Dr. Douglas (R), an official with the UN Habitat, presents the certificate of "the 2008 Demonstration Prize for the UN Global Best Liveable Area Award" to He Bing, a 30-year-old worker from Tiexi District on December 7th, 2008. He Bing represents the 1.14 million people living in Tiexi. [Photo: nen.com.cn]

Shenyang's Tiexi District, an old industrial base located in northeast China's Liaoning Province, has made great efforts to change its image from a heavily-polluted area to a liveable habitat.

Its hard work has won acknowledgement from the UN Habitat -- the United Nations agency for human settlements. On December 7th, the Tiexi District received the 2008 Demonstration Prize for the UN Global Best Liveable Area Award, which was set up in 1989.

Before China started its reform and opening-up drive in 1978, the country had two major industrial bases, one was in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning Province, and the other was in Shanghai.

However, in the late 1990s, Shenyang fell upon hard times. Among the 99 large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises located in that city, 90 were located in Tiexi District. Over 130 thousand workers were laid off there when 90 percent of those enterprises ceased production because of outdated machines and old-fashioned management. The people had to live in crowded slums in the northern part of Tiexi District while the factory buildings crowded around the southern part. All they had in that district were chimneys, dust and noise.

Since 2002, the local government has been determined to move factories out of Tiexi District as part of efforts to inject vitality into the old industrial base. 7 billion Yuan has so far been invested into the relocation project which covers 214 industrial enterprises.

A total of 1.7 million trees have also been planted across that district in order to improve the environment. All the slums there were pulled down and within five years about 23 thousand households were moved into new apartments.

Now, what they have is more than newly-built buildings, blue sky and green trees; they also have pride and confidence.

Before the rebuilding began in 2002, "workers living in Tiexi District were desperate since they had no future, they had no idea about what to do," said Wang Ying, the vice mayor of Shenyang.

Commerce and service industries were gradually introduced into Tiexi so as to create jobs and improve the living standards of laid-off workers. In addition, a comprehensive social security system has been set up, under which employers can feel more secure, even if they lose their jobs, added Wang.

Experts say that actually, how to rejuvenate old industrial bases is an international problem faced by many countries. For instance, the Ruhr Area of Germany has taken decades to transform itself. Tiexi's successful transition sets a good example for many other cities and that's why China refers to it as a prime example of how old industrial bases can be revitalized.