As 2026 begins, the deepening efforts in "strengthening provincial capitals" and "building robust economic pillars" across various regions reflect an adjustment in local development logic. On one hand, provincial capitals continue their "core strengthening" initiatives: Lanzhou has proposed "strengthening the provincial capital" in post-Lunar New Year meetings for three consecutive years, highlighting the urgent need for a core growth pole in western regions. On the other hand, a multi-center pattern is accelerating its formation—Hubei has proposed building a "golden triangle" development framework involving Wuhan, Xiangyang, and Yichang to create a strong growth pole for high-quality regional development. Meanwhile, Sichuan, a typical example of a strong provincial capital, is striving to shift from Chengdu's "solitary brilliance" to the rise of a "golden waist," aiming to cultivate more solid pillars beyond the capital.
Superficially, these represent two paths: "strengthening the provincial capital" and "building strong pillars." At a deeper level, regardless of the chosen model, these regions share a clear common logic: none rely on a single city acting alone. Instead, they emphasize joint development through metropolitan areas and urban clusters to achieve a shift in the drivers of regional economic growth.
For central-western and northeastern regions, "strengthening the provincial capital" is almost an inevitable choice, especially when facing external talent competition and industrial spillover pressures. Provincial capitals must take the lead as "bridgeheads" to propel regional economic development. Lanzhou is a typical example of this logic. In 2022, Lanzhou's economic growth rate was only 0.8%, contributing less than 6% to the province's economic growth. Local media noted that, as the political, economic, and cultural center of the province, such performance hardly matched the weight of the term "provincial capital." After three years of development, Lanzhou presented its "strong provincial capital" report card at the end of 2025: the economic growth rate rose from 0.8% to 5.5% in 2025, its contribution to the province increased from 5.2% to 28%, and its GDP approached 400 billion yuan. However, compared to Lanzhou's target of achieving an economic primacy ratio of over 35% by 2027, the 28.5% primacy ratio at the end of 2025 indicates that Lanzhou's economic aggregate needs to achieve a greater breakthrough within two years.
Lanzhou aims to achieve this goal by focusing on "strengthening industry," but it does not act alone. Instead, it places greater emphasis on coordinated development with surrounding cities during this process. For instance, on March 16, Lanzhou and Jiayuguan held a symposium and signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement for the "strong provincial capital" initiative, outlining plans to promote the development of key industrial clusters such as steel, non-ferrous metals, new materials, and equipment manufacturing.
Beyond Lanzhou, since the beginning of 2026, several provincial capitals including Changchun, Kunming, and Jinan have also proposed "strengthening the provincial capital." For example, on March 20, Yunnan Province issued the "Implementation Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Urban Development," explicitly calling for the in-depth implementation of the "strong provincial capital" action. Kunming is expected to strive towards becoming a trillion-yuan GDP city during the "16th Five-Year Plan" period. However, the strategy for Kunming's "strong provincial capital" also focuses on regional coordinated development. The document proposes strengthening the Central Yunnan Urban Agglomeration, led by the Kunming metropolitan area, to further increase population and economic density, drive accelerated development in the Central Yunnan Urban Agglomeration and the entire province, and enhance linkage development between the Central Yunnan Urban Agglomeration and the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle.
If "strengthening the provincial capital" addresses the issue of a regional "dragon head," then "building strong pillars" tackles the overall coordinated development of the regional economy. At the end of 2025, Wuhan released the "Five-Year Action Plan for Fully Building a Modern Major Wuhan and Accelerating the Establishment of an Important Strategic Pivot for the Rise of Central China (2026-2030)," proposing to fully build a modern major Wuhan and take the lead in accelerating the province's establishment as an important strategic pivot for the rise of central China. On February 24, 2026, Hubei Province held the "Provincial Conference on Accelerating the Establishment of an Important Strategic Pivot for the Rise of Central China." This was the second consecutive year that Hubei's "first meeting after the Spring Festival" focused on pivot construction. Data shows that in 2025, Hubei's economic aggregate stabilized above the 6 trillion yuan mark, accounting for 21% of central China's total. Wuhan's economic aggregate exceeded 2 trillion yuan, with its GDP ranking ninth nationally. However, Hubei also faces issues such as overall uneven development, insufficient industrial synergy, and limited integration of application scenarios. The conference aimed to achieve "concentrated breakthroughs and comprehensive improvement" of Hubei's overall competitiveness in the first year of the "16th Five-Year Plan" period.
Wuhan should not only achieve its own development but also radiate and drive the development of surrounding cities within the province and other cities in central China, playing a core leading role in regional economic development. This aligns with the requirement in the "16th Five-Year Plan" to "leverage the role of key regional growth poles" and truly reflects the connotation of Wuhan as a "center."
It is estimated that during the "16th Five-Year Plan" period, Hubei's multi-polar development pattern will show more progress, with significant improvements expected by 2035. The key to breakthroughs and improvements lies in increasing the "cohesion" between Wuhan and the two sub-provincial-level cities, Yichang and Xiangyang. Despite Hubei proposing the "one main core, two secondary cores" strategy for many years, the issue of Wuhan's "dominance" persists. A major reason is that Hubei's economic development and infrastructure construction need to reach a higher level to more effectively support the multi-polar development pattern. For instance, regarding infrastructure, as provincial sub-central cities, Yichang and Xiangyang still need to enhance interconnectivity. Yichang only recently established high-speed rail connections within the province this year, forming the "golden triangle" linkage. However, Yichang lacks high-speed rail connections to the west, which hinders transportation in the entire western Hubei region and affects investment. It is anticipated that with the commencement of the Yichang-Changzhou high-speed rail and the connection of the Wuhan-Xi'an high-speed rail through Xiangyang to Xi'an, transportation within Hubei will improve, and the functions and status of cities within the province will change.
From an industrial perspective, during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Yichang leveraged its hydropower advantages to develop new energy industries, and its economic aggregate ranked second only to Yulin among all non-provincial capital cities in central and western China. Although Xiangyang's economic growth lagged behind Yichang's due to its automotive industry transformation, with improvements in transportation infrastructure during the "16th Five-Year Plan" period, the geographical patterns and locational advantages of both cities will change, presenting more development opportunities.
At the end of 2025, Chengdu's economic primacy ratio was 36.60%, indicating a strong provincial capital characteristic. However, besides continuing to support Chengdu's expansion and strengthening, another ongoing task for Sichuan Province is to cultivate more "waist cities." Sichuan has a vast territory with significant geographical variations, and regional development imbalances have long existed. To address this challenge, successive provincial committees in Sichuan have implemented regional development strategies such as "one line, two wings" and "multi-point, multi-polar support." In 2022, the "coordinated development of five regions" strategy was explicitly proposed. The "five regions" refer to the Chengdu Plain Economic Zone, Southern Sichuan Economic Zone, Northeastern Sichuan Economic Zone, Panxi Economic Zone, and Northwestern Sichuan Ecological Demonstration Zone. Unlike solely pursuing economic aggregate growth, "coordinated development of five regions" emphasizes complementary advantages and high-quality development. In 2025, the GDP of Neijiang, Meishan, Zigong, and Suining each surpassed the 200 billion yuan mark, increasing the number of prefecture-level units in Sichuan with GDP over 200 billion yuan from 9 to 13, accounting for more than half of the total prefecture-level units in the province. This signifies that Sichuan's regional economic development has reached a new level, marking a transition from single-core drive to multi-polar coordination. Under the leadership of the Chengdu-Chongqing dual cores, a "waist support" with greater thickness and resilience has formed.
It is also suggested that Hubei should cultivate more "waist cities." Currently, besides Wuhan, a trillion-yuan GDP city, and Yichang and Xiangyang, cities with GDP around 600 billion yuan, Hubei lacks cities in the 400-500 billion yuan range. Development across cities within the province remains insufficient and uneven. Besides further consolidating Wuhan's core status, it is recommended to drive the development of more county economies through the Xiangyang metropolitan area and the Yichang-Jingmen-Jingzhou metropolitan area to further narrow the gaps between different areas.