Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi hailed the country's effort in the global public health emergency at a global promotional event in Beijing for central China's Hubei Province, which was among the hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak, on Monday.

Hubei's provincial capital, Wuhan City, commenced lockdown restrictions on its 10-million-strong population on January 23 last year, a move that contributed greatly to preventing the disease from spreading wider during the early stages. 

"The people of Wuhan and Hubei at large have not just made a great sacrifice to China's pandemic control work but to the scale of the world," Wang said at the event.

Most of the factories and businesses in Wuhan came to a halt during the 76-day lockdown, while outbound traffic was strictly restricted. Things gradually resumed operation after the lockdown was lifted in early April.

The Chinese diplomat also spoke highly of the region's economic recovery work, as Hubei eyes a 10 percent GDP growth after a virus-ravaged year. 

"[Hubei] has cashed in on the public health emergency and forced a transition," Wang said. "They've pushed an 'upgrade' with a 'start over."

To help the city recover, China has offered Wuhan a package of favorable policies, including financial support, tax reductions and the introduction of projects. Local authorities also handed out vouchers worth a total of 500 million yuan ($76.4 million) to encourage consumption. 

"Wuhan has great potential for consumption," Professor Huang Manyu from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law told CGTN. 

"Last year was difficult for Wuhan, but its total retail sales of consumer goods put it in the top ten in China. That means the epidemic only had a short-term impact on the city, and it won't stop Wuhan from becoming an international consumption center in the future."

Later, Ying Yong, secretary of the Hubei Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and Wang Zhonglin, secretary of the CPC Wuhan Municipal Committee, delivered speeches respectively.

In the speech, Ying Yong introduced the development of Hubei in the past two years, as well as the achievements of international cooperation in the fields of industry, economy and trade, science and education, culture, and tourism in recent years. In addition, he also showed the pictures of Hubuxiang Street, Yellow Crane Tower, and other famous tourist attractions in Wuhan before and after the COVID-19 epidemic, which visually showed the strong recovery momentum of Wuhan after the epidemic.

Also, Wang Zhonglin told the audience of the difficulties Wuhan encountered in the early stage of fighting the epidemic in his speech, as well as the support from the motherland and the world.

Wang also introduced the situation of the city's economic and cultural recovery, including a gradual increase in the number of college students coming to Wuhan to start businesses, reaching 302,000 in 2020, and with 306 of the world's top 500 enterprises investing in Wuhan. "The strong resilience and staying power of China's economy have been fully unleashed in Wuhan," said Wang.

Heroic Hubei: reborn for new glories

The promotional activity for Hubei, which is focusing on the exhibition and display sector, features many precious objects being exhibited in Beijing for the first time. These include protective clothing signed by medical workers, home letters from volunteers, hard hats for infrastructure construction workers who built the Huoshenshan and Leishenshan hospitals, and letters of thanks from relevant countries to Hubei. All these show the efforts made by people from all walks of life in fighting against the epidemic.

In addition to displaying the achievements of Hubei in fighting the epidemic, the exhibition also presents a new look at the economic and social development of Hubei after the epidemic was defeated.

As an epitome of China's fight against the epidemic and rapid economic recovery, Hubei is embracing opening up and development with a new look. As the only major economy in the world that recorded positive economic growth last year, China, with a new look, is also offering a broader market and opportunities to the world, according to CCTV News.

275 ambassadors, diplomats, and representatives of international organizations from 155 embassies in China and 21 international organizations in China attended the event. The purpose of this event is to introduce new measures to strengthen the opening up of Hubei Province and build a new bridge for countries to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the region.