How China’s new ‘city cluster’ of Cheng-Yu can become fourth powerhouse to drive nation’s economic growth
- Chengdu and Chongqing municipality megalopolis to emulate those of Yangtze River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area
- New area, with extensive transport network, rich pool of talent and thriving hi-tech hubs, looks well placed to be ‘Silicon Valley of China’s west’
In recent years, Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province – an important financial, business and cultural centre in southwest China – has been attracting greater global news coverage. Long regarded as the gateway to Western China, the city’s reputation as an innovative hi-tech hub has been increasing.
Only 269km (165 miles) away to the east lies Chongqing – a megacity that is close, both geographically and culturally, to Sichuan. In 1997 it was designated as one of the country’s only four provincial-level municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin are the others) to manage the resettlement of about 1.2 million people along the Yangtze River following construction of the Three Gorges Dam.
Chongqing municipality – one of the world’s largest cities, which includes the city of Chongqing and neighbouring unconnected cities – has a population of more than 31 million people and covers an area of 82,400 square km (about 31,800 square miles) – just slightly smaller than the area of the European nation of Austria. Yet despite its size, it is often regarded as “the metropolis you’ve never heard of”.
The change in its status accelerated its centuries-long “rivalry” with neighbouring Chengdu for the role as the region’s economic hub.
However, since January 2020 the two cities have been jointly attracting attention and enjoying new, harmonious relations after China’s top policymakers at the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission (CFEAC) proposed combining them into a city cluster, Cheng-Yu – comprising the whole of Chongqing municipality, Chengdu and 14 other cities – which will form the nation’s fourth economic powerhouse.
The new cooperation between the two cities started with Chengdu’s efforts to speed up its eastward development plans. In May, the Sichuan government officially licensed the Chengdu Eastern New Area – a move that will expedite the city’s expansion and integration with Chongqing.
