Located about 80 kilometers to the south of Tangshan City, Hebei Province, Caofeidian boasts superb conditions for a port basin. Free of silting and freezing, with a 36-meter trough in front and the vast tidal flats in the rear, the island has become the last suitable location for building a large deep-water terminal within the Bohai Gulf.

A 300,000-ton terminal was constructed without the need to dredge a channel, making it the best port site in north China and earning it the nickname of a "golden place."

After more than a decade of construction, great changes have taken place in this originally 4-square meter island, with machines roaring and roads extending in all directions. Cascades of sand blown out by suction dredgers look like brown bridges over the water. Cutter-suction dredgers, which transfer sand to restricted waters through huge pipes, can blow out 3,500 cubic meters of sand per hour and turn one square kilometer of water into land every month.

In order to protect the original dynamic ocean system and optimize the utility of seabed sand, there is an 18-kilometer highway bridge across the flood-discharging river connecting the island and the mainland.

The industrial zone is divided into two parts. The west part houses coal and iron ore piers while the east is the new site of Shougang (Capital Steel & Iron Plant), a power station, and the biggest oil reserve base in north China.

According to the construction plans, the whole area of the industrial zone will reach 310 square kilometers in 2020. The sand "blown out" for construction could pave a road spanning the distance between Beijing and Shanghai.

Caofeidian, once a belt-shaped sand island with no access to fresh water and electricity is shining like a pearl in north China.

(China.org.cn July 12, 2007)