Huai’an is the city that lies slap bang in the middle of Jiangsu Province. It is also the birthplace of China’s first premier under the CCP, Zhou Enlai. But that leader’s admirable legacy hasn’t rubbed off very well on Huai’an of late.
淮安是位于江苏省中部的一座城市。它也是中国共产党领导下的第一位总理周恩来的出生地。但这位领导人令人钦佩的遗产最近并没有在淮安产生很好的影响。
When the “Top 100 Counties” list in China list was announced recently, Huia’an stood out for being one of only two cities in Jiangsu without one of its counties on the list. The other is Lianyungang.
近日，中国“百强县”榜单揭晓，惠安脱颖而出，成为江苏仅有的两个没有县上榜的城市之一。另一个是连云港。
That’s the fact being highlighted in a 1 September commentary by Shanghai based media outlet, The Paper, after its review of the list, published over 7 years and complied by consultancy firm, CCID.
上海媒体澎湃新闻经过七年多时间对这份名单进行审查后，并由赛迪顾问公司整理，于 9 月 1 日发表评论，强调了这一事实。
On this year’s list, 23 spots are occupied by counties in Jiangsu and the top four are also Jiangsunese.
今年的榜单中，江苏县占据了23个席位，前四名也是江苏人。
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Huai’an was one of the four major cities along the Grand Canal, as famous as Suzhou, Hangzhou and Yangzhou. Today, however, Huai’an’s GDP ranks 11th among the 13 cities of Jiangsu, besting only Lianyungang and Suqian.
明清时期，淮安是与苏州、杭州、扬州齐名的大运河沿岸四大城市之一。如今，淮安的GDP在江苏13市中排名第11位，仅次于连云港和宿迁。
Hence it was that on 30 July, at the sixth plenary session of the 8th CCP Huai’an Municipal Committee, the focus was on how to achieve high-quality, leap-frog development. A week beforehand, a local CCP and government delegation had gone to the neighbouring cities of Suqian and Yancheng to study their advanced-economic development. The takeaway they came home with is that there is no time to be slow.
于是，7月30日召开的中共淮安市八届六中全会，重点讨论了如何实现高质量跨越式发展。一周前，当地党政代表团赴宿迁、盐城等邻近城市考察经济发展先进情况。他们回家的收获是，没有时间放慢脚步。
Huai’an, though, still has a couple of tricks up its sleeve and stands out for having the two obvious candidates for a spot on that coveted Top 100 Counties list. But both did not pass the test this time around and some are as a result labelling the City of Huai’an as a failure.
不过，淮安仍有一些锦囊妙计，并因拥有两个明显的候选县而脱颖而出，跻身令人垂涎的百强县名单。但这次两者都没有通过考验，有人因此给淮安市贴上了失败的标签。
Those two candidates are Lianshui and Xuyi, and both have much to offer, kind of.
这两个候选人是涟水和盱眙，两者都有很多东西可以提供。
The former boasts an “international” airport; Huai’an Lianshui International Airport, which at time of writing serves no international destinations whatsoever, including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Lianshui also has a number of large high-tech enterprises and a high-speed railway station on the line between Nanjing and Lianyungang.
前者拥有“国际”机场；淮安涟水国际机场，截至撰写本文时，尚未开通任何国际目的地的航班，包括香港、澳门和台湾。涟水还拥有多家大型高新技术企业，南京至连云港线路上设有高铁站。
Then there is the county of Xuyi, surprising for not having made the grade. For Xuyi is the world capital of crayfish. China is now globally the biggest exporter of the beasts, while the Chinese themselves chomp their way through more than 90 per cent of global crayfish consumption, over 1 million tons each year. And much of those come out of Xuyi. But that still hasn’t been enough to make it into a Top 100 County.
然后是盱眙县，令人惊讶的是没有达到要求。盱眙是世界小龙虾之都。中国现在是全球最大的小龙虾出口国，而中国自己的小龙虾消费量占全球的 90% 以上，每年超过 100 万吨。其中大部分来自盱眙。但这还不足以进入百强县。
There is always next year and there is some light on the horizon. Huai’an has in it a new vice mayor in the form of Gu Kun. As the youngest such mayor in Jiangsu, born in 1976, there’s a chance of some new approaches, leading, with a spot of luck, to the city regaining the pride in which it once basked under Zhou Enlai.
总会有明年，地平线上总会有一些曙光。淮安市新任副市长顾坤。作为1976年出生的江苏省最年轻的市长，有机会采取一些新的做法，如果运气好的话，可以让这座城市重新获得周恩来治下的自豪感。
