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The "Red Boat" on Nanhu Lake in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, has become a major tourist attraction. [Photo by Huang Zongzhi/XINHUA]

Spirit lives on

That Red Boat spirit has strongly influenced the development of Zhejiang, an economic powerhouse that has evolved into a cradle of scientific and technological innovation over the past decade.

In 2003, Jiaxing Science City, a platform for innovation, was established to help upgrade local industry.

Home to the Yangtze Delta Region Institute of Tsinghua University, the Zhejiang Institute of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Shanghai University (Zhejiang-Jiaxing) Emerging Industries Institute, it has successfully explored a new way to leverage the strengths of academic agencies.

Given the favorable conditions and availability of talent, a number of enterprises have set up in the city, according to Wang Liting, director of the science city's exhibition hall.

Last year, it generated an output of 44.5 billion yuan ($6.32 billion), a year-on-year increase of 21 percent. Its fiscal revenue reached 2.02 billion yuan, up 17.8 percent year-on-year.

Zhejiang also hopes to further develop internationally competitive high-tech industries by supporting science and technology services, new-generation information technology and high-end equipment manufacturing and biotechnology.

"Innovation has become the lifeline of all businesses in Jiaxing," said Zhu Jinsong, general manager of Jiaxipera, a leading manufacturer of refrigerator compressors.

His company is an international supplier and has partnerships with some of the world's biggest refrigerator manufacturers including Siemens, Bosch and Haier.

Jiaxipera is a leader in the development of small and variable-frequency compressors helping China to become a research and development hub for refrigerator compressor manufacturing.