China is building a massive highway loop that encircles its border and coastal areas, creating new economic corridors and revitalizing remote communities.
The Ministry of Transport recently announced that during the country's 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), three key national highways — G219, G331 along the borders, and G228 along the coast — will be fully connected to form a "Golden Outer Ring." When joined end to end, this extraordinary route stretches over 26,000 kilometers, nearly two-thirds of the Earth's equatorial circumference.
Where does this grand loop begin? Both G331 and G228 start in Dandong City, Liaoning Province, converging at the foot of Hushan Great Wall. Wang Chunhai, Party secretary of Hushan Village in Kuandian Manchu Autonomous County, said the two highways pass right through the village, drawing a steady stream of self-driving tourists and border travelers. By leveraging this traffic advantage, the village has transformed idle land into RV campsites and homestays, earning praise from visitors while boosting collective income.
In Orchard Village, located along G331 in Changbai Korean Autonomous County, Jilin Province, resident Zheng Jinhua has reaped the benefits of the newly opened road. "Many guests say driving from Dandong along the Yalu River is scenic all the way. Lots of families here have started homestays or sell kimchi," she said. In the first half of this year alone, routes along G331 welcomed over 2 million tourists. Local residents are now earning a living from tourism by investing in lodgings, opening specialty restaurants, and selling agricultural products right at their doorsteps.
As early as 2024, a border tourism alliance was established along G331, bringing together Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Xinjiang. These regions are tapping into border cities, natural scenery, ethnic culture, ports, and boundary rivers to develop new tourism corridors featuring self-driving camping, leisure vacations, adventure experiences, and cross-border business travel.
The journey doesn't end there. G331's terminus and G219's starting point meet in Xinjiang. This June, the China Tourism Attractions Association, along with state-owned cultural tourism groups from Xinjiang, Tibet, and Yunnan, launched a coordinated development mechanism for G219 cultural tourism. The goal is to integrate tourism resources along this highway and promote unified cross-regional border tourism growth.
G219 serves as the main artery connecting China's western border, offering breathtaking ecological and geographical diversity. Along its path lie the Taklamakan Desert — China's largest — the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau known as the "Roof of the World," the Hengduan Mountains, and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Liu Rangqun, deputy general manager of Xinjiang Cultural Tourism Investment Group, emphasized that once fully connected, G219 will directly support border prosperity, stability, ethnic unity, rural revitalization, and the nation's cultural tourism ambitions.
While G219 and G331 trace the land borders, G228 is a blue corridor embracing the sea. Running from Dandong to Dongxing in Guangxi, it links 10 provinces and crosses major river systems including the Yalu, Liaohe, Haihe, Yellow, Huaihe, Yangtze, and Pearl Rivers, offering panoramic views of China's mainland coastline. Lee Jae-jae, a cycling enthusiast from Seoul, South Korea, was deeply impressed during his visit to China last year. "Dandong's climate is pleasant, and the coastal road scenery is stunning! The cycling lanes and rest stops are well-built, making for a smooth and enjoyable ride," he remarked.
The coastal highway also strengthens logistics. Li Hongchang, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, explained that G228 connects coastal ports, forming a transportation and logistics corridor that links land borders with maritime hubs. By integrating border port transport hubs with corridor and hub economies in other sectors, the route helps drive comprehensive economic development along its path. Take Dandong Port as an example: over the past year, the Langtou port area resumed domestic trade operations, and 10 berths at the Dadong port area received temporary approval for international operations. Cargo transshipment from Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces surged 72% year-on-year, while cross-border e-commerce transaction value grew by double digits.
The "Golden Outer Ring" westward connects to the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and China-Europe freight trains, while eastward it links to ocean shipping routes. Ma Jiangbo, deputy director of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges' Economic Research Center, noted that previously coastal and border regions operated on separate logistics channels. "Now, with these three highways enabling coordinated land-sea connectivity, cross-border logistics costs can be further reduced. Improved road networks turn former transportation dead ends into open frontiers, allowing resources from border and coastal areas to flow outward while attracting cross-border processing and border industrial parks. This will lead to a more balanced industrial layout across China."
In a recent milestone, China Railway 11th Bureau completed the main towers of the Dajiucai Jiangkou Extra-Large Bridge on the G331 Lagushao-Hunjiangkou section on August 21, marking progress toward the full completion of this transformative national highway network.
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