Light industry and textiles were the mainstay of the local economy at the beginning of the
last century, employing an estimated 500,000 people in Ko Ming and a further 2 million people
in smaller towns scattered on the Kuo. Early textile manufactures based on wool, cashmere and
felt obtained from pasdtoral communities in the southern plateau were displaced by flax and
cotton as demand from the expanding urban population outstripped supply.
The revolution saw a centrally-planned expansion of heavy industry, with the development of
nickel and copper smelting plants in new towns to the North, and of coal-mining communities
in the south. The Triumphant Peoples Hero steel plant was, at the time of its construction in
Ko Ming, the world's largest integrated ironworks, with blast furnaces, foundries and a
rolling mill occupying a site some 70 sqKm to the North of the city and employing over
100,000 people in its heyday. The development of heavy engineering enjoyed a 'hub' effect,
with the ready availability of electricity from coal in the South permitting the growth of
electroplating plants and specialist foundries using nickel, chromium and molybdenum from the
North in the production of high-grade steels for toolmaking, munitions, and aircraft
production throughout the Kuo. Shipbuilding is the only major heavy industry not to be
developed in the region, despite the construction of a deepwater port in Ko Ming for the bulk
export of steel, alumina and processed non-ferrous metals.
The Rail network was developed during the first Five-Year Plan but the Kuo is notable for the
high proportion of goods transported by river, with extensive canalisation of the Upper Ko
and its tributaries supporting the movement of almost all bulk commodities (iron ore, alumina
and coal) from the South to the Ko Valley.
The economic liberalisation of the closing decade of the last century saw a large-scale
population movement from the land to the cities, with the city reaching a peak population of
4 million. The economy was dominated by an expansion of manufacturing industry producing
consumer goods for export. An early dependence on imported plastics and chemical feedstocks
was replaced by net exports from a growing chemical industry, starting with the Crimson
Banner Dye and Plastics plant, one of the last examples of a centrally-planned
industrialisation and one of very few to remain in production and profitable into the current
century. The development of Ko Ming and the Ko valley culminated in the expansion of the
consumer electronics sector, with the region becoming a world center for the production of
semiconductors, display screens and personal computers.
no subject
Industrialisation:
Light industry and textiles were the mainstay of the local economy at the beginning of the last century, employing an estimated 500,000 people in Ko Ming and a further 2 million people in smaller towns scattered on the Kuo. Early textile manufactures based on wool, cashmere and felt obtained from pasdtoral communities in the southern plateau were displaced by flax and cotton as demand from the expanding urban population outstripped supply.
The revolution saw a centrally-planned expansion of heavy industry, with the development of nickel and copper smelting plants in new towns to the North, and of coal-mining communities in the south. The Triumphant Peoples Hero steel plant was, at the time of its construction in Ko Ming, the world's largest integrated ironworks, with blast furnaces, foundries and a rolling mill occupying a site some 70 sqKm to the North of the city and employing over 100,000 people in its heyday. The development of heavy engineering enjoyed a 'hub' effect, with the ready availability of electricity from coal in the South permitting the growth of electroplating plants and specialist foundries using nickel, chromium and molybdenum from the North in the production of high-grade steels for toolmaking, munitions, and aircraft production throughout the Kuo. Shipbuilding is the only major heavy industry not to be developed in the region, despite the construction of a deepwater port in Ko Ming for the bulk export of steel, alumina and processed non-ferrous metals.
The Rail network was developed during the first Five-Year Plan but the Kuo is notable for the high proportion of goods transported by river, with extensive canalisation of the Upper Ko and its tributaries supporting the movement of almost all bulk commodities (iron ore, alumina and coal) from the South to the Ko Valley.
The economic liberalisation of the closing decade of the last century saw a large-scale population movement from the land to the cities, with the city reaching a peak population of 4 million. The economy was dominated by an expansion of manufacturing industry producing consumer goods for export. An early dependence on imported plastics and chemical feedstocks was replaced by net exports from a growing chemical industry, starting with the Crimson Banner Dye and Plastics plant, one of the last examples of a centrally-planned industrialisation and one of very few to remain in production and profitable into the current century. The development of Ko Ming and the Ko valley culminated in the expansion of the consumer electronics sector, with the region becoming a world center for the production of semiconductors, display screens and personal computers.