Shanxi's investment for the strategic emerging industries accounted to 49.7 percent of the province’s total investments in the fixed assets in the first three quarters, and saw an increase of 18 percent, according to statistics from the Shanxi Statistics Bureau.

As a province abundant in coal, Shanxi has been through the so-called “Golden Decade”- a period from 2002 to 2012, when the coal industry in China enjoyed a prosperous development, and then witnessed an economic downturn as the “Golden Decade” ended. The GDP growth rate of Shanxi in the first, second and third quarters, were respectively 5.5 percent, 6.1 percent and 5.6 percent, which was lower than the average national growth rate over the same period.

In response to the situation, Shanxi strives to develop strategic emerging industries. This year, it has been focusing on four major categories, which include energy conservation and environmental-friendly, information, new-energy auto and special potential industries. In the first three quarters, Shanxi has completed an investment of nearly 400 billion yuan ($65.43 billion) into strategic emerging industries .

Edited by Michael Thai