Hong Kong: First cross-boundary organ donation goes to HK baby

A four-month-old Hong Kong girl with a heart defect has received a heart donated by an infant from the Chinese mainland, marking the first cross-boundary organ donation between the two places.

The girl, who suffered from severe heart failure, needed an urgent transplant to survive, but was unable to find a suitable local donor. Authorities on the mainland and in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region arranged to have the heart of a child who died in an accident sent to the SAR on Dec 16. The organ transplant was successfully performed at Hong Kong Children’s Hospital.  

Macao: Double overseas tourists with 100b patacas projects

The Macao Special Administrative Region government signed new contracts with the city’s six casino operators on Dec 16 to renew their gambling licenses. The contracts, which will come into effect on Jan 1, allow the six companies to operate casinos for the next 10 years.

The six companies have committed to pouring more than 100 billion patacas ($12.4 billion) into nongaming projects, such as theme parks and artistic performances, in a bid to promote diversified development of the local economy. Macao officials hope that with these investments, the number of overseas visitors could at least double after a decade.

Guangzhou: Nansha opens nation’s first port for deep-water surveys

China’s first port dedicated to harboring deep-water scientific research vessels opened in Guangzhou’s Nansha district on Dec 18. 

After two years of construction, the port’s completion signifies the nation now has a vital support facility for ocean scientific research and marine technology innovation.

The 12,000-square-meter port, managed by Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey, has five berths for docking survey vessels. The port was built to international standards, offering services in supply replenishment, marine traffic control and ship maintenance.

Shenzhen: Overseas returnees see future in Greater Bay Area 

About 83 percent of overseas returnees would choose the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to start businesses, according to a white paper just released.

A survey published by Shenzhen-based talent services provider Hex Cubes on Dec 17 collected hundreds of questionnaires from returnees who have already set up businesses in Shenzhen and those who have yet to return home.

About 52 percent of the enterprises or startups founded by overseas returnees have been offered supportive, preferential government policies.

Zhuhai: City hosts region’s first service trade conference

The 2022 Greater Bay Area Service Trade Conference kicked off at the Zhuhai International Convention and Exhibition Center on Dec 22. The three-day conference — the first of its kind held in the Greater Bay Area — adopts a mixed form of exhibitions, forums and “matchmaking” meetings to reveal the full development of service trade in the Greater Bay Area.

The event attracted over 400 companies from Chinese mainland. About 5,000 participants and guests from prominent enterprises, including Tencent, China Telecom and iFlytek, have registered to attend.

A 25,000-square-meter exhibition area has been set up at the conference site, focusing on the latest development features of various industries, spanning digital trade, digital exhibitions, cross-border e-commerce and art auctions, as well as housekeeping and catering services.

Foshan: Residents able to pay for families’ medical insurance

From Dec 17, Foshan citizens can use the funds from their personal medical insurance accounts to pay medical insurance premiums for their spouses, parents and children online.

The step is an innovative and convenient measure launched by the city’s tax authorities to accelerate the use of medical insurance personal accounts for family mutual aid.

According to the authorities, using medical insurance personal accounts for family members’ insurance is conducive to revitalizing personal account funds, and providing citizens with a more convenient way to pay for medical insurance and more payment channels. The tax department will further strengthen publicity and guidance to help more citizens understand and enjoy a series of convenient measures. 

Huizhou: Capchem to build Daya Bay petrochemical zone

Shenzhen Capchem Technology will invest up to 1.2 billion yuan in the fourth-phase of construction of the Daya Bay Petrochemical Zone in Huizhou.

The chemicals company will fund the establishment of the electrical chemicals plant through wholly owned subsidiary, Huizhou Zhoubang Chemical. The project is aimed at meeting the rapid development needs of the new-energy vehicle and semiconductor industries, as well as downstream customers, in expanding their capacity. Construction is expected to take two years.

Dongguan: City aims high on digital economy for next 3 years

Dongguan aims to evolve into a world-renowned digital economy city by 2025, with core industries in the field exceeding 1.3 trillion yuan, according to the city’s newly-released blueprint to boost development of the digital economy from 2022 to 2025.

Based on the plan, Dongguan will make breakthroughs in resolving bottlenecks in the production of chips and high-speed optoelectronic devices, LED displays and distributed operating systems. The city will also strive to build at least two national-level digital economy industrial parks by 2025 and develop Songshan Lake Science City into a world-class science and technology infrastructure.

Zhongshan: Notarization services to meet  firms’ growing needs

According to official statistics, the city’s notary institutions handled 4,179 notarization applications in the first 11 months of this year, involving 1,187 enterprises to cope with the growing needs of companies for notarization services.

Zhongshan’s notary institutions will set up a notary enterprise service team next year. They will take the initiative to connect with enterprises, and provide them a package of notarization services by formulating personalized and “one-to-one” notarization legal service plans.

Notary institutions will also explore offering services to the finance industry, focusing on fund supervision services.

Jiangmen: Enterprises pay efforts to explore overseas markets

Jiangmen arranged for 67 enterprises to participate in the 13th China-UAE Trade Expo, which was held in Dubai from Dec 19 to 21.

The number of participants reached a three-year high as local businesses intensified their efforts to tap overseas markets and seek new orders to revive their operations.

The Jiangmen government unveiled a host of measures to help these companies. Exhibitors taking chartered flights could receive 50 percent in subsidies for air tickets, and apply for national, provincial and municipal-level funds. They could receive up to 50,000 yuan in financial support for each exhibition booth.

Zhaoqing: Construction starts on new industrial park

Zhaoqing has begun building a new industrial park for manufacturing new energy-intelligent automobiles.

The park is located in the High-tech Industrial Development Zone, with an area of 45 square kilometers. The local government plans to introduce more than 80 related enterprises to the park, and build Zhaoqing into a first-class new-energy vehicle production base and energy-storage battery manufacturing base in the country.

Zhaoqing High-tech Zone now has 36 enterprises manufacturing new-energy intelligent vehicles, with the annual revenue of major businesses exceeding 20 million yuan. The zone has been identified as an innovative industrial cluster by the Ministry of Science and Technology.