time, Dong Ximiao suggested that financial institutions should further implement the principle of "housing without speculation" and increase support and services for the housing rental market. First, we can cooperate with real estate enterprises to turn the houses for sale into long-term rental sources by signing a lease right transfer agreement, and issue rental loans to tenants who meet the corresponding conditions. Second, it can cooperate with local governments to provide corresponding financial innovative products and services in all aspects of housing rental platform transaction matching and credit evaluation. Third, customers can be provided with financing support by credit card installment, and the handling fee is lower than the service fee charged by the third-party rental platform, and there is no need to pay liquidated damages for early repayment. Commercial banks, in particular, can accelerate their entry into the housing rental market, which can not only promote the development of housing rental finance in the direction of scale and specialization, but also facilitate the formation of a long-term mechanism for the stable and healthy development of the real estate market.

  Accelerate the development of affordable rental housing.

  The development of affordable rental housing is conducive to the steady and healthy development of the real estate market. The local government formulates and announces the construction plan of affordable rental housing and expands the supply of affordable rental housing, which can continuously optimize the urban housing supply structure and provide channels for new citizens, young people and other groups to solve the housing difficulties through leasing; It can stabilize market expectations, reasonably release the demand for house purchase, ease the pressure of rising house prices, and provide strong support for the stable and healthy development of the real estate market.

  On July 22nd, the State Council held a meeting to emphasize that the development of affordable rental housing is the key task of housing construction in the 14th Five-Year Plan. It is necessary to grasp the policy focus of affordable rental housing, clarify the target of protection, focus on housing security for new citizens and young people, and give priority to the housing difficulties of new citizens engaged in basic public services. Adhere to the "basic protection", focus on small units, and pay attention to achieving "job-residence balance". According to the principle of "affordability and sustainability", establish a scientific rent pricing mechanism. According to local conditions, focusing on the net inflow of population into cities, we will implement the main responsibility of cities and accelerate the development of affordable rental housing.

  According to the relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, before the end of October this year, the urban people’s government should determine the objectives and policies and measures for the construction of affordable rental housing in the 14 th Five-Year Plan, formulate an annual construction plan, and announce it to the public. In big cities with many new citizens and young people, high housing prices or rising pressure, during the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the proportion of new affordable rental housing in the total supply of new housing should strive to reach more than 30%.

  Regarding the development of affordable rental housing, Yan Rong, president of Shanghai Real Estate Research Institute, believes that local governments should take the initiative to do a good job in housing security for new citizens and young people, and give priority to the people with housing difficulties who are engaged in basic public services among new citizens. In terms of strategy, we should adjust measures to local conditions. The city government can make a real assessment of the housing development in this city, understand and master the real demand of affordable rental housing, and insist on proceeding from reality and adhering to goal orientation and problem orientation. It is necessary to coordinate the departments of land, finance, taxation, finance and other professional institutions such as water and electricity to form a sustainable development mechanism to promote affordable rental housing. (Economic Daily-China Economic Net reporter Yu Shu)