Spring Festival comes on Feb. 1 this year. Liu Sheng, secretary of the Luohu District Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Fan Defan, head of the Luohu district government, jointly released a message on Jan. 27 to local residents wishing them a happy New Year.

The following are excerpts of their congratulatory message:

As the Year of the Tiger approaches, Shenzhen is brimming with joy and peace as it returns to a low-risk area on the COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control map.

On the occasion of bidding farewell to the old year and ushering in the new, on behalf of the CPC Luohu District Committee and the People's Government of Luohu District, we would like to pay our highest tribute and extend the most sincere blessings to those who have been fighting the epidemic day and night, to the people of the entire district, and all the friends from all walks of life who care about and support the economic and social development of Luohu.

2021 was a year of great joy for the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party and also the beginning year for Luohu to strive to build a pioneer urban area of socialist modernization and sustainable development. We have carried out in-depth study and education of the Party's history, drawing strength from the Party's centenary history, and made solid progress in the campaign of "doing practical things for the people," accomplishing more than 100 practical things for the improvement of people's livelihoods.

2021 was a year of vigorous development for Luohu. Adhering to the new development philosophy, the district’s gross domestic product exceeded 250 billion yuan ($39.33 billion), and its fixed asset investment exceeded 40 billion yuan, a record high.

The construction of its major platform carrier was fully accelerated, and the Luohu pilot zone of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong port economic belt was included in the city's key projects. The Dawutong zone has completed comprehensive planning and is poised to become a "central ecological area" in Shenzhen.

Meanwhile, we completed eight pilot projects of comprehensive reform and won first place in a national evaluation for the top 100 districts and counties in terms of its business environment.

2021 was a year when innovation gathered momentum in Luohu. We have established a national high-tech enterprise cultivation “bank,” added 114 national high-tech enterprises, 11 provincial-level engineering technology centers, and built 85 innovation carriers above the municipal level.

Over the past year, the number of authorized invention patents of Luohu has increased by over 90%. The National Science and Technology Institute for Urban Security Development signed a contract with Luohu and is to be founded in Luohu as the first national-level institute in the district. The enterprise service system in the district was comprehensively reshaped to attract investment and improve development quality and efficiency.

2021 was a year of continual improvement in people's wellbeing in Luohu. We spent 12.93 billion yuan improving people's well-being. We carried out renovation and expansion projects in schools in a multi-tiered manner, increasing the number of public compulsory education seats by 4,290 and kindergarten seats by 720. We extended after-school services to all compulsory education students.

In addition, the number of general practitioners per 10,000 residents in Luohu was ranked first among all districts in the city.

In 2022, Luohu stands on the starting point of a new journey, and we will speed up the construction of a pioneer urban area of socialist modernization and sustainable development.

Finally, we sincerely welcome netizens to continue to make suggestions for the development of Luohu. We sincerely wish you a happy New Year, good health, family happiness, and progress in your work!