Brief introduction:

The Yangtze River Delta borders Tongyang Canal in the north, Hangzhou Bay in the south, Zhenjiang in the west, and the seaside in the east. It includes Shanghai, southern Jiangsu province, northern Zhejiang province and adjacent sea areas.

Along the straight coastline, there is an inter-tidal shoal with a width ranging from several thousand meters to tens of kilometers. The Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration is competitive in industry, finance, trade, education, science and technology, and culture. It also plays a key role in boosting the economy of the Yangtze River basin, connecting domestic and global markets, attracting overseas investment, promoting industries and technological transfers and taking part in international competitions and regional reorganization.

With a solid industrial foundation, flourishing commodity trade and convenient transportation, the Yangtze River Delta is the largest area opening to the outside world and the largest export base in China. Its urban agglomeration includes Shanghai, eight cities in Jiangsu province -- Nanjing, Suzhou, Yangzhou, Zhejiang, Taizhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, and Nantong -- and seven cities in Zhejiang province -- Hangzhou, Ningbo, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Zhoushan, Shaoxing and Taizhou.

The metropolis circle involves 16 cities on the alluvial plain of the Yangtze River Delta. It is home to more than half of China’s top 100 counties as well as about 100 industrial parks with annual output of 10 billion yuan ($1.46 billion) and thousands of industrial giants including Wanxiang Group, Volkswagen and Eastcom.

Strategic Development Plan:

The State Council approved an outline for the development of city cluster in the Yangtze River Delta on May 22, 2016.

According to the document, efforts will be made to deepen the supply-side structural reform and foster new engine for economic growth in the city cluster.

It aims to build the region into a pilot of institutional innovation, scientific and technological research, industrial upgrading, and coordinated development of urban and rural areas, all-round opening up and green development.

The area expects to grow into a world-class city cluster with global influence, form its new advantages in international competitions and better serve the Belt and Road construction and the Yangtze River Economic Belt strategy, as well as lead the way in realizing modernization on the whole by 2020.

The governments of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui are urged to improve their services and further optimize the coordination mechanism to ensure the implementation of the outline.

The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development shall supervise and make assessments on the local government’s implementation of the outline.

Investment advantages:

Inborn competitiveness

The city cluster is adjacent to the sea and enjoys convenient water and land transportation. It is also the most livable one and boasts the largest number of laborers among all the city clusters in China. In addition, the advantages in water supply and telecommunication enable it to become a hot spot for investment. As one of China’s largest city clusters, the Yangtze River Delta city cluster is competitive in commodity economy, agricultural products, industrial foundation and export-oriented economy.

Acquired competitiveness

As the development mechanism for overseas capital, traditional manufacturing and local characteristic industrial clusters advances, Shanghai’s function as an international city is becoming increasingly prominent; the role of Nanjing and Hangzhou, two representative modern central cities featuring producer service industry has been strengthened; the characteristics of advanced manufacturing bases like Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Ningbo, traditional manufacturing and local product processing bases such as Nantong, Taizhou, Yangzhou, Huzhou, and Shaoxing, as well as a tourism city Zhoushan have been formed.

With the development of export-oriented economy, the city cluster is turning into a global manufacturing base through incorporating into the global industrial chain and it is gaining more global presence. The international influence of Shanghai enables the Yangtze River city cluster to play an active role in the global division system of cities and helps fundamentally form a huge city network in the world.