Heads of each region, mutually empowering one another. Over the years, the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta has seen deepened and refined urban cooperation, elevating the level of city collaboration. Together, we are constructing a world-class urban cluster, contributing to China's modernization with higher-quality urban cooperation practices.

In advancing the high-quality integration development of the Yangtze River Delta, the cornerstone is urban economy, and the key lies in urban cooperation.

Located in the southwest of Zhejiang, Lishui connects the Yangtze River Delta, the economic zone of the western seas, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Lishui has consistently focused on key areas, regions, major projects, and significant platforms, continually propelling practical and efficient cooperation between cities.

Seizing the moment and trend, Lishui is riding the wave of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, embracing the new era, and realizing dreams towards the future.

Regional Collaboration: Facilitating Higher-Quality Integrated Development in the Yangtze River Delta

Focusing on top-level design, actively promoting innovative breakthroughs in institutional mechanisms. In recent years, Lishui, Zhejiang, has established a leadership group with the Party Secretary and Mayor as dual leaders, comprising 12 specialized cooperation teams. They have implemented a mechanism for promoting progress through “list-based work, task specificity, and time-bound responsibilities,” and issued the “Lishui Comprehensive Deep Integration with Shanghai High-Quality Integration into the Yangtze River Delta Regional Development Action Plan.”

Lishui strategically supports the creation of a modern comprehensive three-dimensional transportation system, constructing a “great circulation” that facilitates smooth and efficient traffic flow. It actively undertakes the “spillover effects” of high-quality resources in the Yangtze River Delta region.

The “aviation era” is on the horizon. Since the commencement of Lishui Airport construction, the total investment in the project and its supporting works has reached approximately 6.382 billion yuan, with the overall project progress currently standing at 87%. The “high-speed rail acceleration” is eagerly anticipated. Lishui is actively promoting the pre-construction phase of the Hangli Railway project, striving to commence construction during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period and achieve a one-hour transportation circle within the province. The highway network is becoming increasingly dense. Lishui is accelerating the construction of the multimodal transportation hub in the southwest of Zhejiang, attracting well-known logistics companies such as SF Express, ProLogis, and NetEase IoT to settle in Lishui.

The integration of “rail, land, and air” connecting rivers and reaching the sea has opened up the transportation “arteries”, providing greater development space for Lishui. This has led to a positive situation of continuous innovation in cooperation methods, constant expansion of cooperation areas, continuous upgrading of cooperation platforms, and deepening of collaborative achievements between cities.

Adhering to the principles of leveraging strengths and achieving win-win cooperation, Lishui encourages counties (cities, districts) and departments to innovate and explore paired models. It took the lead in establishing a “county-district” paired cooperation mechanism with Shanghai, achieving full coverage with nine counties (cities, districts). The depth and breadth of cooperation continue to iterate and upgrade.

Capitalizing on the advantages of “ecology and ethnicity”, Jingning She Autonomous County and Shanghai Jing'an focus on the complementary development of “finance and industry” resources. They have clearly expanded the depth and breadth of cooperation in ten aspects, including ecological industrial transfer and upgrading, and win-win cooperation in regional tourism. The collaboration has accelerated the entry of “Jingning 600” ecological agricultural products and cultural tourism brands into Shanghai. They have opened flagship stores for Huiming Tea brand in Fengzhuang Tea City in Jing’an District, Jinshan District, and Jiading District, and set up “Jingning 600” smart cabinets in the Jingfu Center in Shanghai. They have formulated standards for the entry of “Jingning 600” agricultural products into Shanghai, with an average premium rate of over 35% for Jingning products.

The public welfare documentary program “We Are in Action”, launched by Shanghai Oriental Satellite TV, came to Jingning for filming. On the recording day, subscriptions reached 61.3 million yuan, transforming live stream traffic into product sales. The cumulative viewership of the live stream exceeded 21 million, with orders surpassing 870,000. Additionally, the “Chinese Live Stream Talents·Tongxin Hui” live stream training and practice base was established in Jingning, contributing to the operation of Jingning’s e-commerce, content creation, and the cultivation of e-commerce live stream talent.

Mountain-sea collaboration responds to the call of the mountains and seas. Through city-to-city collaboration, Zhejiang Province extends mountain-sea collaboration to the grassroots, driving county-to-county partnerships, mutual assistance among towns, and business pairing between enterprises. This provides unprecedented development opportunities for Lishui, which has long been in the mountainous region of southwest Zhejiang.

Lishui city proper is paired with Ningbo, Jiaxing, and Huzhou. Nine counties (cities, districts) and development zones are paired with 24 economically strong counties and 5 development zones within the province.

Simultaneously, the “mountain-sea collaboration” among cities in the Yangtze River Delta within the province has provided a platform for Lishui to start towards high-quality development. The landing of the Geely New Energy Vehicles Thermal Management Project in Longquan signifies a significant step in Longquan’s new energy vehicle industry. The city has jointly established 10 provincial-level mountain-sea collaboration industrial parks, with 39 “enclave” areas for mountain-sea collaboration industries, scientific innovation, and thinning-out development. Lishui is the first in the province to establish a mountain-sea collaboration industry fund with a scale of 1.408 billion yuan, having invested in 14 projects, effectively promoting the high-quality green development of industries.

Furthermore, educational resources in the Yangtze River Delta are shared in high quality. Cooperative efforts led to the establishment of affiliated schools such as East China Normal University Affiliated Lishui School, Beijing Normal University Lishui Experimental School, and collaborations for the management of Lishui Experimental School, Tianning Middle School in Liandu District, and Changgangbei Primary School in Liandu District with Shanghai Sino-foreign Education Group. This enables children in Lishui to enjoy high-quality education from Shanghai right at their doorstep. Eight core teachers and twelve administrative cadres were selected and recommended for cross-provincial exchanges with three provinces and one city (Shanghai). Collaboration with institutions like the Shanghai Talented Personnel Training Institute organized 13 batches of high-end primary and secondary school teacher and principal training sessions, with 650 participants.

Medical services in the Yangtze River Delta are jointly built and shared. Lishui Municipal Hospital collaborates deeply with renowned hospitals in the Yangtze River Delta such as Shanghai Jiao Tong University Affiliated Hospital and Fudan University Affiliated Hospital, engaging in key specialty construction, joint research projects, and remote consultations. In 2023, experts from the Yangtze River Delta conducted 512 consultations and medical visits in Lishui, guided 60 surgeries, participated in 32 remote consultations, conducted 36 academic lectures or conferences, and sent 24 people for further studies. Projects such as the Longevity Elderly Project research collaboration between Lishui Second People’s Hospital and Shanghai Jiao Tong University are progressing deeply.

“Dual Attraction and Dual Retention”: Talent Recruitment and Investment Attraction in Synchrony

Implementing the strategy of building a strong talent nation in the new era, Lishui, Zhejiang, is accelerating its development.

Over the years, Lishui has iteratively upgraded its talent and technology policies, issuing the “Implementation Opinions on Strengthening the Leapfrog High-Quality Development of Talent and Technology in the New Era in Lishui City.” The decision to build a youth development-oriented city was also deliberated and approved during the Second Plenary (Expanded) Session of the Fifth Municipal Party Committee.

In 2022, the total number of talents in the city exceeded 500,000, ranking third in the province in growth rate. Nine key innovation indicators, including the number of high-level talents and national high-tech enterprises, achieved a “threefold increase” over three years. The growth rate of new skilled talents and high-skilled talents ranked among the top in the province. Last year, Lishui was ranked among the top 50 in the “China’s Most Attractive Cities for Post-95s Talent” list.

Talent recruitment and investment attraction resonate in synchrony. Lishui is creating an economic development “interconnected zone”, accelerating the optimization and upgrading of the “industrial chain”, constructing a diverse and open “intelligent highland”, and implementing the ecological industry aggregation climbing action.

The Lishui Economic Development Zone took the lead in applying the “research and development in Shanghai, production and sales headquarters in Lishui” collaborative innovation model. It established the Shanghai International Science and Technology Innovation Center, forming a new mode of industrial chain circulation. The construction of the “Shanghai-Lishui Through Industrial Enclave One-Stop Service Platform” has been initiated, extending public services to the enclave through digital means, achieving the integration of online and offline operations in the enclave park, specialization in enterprise services, and digitization in park management, creating the optimal digital industry service platform.

Actively promoting the construction of science, technology, talent, and financial exchange platforms across the city, Lishui continues to deepen cooperation with Zhejiang Lab and Zhejiang Tsinghua Yangtze River Delta Research Institute, accelerating the establishment of the innovation center in southwest Zhejiang. Meanwhile, Lishui is promoting the cross-regional flow and sharing of science and technology resources and innovative elements in the Yangtze River Delta. Seizing the opportunities of the “mutual recognition and connectivity” policy for innovation vouchers, Lishui is advancing the service of large-scale scientific research instruments, scientific literature, scientific data, biological resources, and experimental materials, facilitating the flow of science and technology resources to Lishui.

Exploring new tracks, advancing into new blue oceans. Since the implementation of Lishui’s “Dual Attraction and Dual Retention” strategic pilot project, the city has attracted a total of 558 projects with an investment of one billion yuan, totaling 187.54 billion yuan. The historic breakthrough of zero to two in the hundred-billion-yuan manufacturing projects has been achieved.

In the “Investing in Zhejiang” provincial investment promotion center’s collection of innovative investment attraction cases, Lishui was selected as one of the six cases, ranking second in the province, only behind Hangzhou with seven cases.

Revitalizing Old Areas: Integrating “Red, Green, Gold” for “Common Prosperity”

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party made significant arrangements to support the accelerated development of revolutionary old areas. The national “14th Five-Year Plan” for the revitalization and development of special-type areas explicitly supports the revitalization and development of key cities in 20 revolutionary old areas, including Lishui. In June 2022, during the 15th Provincial Party Congress, the Provincial Party Committee bestowed upon Lishui the new position of “Creating a Demonstration Zone for Common Prosperity in the Revolutionary Old Area”.

This year, the “Implementation Plan for Creating a Demonstration Zone for Common Prosperity in the Revolutionary Old Area in Lishui” has been officially issued and implemented. It proposes ten projects for the integrated and coordinated development of the “Red, Green, Gold” in revolutionary old areas and plans to implement 111 projects for the integrated development of “Red, Green, Gold”.

The cooperation between Ningbo and Lishui has been elevated to the national level. The Zhejiang Provincial Government has issued the implementation plan for the key city-to-city cooperation between Ningbo and Lishui in the revolutionary old area. This plan promotes deep cooperation between the two cities in five major areas, achieving full coverage of paired counties (cities, districts) and development zones in both places. Successfully securing 10 million yuan in cooperation funds for Lishui’s key city-to-city cooperation in the revolutionary old area in 2023, supporting eight projects in the form of loan interest subsidies and direct funding.

The revolutionary old area county of Songyang in Lishui is considered a “sample of classical China” and “the last hidden gem in Jiangnan”, being one of the most concentrated areas of traditional villages in the Yangtze River Delta region.

Songyang county has brought in expert technical teams from Nanjing University, Hangzhou Ancient Architecture Institute, and other universities to implement the protection and restoration of villages continually, optimizing the pattern of “mountains -- waters -- countryside fields”. They have attracted a considerable number of individuals with ideals and cultural perceptions from Shanghai, Jiangsu, and other areas in the core of the Yangtze River Delta, such as West Lake Recluse Group, Feimengji, Guoyun Mountain Residence, and Taoye, deeply integrating them into rural construction.

Since 2013, Songyang has cooperated with places like Songjiang in Shanghai, actively exploring the path of leading rural revitalization through the protection of traditional villages. They systematically carry out the protection and inheritance of style, organic renewal, the integration of new formats, and the protection of traditional culture. Songyang’s experience has provided valuable insights for the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Delta region.

Leveraging the capital from the business sector in the Yangtze River Delta to improve living conditions, Songyang county has completed over 30 ecological museums and characteristic workshops, such as the Red Sugar Workshop. This initiative has driven the protection of more than 1,200 traditional buildings within the region.

By inviting renowned architects from Shanghai, including Michel, to provide suggestions for rural tourism, Songyang has developed a “Save Old Houses” application across multiple scenarios. Over a hundred ancient villages and more than 260 old houses have been rejuvenated, transforming the Wunong ancient residential cluster into a typical example of family gathering in the southwest of Zhejiang.

In the red and green land between revolutionary history and picturesque landscapes, the harmonious integration of “Red, Green, and Gold” enhances each other. On January 12, 2019, the National Yangtze River Office officially supported Lishui to become the first pilot city in the country for the ecological product value realization mechanism.

Since the implementation of pilot program, Lishui has established a scientific and rational ecological product value accounting evaluation and application system, an effective ecological product value realization system, and opened up multiple demonstrable, replicable, and scalable paths for ecological product value realization. This has provided new ideas for achieving green development in cities in the Yangtze River Delta.

Efforts are concentrated on promoting the marketization of ecological product transactions, continually expanding the industrial path of ecological product value realization, perfecting the digital support means for ecological product value realization, and solidifying the institutional guarantee for ecological product value realization. Lishui not only took the lead in establishing a scientifically reasonable and operational value accounting and evaluation mechanism nationwide but also first released the Gross Ecological Product (GEP) of Lishui. They established the ecological product value trading system and innovatively introduced the individual ecological credit system, exploring the trial implementation of a financial reward and subsidy mechanism linked to the quality and value of ecological products.

Lishui comprehensively promotes the construction of the ecological product value realization mechanism demonstration zone, leading the reform of the ecological product value realization mechanism nationwide. Ultimately, they will build the “Tianyan Shouwang” GEP accounting conversion and application platform, digitally reforming and reshaping the GEP comprehensive evaluation index system reporting system and regulating service data satellite sensing collection standards. They have launched five application scenarios, including “GEP Comprehensive Evaluation” and “Green Finance”, and were awarded the Silver Award for Reform Breakthrough in Zhejiang Province in 2022.

To enrich ecological products, Lishui continues to launch a series of ecological industry brands, with the development of the regional public brand “Shan” progressing simultaneously.

Lishui Shangeng is accelerating the standardized, standardized, and informatized construction of ecological agricultural product bases, laying out regional storage and logistics centers, and building an integrated service system for production, supply, and marketing. This system promotes the coverage of distribution outlets in the Yangtze River Delta urban cluster, adds stores such as Lishui Shangeng in Gouzhuang of Hangzhou city, and organizes promotional activities like Lishui Shangeng markets. They integrate characteristic mountain guesthouse resources, conduct training for the operators of Lishui Shanjing, complete on-site certifications for Lishui Shanjing demonstration bases, and publicly announce the list. They actively promote and market the premium water product Lishui Shanquan, establishing sales channels in cities like Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, and Taizhou within the province. They have also partnered with the provincial tobacco company to establish Zhejiang Xiangyi Wanwu Sales Co., Ltd., included in the provincial-level government procurement cloud platform.

On April 18, 2021, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on Establishing and Improving the Mechanism for Realizing the Value of Ecological Products”, fully incorporating the pilot experience of Lishui. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has praised and promoted the Lishui experience in several instances, including in the “Opinions” response to reporters and national video promotion meetings. In May 2021, the NDRC held a national on-site meeting for the pilot demonstration of the ecological product value realization mechanism in Lishui, highly affirming the exploration and practical experience of Lishui City.

As Lishui’s experience in integrated red and green development continues to spread across the Yangtze River Delta, the “golden key” of turning green into gold gains more recognition and appreciation.

They actively organize and participate in series exhibition events such as the China International Travel Mart and the Zhejiang (Hefei) Travel Mart. They actively consolidate and expand the main and guest source markets in the Yangtze River Delta, conduct outbound marketing, organize promotion events in places like Shanghai and Anhui Huangshan, and engage in inbound marketing by organizing Lishui cultural and tourism product trade fairs, inviting travel agencies from Shanghai, Jiangsu, and other places to connect with the market and purchase route products.

On October 11th of 2023, Lishui held the “Gathering Wisdom from Mountains and Seas, Facilitating Common Prosperity” expert service demonstration team and the “Double Excellent” Talent Strong Link Plan event. In recent years, guided by industrial demand, Lishui has actively promoted expert services, innovatively creating a “Double Excellent” gold business card where hundreds of experts enter hundreds of enterprises and hundreds of towns. As of now, Lishui has carefully selected and dispatched 538 doctoral experts to serve in enterprises and towns, effectively promoting the integration and development of industries. With a focus on the “highly integrated” strategy, it has cumulatively helped enterprises and towns solve 1,032 technical problems, declared 693 scientific and technological projects, and driven economic benefits of nearly 7.5 billion yuan, bridging the gap between talent, technology, enterprises, and towns.

Lishui, an open city, has successively introduced a series of preferential policies related to overseas Chinese, import and export trade, and has been approved as a national pilot for the facilitation of personal remittances by overseas Chinese. The policy environment for international investment and the level of trade facilitation have significantly improved.

In the first three quarters of 2023, Lishui, with the “Double Five, Double Ten, Double Hundred, Double Thousand” as the main action line running through three “Number One Projects” and ten major projects, achieved a year-on-year GDP growth of 7.7%, ranking third in the province with a quarterly increase and presenting an overall good trend of “stable progress, structural optimization, and enhanced expectations”.

With the spirit of “red”, the ecology of “green” and innovation of “gold”, Lishui, standing at a new starting point in the new era, is launching the regional brand of “Red Zhejiang Southwest, Green New Lishui”, innovatively creating a “golden” growth pole, fully integrating into the Yangtze River Delta, building a distinctive youth development-oriented city, and gradually promoting a higher quality integrated development in the Yangtze River Delta.