Metropolitan area has become a new field of urban competition, and the central region is no exception. After the development plans of Nanjing, Fuzhou and Chengdu metropolitan areas were approved by the state, the competition between Wuhan and Zhengzhou metropolitan areas in the central region has also become white hot. Who will hold the first national “certificate” of the development planning of the central metropolitan area?
expansion increment of Zhengzhou metropolitan area
On February 17, Henan Province issued the new urbanization plan of Henan Province (2021-2035) (hereinafter referred to as the plan). The plan mentioned that we should optimize and reshape the “1 + 8” spatial pattern of Zhengzhou metropolitan area, promote the accelerated integrated development of Zhengzhou and Kaifeng, Luoyang, Pingdingshan, Xinxiang, Jiaozuo, Xuchang, Luohe and Jiyuan, and strive to build a spatial pattern of “one core, one pair, one belt and many points”.
With the expansion of Zhengzhou metropolitan area from “1 + 4” to “1 + 8”, its economic volume and area are on a par with Wuhan’s “1 + 8” metropolitan area, and the two central metropolitan areas have officially entered the era of competition.
The first financial reporter found that the total GDP of Zhengzhou metropolitan area before capacity expansion was 1.85 trillion yuan, which was only higher than that of Changsha metropolitan area in the GDP ranking of the country’s ten metropolitan areas. After the expansion, the total GDP of Zhengzhou metropolitan area not only jumped over Chongqing, Wuhan and Chengdu, reaching 3.28 trillion yuan, ranking first in the central region; The area covered has also increased from 15900 square kilometers in the past to 58800 square kilometers, exceeding the area of 57800 square kilometers in Wuhan’s “1 + 8” urban circle.
Qin Zunwen, vice president of China Society of urban economics, said in an interview with the first finance and economics reporter that the biggest feature of Zhengzhou metropolitan area is the large volume of manufacturing industry and obvious advantages of transportation hubs. The airport economy and China Europe trains have become important boosters for regional development. In recent years, the population growth of Zhengzhou metropolitan area has also taken the lead in the central region. It is one of the few regions in China that can continue to enjoy the demographic dividend.
However, Qin Zunwen said: “the lack of top universities in Zhengzhou metropolitan area and even the whole of Henan has a certain impact on the supply of high-end talents, which is a big short board affecting the local high-quality development.”
According to the plan, in the next step, Zhengzhou will establish a flexible talent introduction mechanism, absorb, gather and cultivate innovative leading talents and innovative teams, and implement the training and agglomeration project of high-level professional and technical talents.
According to the development goals, by 2025, the expanded GDP of Zhengzhou metropolitan area will strive to reach 6 trillion yuan, the comprehensive strength of Zheng bianxu’s core engine will be significantly enhanced, and the regional coordinated development mechanism will be brought into effective play, becoming the core Beijing Dynamic Power Co.Ltd(600405) to support and lead the integrated and high-quality development of the Central Plains urban agglomeration.
Wuhan city circle is dominated by one city
In the face of fierce competitors, Wuhan “1 + 8” urban circle is also continuously amplifying the “1 + 8 > 9” effect. As a “group leader”, Wuhan proposes to strengthen the main city, optimize the sub city and expand the new city, so as to give full play to the leading role of radiation.
Relying on the east wind extending to the east of Wuhan Optics Valley Science and innovation corridor, Ezhou attracted Sanan Optoelectronics Co.Ltd(600703) . The encapsulated chips were sent to Huaxing optoelectronics and other downstream enterprises 7 kilometers away and located in the east of Optics Valley. The whole process took only 15 minutes. Optics Valley Biological city has 16 “enclave” parks in Hubei Province, and has jointly built a local industrial park of Wuhan National biological industry base with “circle friends” of four Wuhan urban circles, including Tianmen, Xiantao, Huangshi and Huanggang.
In Wuhan city circle, the vertical division of labor among large, medium and small cities and the horizontal division of labor among cities of the same scale have taken shape. The pattern of “R & D in Wuhan, transformation in the city circle, main chain in Wuhan, supporting facilities in the city circle, financing in Wuhan and investment in the city circle” has been preliminarily formed.
Qin Zunwen said that the advantage of Wuhan city circle lies in Wuhan’s strong advantages in science and education talents. It has 1823 innovation platforms at all levels and of all kinds. In recent years, it has continuously promoted the mutual promotion and integrated development of industries and talents around improving the ability of innovation strategy sources.
At the same time, the disadvantages of Wuhan city circle are also prominent. “Wuhan metropolitan area is a lion with a flock of sheep, while Zhengzhou metropolitan area is a flock of wolves.” Ye Qing, academic member of Pangu think tank and professor of Zhongnan University of economics and law, told the first financial reporter that the GDP of Wuhan city circle exceeded 3 trillion yuan for the first time in 2021, more than doubled that in 2013, with an average annual growth of more than 10%. However, Wuhan alone monopolized 1.77 trillion yuan, accounting for nearly 60% of the Wuhan city circle. Xiaogan and Huanggang ranked second and third, with a total GDP of 256.2 billion yuan 254.131 billion yuan, only a fraction of Wuhan. In contrast, Zhengzhou metropolitan area, in addition to Zhengzhou’s GDP of more than trillion yuan (1269.1 billion yuan), Luoyang reached 544.71 billion yuan, Xuchang and Xinxiang exceeded 300 billion yuan, Pingdingshan, Kaifeng and Jiaozuo also exceeded 200 billion yuan, and the development of “circle friends” is more balanced.
According to the development goal of “striving for the total economic volume of Wuhan to reach 2 trillion yuan this year and driving the total economic volume of Wuhan urban circle to reach 3.3 trillion yuan”, the proportion of Wuhan in the total economic volume of Wuhan urban circle is still further expanding.
boosting the rise of central China in the competition
On February 19, 2019, the national development and Reform Commission released the guiding opinions on cultivating and developing modern metropolitan areas, marking the beginning of the competition among major cities in China from single competition to group warfare.
In the past two years, the development plans of Nanjing, Fuzhou and Chengdu metropolitan areas have been approved by the state one after another. From the perspective of central China, both Wuhan metropolitan area and expanded Zhengzhou metropolitan area have the strength and opportunity to compete for the first ticket in Central China.
The experts interviewed generally believe that Wuhan is the largest city in the six provinces in Central China, and its comprehensive strength ranks first among the major cities in Central China. Wuhan has been given an important task by the state in the strategy of the rise of central China. It is positioned as the strategic fulcrum of the central region and will play the due role of division of labor, coordination and radiation in the rise of the six central provinces. From this positioning, Wuhan city circle is more likely to take the lead in breaking through.
But at the same time, the comprehensive strength of the expanded Zhengzhou metropolitan area can not be underestimated. As the only central city of the Central Plains urban agglomeration and Zhengzhou metropolitan area, Zhengzhou undertakes the strategic task of not only driving the development of Henan Province, but also taking into account the coordinated economic and social development of Southern Shanxi, Southern Hebei, western Shandong and Northern Anhui. Ye Qing pointed out that from the new development idea of emphasizing regional balanced and coordinated development, Zhengzhou metropolitan area also has the opportunity to take the lead in breaking through.
Qin Zunwen pointed out that it is a good thing for the two major urban circles in Central China to compete with each other. There is only development if there is competition. The gap between the two major urban circles is small. Each has its own advantages and weaknesses. We should develop our strengths and make up for our weaknesses. In the process of giving full play to our comparative advantages, we should constantly promote the development of the metropolitan circle and make good use of this dynamic mechanism to jointly promote the faster rise of the central region.
