Varanasi News Magazine

Last year, the General Office of Shandong Provincial People’s Government issued the Action Plan for Shandong Province to Further Implement the Regional Coordinated Development Strategy and Deeply Integrate with the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region and the Yangtze River Delta (2025–2027). The document clearly lays out major regional strategies for Shandong to deepen its alignment with the Yangtze River Delta, stressing that “all regions of Shandong are participants, and no one is a bystander”. This has ushered in a brand-new chapter of cross-regional coordinated development featuring in-depth ties between Shandong and the Yangtze River Delta.

From July 28 to 31, the 2026 First “Youth Take the Lead to Forge New Horizons” Integrated Media Reporting Tour headed for Nanjing, Yangzhou and Changzhou in Jiangsu Province. Journalists from central and provincial mainstream media as well as online youth opinion leaders conducted in-depth field research, on-site interviews and documentary shooting at major projects and R&D production lines. Through written reports and footage, they recorded the youthful commitment of young professionals from Shandong, who break geographical boundaries to tap cross-regional resources, expand external cooperation and fuel high-quality economic development of Shandong Province.

Rooted in the Yangtze River Delta, Opening a New Arena for Cross-Regional Endeavors

In Nanjing, Shandong Hi-Speed Group has developed a landmark EOD (Ecological Environment-Oriented Development) industrial park worth 10 billion yuan, representing a key project of Shandong enterprises to deepen their layout in the Yangtze River Delta’s eco-industry sector. With a total investment of 4.59 billion yuan, the project adopts the F+EPC+ (Investment + Engineering, Procurement and Construction + Operation) model over a 25-year cooperation period, including a 5-year construction phase and a 20-year operation phase. It focuses on three high-value-added industries: new materials manufacturing, next-generation information technology and high-end equipment manufacturing, aiming to hit an industrial output scale of 10 billion yuan by 2030.

Wang Shuai, a post-90s cadre, started out as a frontline construction technician with Shandong Road and Bridge Group and now serves as Member of the Party Branch Committee and Deputy General Manager of Nanjing Jiangnan Circular Economy Investment and Development Co., Ltd. He was dispatched to Nanjing to take charge of the project in June 2025. “In the past, we only engaged in road and building construction. Now we manage the whole industrial chain ranging from ecological governance and industrial introduction to park operation,” Wang said. In his view, the Yangtze River Delta stands at the forefront of national ecological development and industrial upgrading, boasting mature development concepts, operational models and industrial resources. For Shandong enterprises, expanding business to the delta not only enables participation in the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, but also creates a platform for external learning and exchange.

The team’s remarkable efficiency embodies their youthful sense of responsibility. With an average age of just over 30, the young team streamlined administrative procedures: they completed all planning formalities for the first development plot in merely 45 days, cutting the standard approval cycle in half. During the 2026 Spring Festival, this project was the only ongoing construction site in Jiangning District, Nanjing that kept working through the holiday, with the first plot topping out 20 days ahead of schedule.

While delivering tangible progress on site, the team maintains a long-term vision. “We will systematize all on-site practical experience to form a standardized system covering early-stage planning and design, financing innovation, investment promotion and park operation, turning project achievements into core driving forces for the transformation and upgrading of Shandong enterprises,” Wang Shuai noted.

At Zijinshan Laboratories, young researchers concentrate on screens amid surging data streams. More than 800 kilometers away in Jinan, the world’s first deterministic network, stretching over 15,800 kilometers and covering all 16 prefecture-level cities of Shandong, operates at full capacity.

Shandong Future Network Group has established a collaborative framework of “one institute, one enterprise and one fund” in partnership with Zijinshan Laboratories. Its core R&D team, mainly composed of post-80s and post-90s staff, takes the lead in piloting deterministic networks, a key industrial layout under the 14th Five-Year Plan.

“What drives our team forward is our commitment to the mission of our times, the strong momentum brought by strategic integration, and our vision of building a unified national future network,” said Xu Xiaochuan, Deputy General Manager of Shandong Future Network Group. He pointed out that there are no shortcuts to core technological breakthroughs, and young researchers must break geographical barriers to carry out coordinated R&D across regions. “Modernization cannot be achieved without breakthroughs in internet technology—and we are pressing ahead on this path,” his words reflect the mission and perseverance of Shandong’s sci-tech youth team.

Anchoring Industrial Tracks, Building a Bridge for Coordinated Innovation Between Shandong and Jiangsu

The presence of young Shandong professionals in the Yangtze River Delta is far more than simple outward expansion. Rooted in comparative strengths of both regions, they precisely fill gaps in industrial chains, realize two-way resource exchange and industrial complementarity, and build a solid collaborative bridge linking Shandong and Jiangsu.

Enter the production workshop of Weichai Power Yangchai Co., Ltd. under Shandong Heavy Industry Group, where robotic arms move precisely and young technicians monitor parameters to guarantee product accuracy. The R&D Youth Assault Team, founded in 2022, has 18 core members, 67% of whom are young people. It has won honors including the “May Fourth Red Youth League Branch of Jiangsu Province” and “Benchmark Youth Assault Team of Yangzhou Economic Development Zone”, acting as a core R&D force for Weichai to tap the light-duty power market in East China.

Stationed in Yangzhou, the team gains proximity to East China’s cutting-edge market and industrial chain resources, enabling quick responses to frontline demands and filling the Group’s gaps in small-bore power products to complete its full-spectrum power layout. As a coordinator connecting Shandong and Jiangsu industries, the team inherits core technologies from Shandong headquarters and leverages sci-tech resources in the Yangtze River Delta for iterative upgrades, creating a two-way channel of “technology output – local manufacturing – market feedback”.

“Working far away from home brings concerns, yet what matters most is a strong sense of mission,” shared Xin Xiling, a core R&D member. “R&D cannot be carried out behind closed doors. The Yangtze River Delta boasts dynamic sci-tech resources and forward-looking market demands. Young professionals from Shandong take root here to extend the industrial roots of Shandong manufacturing to new ground, absorb external resources and achieve self-improvement—this is an opportunity granted by the times.” The team plans to build joint innovation platforms with universities and research institutes across the Yangtze River Delta to tackle core electronic control components, develop differentiated products for nationwide rollout, and feed advanced technologies and collaborative experience back to Shandong to upgrade local industrial chains.

At Weichai Yaxing Bus, young Shandong professionals explore domestic and overseas markets to polish the brand image of Shandong enterprises. Yang Fan, General Manager of the Commonwealth Region Division of Yaxing’s Overseas Marketing Branch, switched from chassis designer to marketing specialist and delivered outstanding overseas performance. In 2019, he led the Middle East team to secure an order for 900 school buses, setting a record for the largest single-year overseas order of Chinese bus brands. In 2025, sales of his Commonwealth Division exceeded 500 units, a year-on-year increase of 68%, continuously expanding the global footprint of Shandong’s automobile manufacturers.

Meanwhile, a youth R&D team with an average age of 31 specializes in the R&D and manufacturing of diesel generator silencer boxes. Established in early 2025 as a 5-person task force, it has grown into a 20-member professional R&D team capable of customized design for standard and non-standard silencer boxes, with 45 Group projects delivered to date. To address common industrial problems such as assembly and welding deviations, the team adopts 3D modeling and standardized modular design to eliminate hidden production risks at the design stage, firmly safeguarding product quality.

“Young technicians must not stop at imitation; we need bold innovation, rigorous refinement and cross-industry collaboration,” said Zhai Qingwei, Director of the Silencer Box Design Office. Supported by robust R&D strength and reliable product quality, the team’s valid orders last until September, with intended orders extending to November. A variety of silencer box products have been exported to the Americas, Southeast Asia and Africa.

Translating Frontier Breakthroughs into Impetus for Shandong’s Development

From ecological industrial parks and sci-tech laboratories to high-end manufacturing workshops and new energy infrastructure sites, every breakthrough and achievement made by young Shandong professionals in the Yangtze River Delta serves one ultimate goal: feeding back local development and empowering high-quality growth in Shandong.

In Changzhou, Jiangsu, the world’s largest salt cavern compressed air energy storage power station, contracted by PowerChina Shandong No.1 Engineering Co., Ltd., stands towering. The project plans two sets of 350 MW non-supplementary combustion energy storage units with 100% domestically manufactured core components, generating over 900 million kWh of electricity annually—enough to meet the daily power demand of a medium-sized city.

Zhang Bin, Party Branch Secretary and Deputy Manager born in 1989, leads a youth team with an average age under 35 together with project management staff. The team has overcome three major challenges: no prior engineering precedents, no mature experience and no established operation models.

Faced with the difficulty of installing 40 sets of 100-ton heat exchangers in narrow, compact spaces, the team innovatively combined BIM simulation, drone aerial photography and AI deduction, setting an industry record of safely hoisting 5 heat exchangers in a single day. It has also solved installation bottlenecks for multi-stage compressors and large-capacity turbine generators, steadily advancing the grid connection schedule.

According to Zhang Bin, multiple technical outcomes from the Jintan project have been applied to the Feicheng energy storage project, while the enterprise has launched more than 10 energy storage projects in Jinan, Zibo and Heze. “This embodies the mission of young Shandong professionals to serve national strategic priorities, while cultivating talent reserves and expanding national market space for Shandong’s new energy storage industry,” he explained.

In the high-end power equipment manufacturing sector, youth teams at Changzhou Dongzhi Transformer Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Shandong Electrical Engineering & Equipment Group, excel in segmented industrial tracks to develop world-leading transformer products. The enterprise has built a comprehensive talent cultivation system featuring “mentor-mentor pairing, on-the-job training, tackling key projects and fostering growth”. Young backbones are assigned to major projects and frontline markets to gain practical experience.

This training system has cultivated a cohort of outstanding post-90s and post-00s technical backbones. Pan Xi, an electrical engineer, finished all electronic calculation designs for the Philippine project within two weeks amid tight deadlines. He also participated in the Greek million-kilowatt power plant project, which passed EU CE certification and opened access to high-end European markets. Zhang Xinyue, a young designer, independently undertakes structural design for 110kV transformers and took part in R&D projects that have reached internationally advanced levels. The advanced manufacturing experience and overseas service standards accumulated by the youth team in the Yangtze River Delta are continuously fed back to drive iterative upgrading of Shandong’s power equipment industry.

Winds rise over the Yangtze River Delta, and development momentum flows back to Qilu Land. From construction blueprints and laboratories to manufacturing workshops, domestic markets and global frontlines, every endeavor undertaken by young Shandong professionals in the Yangtze River Delta injects fresh momentum into Shandong’s high-quality development. As Wang Shuai put it: “Going out is not leaving Shandong — it is to achieve better development for Shandong.”

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