On the map of Germany, there are three special cities, which are like states, have their own constitutions, have the right to make laws that apply to them, and, in short, they have a high degree of political and economic autonomy.
Hamburg, Germany's largest port city, is one of them.
Hamburg: a thousand-year-old city, an inland port city Hamburg, a thousand-year-old city, is located at the mouth of the Elbe River into the North Sea, about 120 km from the mouth of the Elbe.
The Elbe River runs through the city from east to west, dividing Hamburg into north and south. The northern part is dominated by residential and commercial areas, while the southern part is dominated by industrial areas and port areas. Hamburg, Germany's second largest city, is an important industrial center and transport hub in the northern region, as well as a gateway between Western, Northern and Eastern Europe.
Hamburg, a city steeped in history, was a small religious village until the 11th century. However, from the 12th century onwards, in order to meet the needs of commerce, Hamburg began to build a port, and commercial activities gradually replaced religious functions.
In 1815, Hamburg became part of the Germanic Confederation, and since then, the city has prospered and its relations have rapidly expanded to Asia, Africa and Europe. With the reunification of Germany and the advent of the Second Industrial Revolution, Hamburg entered a period of rapid development.
Hamburg, the port city that once hosted 70% of Germany's imports and exports, was devastated by World War II and recovered after the war, and is now the industrial center of Germany's northern coast.
Although in the 80s of the 20th century, global industrial changes led to the shrinkage and depression of the city of Hamburg, population outflow, and economic recession, but the city of Hamburg did not give up, but actively transformed and upgraded, and vigorously developed the service industry to meet the needs of urban construction and life.
At the same time, the city of Hamburg has rapidly developed its banking and insurance sectors, becoming one of the largest bancassurance centres in the Federal Republic of Germany, and has successfully transformed the city.
Today, the Port of Hamburg handles more than 100 million tonnes of containers, of which 2.6 million TEUs are shipped to China, accounting for 30% of the port's container throughput, proving once again the economic strength and potential of the city of Hamburg.
The urban revitalization project in the Harburg inland port area has successfully transformed from a port industrial zone into a high-tech industrial park. The transformation attracted a large number of high-tech enterprises to settle in, and finally formed an electronic industrial park integrating electronics, software, information and industry.
In the process of industrial transformation and upgrading, Hamburg has not completely abandoned industrialization like in Latin America, but has realized the development from a port and industry-based city to a comprehensive city with commercial, financial, science and technology, cultural and creative tourism, industry and other industries at the same time, and has successfully achieved nirvana.
Hamburg's economic strength in 2018 should not be underestimated, with a total GDP of $130 billion, second only to Berlin, the capital of Germany. If you compare the GDP size of Hamburg with Xi'an and Nantong in China, Hamburg is able to enter the top 25 out of more than 600 cities in China.
In particular, Hamburg has a population of only 1.8 million, which shows that the city has a lot of wealth per capita. For some of the harbour cities that are in decline, Hamburg's transformation experience is undoubtedly of high value.