The services industry has seen rapid development in recent years and has played a bigger role in the county’s economy, with added value output of 16 billion yuan in 2011, or 1.3 times the 2007 amount, for an annual growth of 23 percent for the period.

And, traditional services in wholesale and retail, real estates, transportation, logistics, storage, post, accommodations, and catering contributed 37.2 percent of the county’s total output, while modern services, such as finance, commerce, and culture, brought in 62.8 percent.

As large supermarkets and the auto and auto parts businesses have matured, trade and services have developed, with total consumer goods bringing in 18.4 billion yuan, in 2011, for a 20-percent year-on-year increase.

The city of Changsha’s Xingsha district has had the biggest development potential and thanks to the increased need for logistics and infrastructure, has seen 40-percent annual growth over the last two years.

By 2015, services are expected to increase their proportion of total output to more than 28 percent, with 35 billion yuan in consumer goods sales, for an annual growth of 17.4 percent.

Enterprises blossom with county support

Changsha Green Apple, set up in 1991, has developed as a digital products leader, with a goal of establishing a global base of the digital industry, with a software service outsourcing park built at a cost of 1 billion yuan, in 2013.

Meanwhile, the Hunan Hengguang Group, founded in 1999 as a major real estate business, gradually expanded into auto sale and services, logistics, department stores and hotels. Its Central South Auto Market, opened in 2003, deals with new and used cars, auto parts and hardware, and had sales of 19.8 billion yuan, in 2011.

The Great Dreams Cartoon Group, set up in 2004, worked with the US’s Intel Corp, the following year, in establishing a computer animation technology center, the first of its kind in the world. The group led the country in producing cartoons and is a major base of original cartoons and was named a Key National Cartoon Company” and “Best Cartoon Company” by the Culture Ministry and State Radio, Film and TV Administration.

It established the Hunan Happy Taobao Culture Communications Co, a partnership of Hunan Satellite TV (HNTV) and Taobao.com, an online shopping website, in 2010, to combine TV and the Internet, using Hunan’s consumer market.

Industrial development thanks to county planning

The planning calls for the following: a central modern service sector with the Xianglong Electronic Innovation Industry Zone, Songyahu Comprehensive Development Project, Industry and Urban Integration Zone, Xingsha Business District, Xinaglong Economic Area, Science and Technology Research Center, Quantang Xingsha Commerce Center, and Urban and Rural Service Center; a southern leisure and innovation sector with a Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan SCBD, Huangxing markets, Changsha Auto Industrial Park, Liuyang River Eco-tourism Center, Changsha Auto Town, and a Urban and Rural Service Center; and a northern agricultural service sector with an airport bonded zone, international service outsourcing industrial park, two life service centers, an international outsourcing center, and bonded zone service center.

The county will use the three sectors to attract investment, especially Xingsha, Muyun, Huanghua Airport, Wuhan-Guangdong high-speed rail, Ansha logistics, Gansha Auto, and Tiaoma and Songyahu. Changsha hopes to develop into a modern provincial trade center and commerce center and for central China and to improve rural commerce, services, science and technology, entertainment and transportation.