Observing the Northeast through the lens of Jilin reveals the pulse of the times. On May 7th, at the Songyuan Hotel in Changchun, Governor Hu Yuting of Jilin Province outlined the province's new mission for its 15th Five-Year Plan: "Striving to transform the grand blueprint envisioned by the General Secretary into a clear 'construction plan' with defined targets, tasks, pathways, and actionable measures."
Rewinding to 1953, with the launch of China's First Five-Year Plan, Jilin was selected for 11 of the 156 key national projects. The cornerstone of the Changchun First Automobile Works marked the starting point of New China's industry and the responsibility borne by the "eldest son of the republic." From the First to the 15th Five-Year Plan, the journey has been one of laying foundations and seeking breakthroughs. The future industries outlined in the latest plan look decades ahead—carbon fiber taking to the skies, new energy vehicles traversing the globe, and the torch of major winter sports events passed to future generations. This seventy-year retrospective and thirty-year outlook together form a century-long perspective.
Jilin's century-long journey is an unbroken path of striving for national self-reliance. In the past, the focus was on industrial independence; today, it is on technological self-sufficiency. From the spirit of "production first, livelihood later" to the current market acumen of "preferring to sacrifice immediate sales to extend downstream"—the context of planning has evolved, but Jilin's role as an old industrial base exploring paths for the nation has never ceased.
**Forging an Industrial Backbone Through Catching Up**
In Jilin's context, "century-long depth" is not mere rhetoric. It is embodied in the first domestically produced sedan at the FAW Red Flag Culture Exhibition Hall and the trajectory of the "Jilin-1" satellite across the sky. Starting from the First Five-Year Plan, backbone enterprises like FAW, CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles, Jilin Chemical, and Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, collectively built Jilin's industrial spine and technological foundation. Over the next two decades, companies like Jilin Chemical Fiber and Jilin Oilfield continuously filled industrial gaps and perfected the system, producing the first batch of ferroalloy, the first batch of carbon products, and drilling the first barrel of crude oil.
Following reform and opening-up, these old bases strived to transform amid market tides. From the 10th to the 13th Five-Year Plan periods, Jilin also nurtured emerging industries like biomedicine and health, electronic information, and aerospace. It is through such successive cultivation that Jilin has accumulated the foundation to run alongside new energy and embodied intelligence today.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Jilin underwent a challenging "blood transfusion." Impacted by the new energy vehicle wave, the automotive industry's share once dropped by 15 percentage points, highlighting the pains of transformation for the traditional pillar. However, the real "transfusion" went further—Jilin turned the blade inward, optimizing government management of state-owned capital, assets, and resources, implementing zero-based budgeting reform, successfully exiting the list of key local debt provinces, and fully clearing high-risk financial institutions. Provincial-level first-tier enterprises were reduced by 80%, and all-tier enterprises by 40%, with 151 second and third-tier provincial enterprises turning losses around. Reforms and revitalization of enterprises like the Forestry Industry Group and Dacheng Group led to provincial enterprise revenue and profits reaching their best levels in recent years.
As "old blood" was drawn out, "new blood" was created. Where did this "new blood" flow? The answer is written in the 15th Five-Year Plan outline, summarized in four words: "advancement and breakthrough." Specifically, economic growth aims to "outpace the national average," with per capita GDP reaching the level of a moderately developed country in step with the national target by 2035. Industrially, agriculture and tourism aim to reach trillion-yuan scales, while new energy, embodied intelligence, green hydrogen, etc., become new growth poles. Key短板 indicators will be vigorously addressed.
Governor Hu Yuting stated the goal is to "fully catch up and amplify comparative advantages." The ultimate objective of the plan is to "translate into a 'picture of happiness' that the people can feel and benefit from." This is not passive gap-filling but active reconstruction. The confidence for this reconstruction stems from enterprises with "striving for national self-reliance" deeply embedded in their genes.
In the -30°C environmental chamber at FAW Group's R&D headquarters, a Hongqi sedan equipped with all-solid-state batteries is undergoing a low-temperature start-up test. Engineers explain that unlike traditional batteries whose capacity significantly degrades in extreme cold, all-solid-state batteries, leveraging the inherent advantages of solid electrolytes, maintain good performance with far less degradation. This means electric vehicles won't easily "strike" during Jilin's coldest winters. Public information indicates that FAW Hongqi's all-solid-state battery prototype vehicle has entered real-vehicle testing, making it one of the earliest automakers to reach this stage.
Jilin's new energy industry is also leaping forward. The province's exploitable wind and solar capacity reaches 400 million kilowatts. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, it pioneered the "direct green power connection + local consumption" model, with newly installed wind and solar capacity being twice the total of previous periods. Green electricity is not just energy but a "strategic source" for industrial development. Promoting the transformation of the petrochemical industry towards fine chemicals and new materials, ethylene is a key raw material. Governor Hu Yuting specifically mentioned: "We have built a 1.9 million ton ethylene project, with over 40 supporting projects under construction. The next step is extending the industry chain, increasing added value, and forming new advantages."
**Building Future Industry Tracks Based on Local Conditions**
While many regions rush into large models and general AI, Jilin has chosen a path of "acting according to local conditions"—eschewing "keeping up with the Joneses" vanity projects and focusing on building hardcore capabilities "where we have what others don't." The 15th Five-Year Plan explicitly lists embodied intelligence, hydrogen and modern energy storage, aerospace information, and bio-manufacturing as key future industries. A group of hard-tech enterprises rooted in Jilin but with a global vision are strengthening advantages, expanding tracks, and enhancing capabilities.
Jilin Chemical Fiber Group is the global leader in carbon fiber production and sales. A few years ago, the company mainly exported precursor and carbon fiber, with relatively limited profit margins. "We would rather sacrifice current sales volume to transform carbon fiber into finished products before leaving the factory." The results of this choice are becoming increasingly clear. By 2025, Jilin Chemical Fiber's in-house usage rate of carbon fiber products exceeded 40%, with products widely used in aerospace, high-speed rail, and lightweight vehicles. A single black fiber is weaving the future of Jilin's high-end manufacturing.
Entering the command hall of Chang Guang Satellite Technology in Changchun New Area, a huge curved screen displays 152 green dots forming a dense network. Staff explain: "This is the world's largest sub-meter commercial remote sensing constellation. Each satellite orbits Earth every 90 minutes; with 152 operating in a network, it means any point on Earth has a satellite passing overhead on average every 15 minutes." Massive data flows down like a torrent. Once dormant on hard drives, Jilin is now fully tapping this "data gold mine."
At the Jiyi Embodied Intelligence Laboratory, the R&D lead demonstrates a dexterous hand: "It can hold an egg and also lift a 10-kilogram weight." This hand integrates Jilin University's domestically leading technology in tactile sensing, with its "brain" and "cerebellum" derived from the precision control algorithms of the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics. It is understood that in the first half of this year, the Jiyi Embodied Intelligence Group, formed by Jilin Province integrating industry-academia-research resources, will launch its first product.
From carbon fiber to aerospace information, from solid-state batteries to embodied intelligence, Jilin is using the 15th Five-Year Plan as a blueprint to transform traditional industrial heritage into new quality productive forces, sprinting with new strides of the "eldest son of the republic" on the new track of high-quality development.
**Clearing Implementation Channels Through Integration and Transformation**
The transformation of scientific and technological achievements was once an unavoidable "persistent challenge" in the Northeast. Papers from laboratories were shelved after awards, while enterprises struggled to find the technological sources they urgently needed. What Jilin's 15th Five-Year Plan attempts to solve is precisely this deadlock of "achievements first, transformation later."
Jilin offers a new solution in the plan, summarized by Governor Hu Yuting as: integration, transformation, and strengthening enterprises. "Integration" shifts scientific and technological innovation from "paper-oriented" to "industry demand-oriented," ensuring R&D and industry no longer operate in silos. "Transformation" means clearing the channel from "technology—prototype—product—industry." "Strengthening enterprises" positions enterprises as the main actors in innovation.
Taking embodied intelligence as an example, its operational logic is: the government leads in establishing the Jiyi Group, makes decisions based on market principles, lets enterprises take the lead, with frontline R&D and production personnel tackling key problems, profits tilted towards enterprises and frontline researchers, and the company charter explicitly reserving equity incentives. This truly connects R&D, prototypes, products, and industry, pushing enterprises to the forefront of innovation.
During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Jilin will implement a corporate R&D expenditure guidance plan, support enterprises in leading innovation consortia that "tackle key problems," and integrate R&D, design, manufacturing, and application. The shift from "written on paper" to "built into products" reflects the meshing of the innovation chain and the industrial chain, moving from disconnection to integration.
**Government Focus: Reform, Livelihoods, and Agriculture**
Vice Governor Liu Kai stated that during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Jilin achieved classified, centralized, and unified supervision of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), clarifying main responsibilities and businesses "one enterprise, one policy." Jilin Chemical Fiber's carbon fiber production and sales rose to become the world's largest. Provincial enterprise revenue and profits reached their best levels in recent years. The 15th Five-Year Plan will focus on new tracks like embodied intelligence and green hydrogen, support SOEs in leading the formation of innovation consortia; deepen the reform of the three systems (labor, personnel, and distribution), strengthen穿透式 supervision, and implement reorganization攻坚 for municipal and county-level SOEs.
In民生,民生 expenditure accounts for over 80% of the budget. The 15th Five-Year Plan targets 1 million new urban jobs and 12 million transfers of rural labor. Four national regional medical centers will be completed and operational, with average life expectancy reaching 80 years.
Vice Governor Liu Wei noted that Jilin's grain output has remained stable above 80 billion jin for five consecutive years, with total output reaching 871.6 billion jin in 2025 and per-unit yield at 990.8 jin, 2.2 times the national average. High-standard farmland construction reached 25.56 million mu, equivalent to the total of the previous decade; conservation tillage was implemented on 1.19 billion mu cumulatively, increasing the plow layer thickness by 3.5%, effectively curbing the trend of thinning and degradation of black soil. The 15th Five-Year Plan will push grain output past the 100 billion jin mark, strengthen "Jilin-brand"特色 agricultural products,健全 mechanisms linking farmers to benefits, and strive for农民 income growth to outpace that of the national农民 average, the province's overall economy, and urban residents.
Regarding urban renewal, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, 5,344 old residential communities were renovated, 13,000 kilometers of pipelines were updated, and 2,960 construction site enclosures were整治. The 15th Five-Year Plan will renovate over 21,000危旧房 in urban villages,更新 14,000 kilometers of old pipelines, and create 100 "good house" demonstration projects.
Jin Yuhui, Member of the Jilin Provincial Government Party Leadership Group, stated that the Changchun Modern Metropolitan Area has launched over 20 tourism routes, achieved "圈内通办" for 117 government services, and will complete the metropolitan ring expressway this year. The 15th Five-Year Plan envisions 718 major projects,打造 eight advanced manufacturing clusters, and构建 a 30-minute high-speed rail network from Changchun to cities within the圈.
In the ice and snow economy, the province leads the nation in the number of national-level滑雪 tourism resorts, with three滑雪场接待人次 exceeding one million. Hosting the大冬会 next year will involve upgrading facilities,推出 ticket price减免, optimizing winter vacation arrangements for primary and secondary students, and构建 an all-region layout including the Chang-Ji Metropolitan Ice and Snow Leisure Resort Zone, the Greater Changbai Mountain Ice and Snow Agglomeration Area, and the Chagan Lake Fishing and Hunting Ice Capital.
**Special Feature: National Needs, Hong Kong's Strengths – Timely Mutual Engagement Between Jilin and Hong Kong**
When Hong Kong's first five-year plan intersects with Jilin's 15th Five-Year Plan, and when the comprehensive revitalization of Northeast China meets the co-construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, how should these two major national strategies, one north, one south, engage in "mutual奔赴"? Jilin's 15th Five-Year Plan looks decades ahead; how should Hong Kong leverage its "bridging internal and external" advantages?
Chan Wing, Hong Kong Deputy to the National People's Congress, Legislative Councilor, and Vice Chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, recently stated that mutual engagement between Jilin and Hong Kong is timely. Having proposed suggestions like "accelerating the construction of the Northern Metropolis" during Greater Bay Area research, Chan believes these experiences also apply to Jilin-Hong Kong cooperation. "The core logic of the Northern Metropolis is 'breaking walls'—removing administrative barriers. Although Jilin and Hong Kong are far apart, they similarly need to break隐性 barriers," he said. "Jilin has a solid manufacturing foundation—FAW, CRRC Changchun, Jilin Petrochemical, as well as the ginseng industry accounting for 70% of global output and leading carbon fiber capacity; Hong Kong has international standards, global marketing networks, and mature capital markets. Their combination is a reconfiguration of industry chains with innovation and financial chains."
Regarding specific paths, Chan cited the successful 17-year cooperation between CRRC Changchun and MTR, providing 446 subway cars. "'Jilin制造 plus Hong Kong services' has been market-tested. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, we hope to replicate this model in前沿 fields like carbon fiber, new energy vehicles, and hydrogen equipment." On logistics and finance, Chan noted that while Jilin faces Northeast Asia, international circulation channels for high-value-added products仍需疏通. He suggested: first, encouraging key Jilin enterprises to establish overseas sales or settlement centers in Hong Kong to leverage free port policies and reduce costs; second, supporting Jilin's ice and snow equipment and new energy projects to issue green bonds in Hong Kong, leveraging lower financing costs for construction.
Chan最后 emphasized that Hong Kong's advantage is "bridging internal and external"—bringing international resources in and taking good mainland products out. The mutual奔赴 between Jilin's 15th Five-Year Plan and the Greater Bay Area is indeed timely.
**Jilin's Century: A Timeline of Northeast Industrial History** * 1953: First Five-Year Plan launches; the Northeast becomes a key base for New China's industrial construction. * 1956: Changchun First Automobile Works completed and operational, laying the foundation for China's auto industry. * 1960s-1980s: Industrial system gradually完善; Jilin becomes an important national industrial production base. * 1990s: Transition pains; old industrial bases face challenges. * 2003: Northeast revitalization strategy implemented; old industrial bases迎来新一轮 development opportunities. * 2020 onward: Innovation-driven development; new growth drivers and advantages accelerate formation. * 2025: 15th Five-Year Plan formulation begins; Jilin embarks on a new journey of high-quality development. * 2035: A Northeast model for basically achieving socialist modernization.
Comments