To face the challenge, Ma said there is a pressing need to build cleaner cars with a much higher technological input than before. He and some of his colleagues in the district government are planning to go to Japan, South Korea and Italy this year to woo potential partners.

"I think auto enterprises around the world will feel a great pressure of slowing demand in coming years," Ma said. "What we can do is to prepare ourselves so that we are in a position to minimize the impact."

To Ma, the biggest problem of economic transition is how to keep the district's economy moving steadily forward without falling over. It's like "riding a bicycle", he said. "The key to riding a bicycle well is to stay on course, maintain a steady speed and keep its balance," he said. If the rider can do that he can move forwards. "It is the same with the economic transition."

For Jiading, the direction is clear - build better cars with high technology content, Ma reiterated. Keeping a steady pace is also necessary, he said. "We seek to apply a suitable speed to push forward the industrial transition," Ma said.

He conceded that the country's fast pace of growth in the past has left behind problems that need to be addressed now before the economy can pick up new momentum again. Despite rapid economic progress, "we need to pay sufficiently close attention to people's livelihoods," Ma said.

Keeping a balance between economic growth and residents' quality of life and environment is always on his mind.

That's why Ma's blueprint for developing the auto industry excludes a key component: tires. This was not an oversight. "We deliberately kicked tire manufacturing off the to-do list because we need a more ecological environment for working and living," Ma said.

In the construction of Jiading's new city area in the south of the district, great emphasis is placed on creating an ecologically friendly environment. Green open space will take up 40 percent of the area and man-made lakes will occupy another 12 percent.

"The district's other ambition is to make Jiading a model of cosmopolitan life," Ma said, with confidence.

Contact the writers at [email protected] and [email protected]