CITIC PACIFIC PROPERTIES is CITIC Group's main platform for real estate development, operation and finance. Mr. Wu from its Cost Contract Department welcomed teachers and students from the Economics and Management School (EMS) of Wuhan University (WHU) for a visit on December 20th, 2023. Associate Professor ZHANG Fen and Associate Professor FANG Yingfeng, together with students from International Business Program, visited CITIC PACIFIC PROPERTIES in Jiang'an District of Wuhan city.

Jiang'an District in Wuhan City has been actively promoting industrial transformation and upgrading modern service industries development. To promote the economic development, Wuhan city has been building an international headquarters-type Hankou Riverside International Business District to host headquarters of the world's top 500 companies. The CITIC, as a large-scale comprehensive multinational enterprise group with both finance and industry, is leading the CITIC PACIFIC Riverside Financial City project to attract more financial institutions to Wuhan. Ms. Xu from the Sales Department of CITIC PACIFIC PROPERTIES introduced the planning of the Financial City project to teachers and students from the International Business Program. The project is an international financial city complex, located at the core of Hankou Riverside International Business District in Wuhan. With the design concept as "internationalization, modernization, and ecology" , the project planning covers 6 headquarters office buildings, as well as high-end residences, apartments, urban cultural centers and schools.

The construction site engineer of the Hankou Riverside International Business District also met with visitors from International Business Program of Wuhan University, and introduced that the construction of an international business district required a tremendous amount of work. The concept plan of Hankou Riverside International Business District was released in 2012, and the infrastructure construction has been started for more than 6 years to supply land for already 5 phases of the infrastructure construction, but it will take another 10 years more to complete. By now, many companies, including Taikang Financial Center, Wuhan Chow Tai Fook Financial Center, and New Hope Central China Headquarters, have successfully settled in the Hankou Riverside International Business District, and more global top companies are expected to join.

The construction of the the Hankou Riverside International Business District has integrated the old and the new, paying attention to city landscape protection and historical inheritance, so that the old city can be reborn in the modern economic development. Hankou has a rich historical heritage, with many cultural relics and historical buildings. The Jiang'an district is the cradle of workers revolution in old China and accommodated heroes admired by citizens in Wuhan histroy. LIN Xiangqian, the head of the Chinese workers movement in Jiang’an District, led the Great Strike of local workers on February 7th, 1923 and sacrificed his own life to the revolution of workers force for the birth of a new China. The historical site of LIN Xiangqian's martyrdom, the old Jiang'an Station, is located in the business district planning. The site has been renovated and included in the design of a street park.

Students from International Business Program of Wuhan University had witnessed the birth of an international business district out of a city with long history, and had better understood the purpose, process and significance of an international business district both to companies and the society. Hankou Riverside International Business District demonstrated a business model of the urban planning with particular layout of history and culture in Wuhan, a megacity in central China. The company visit has also deepened the understanding of international business and broadened future employment prospects for students from International Business Program of Wuhan University.

Edited by JIANG Jiahui，ZHANG Fen,Reviewed by LIU Cheng，GUO Lin