Zhengzhou is further transforming its channel advantages into development advantages, becoming a "hotbed" for industrial innovation, with emerging industrial clusters such as micro-dramas, new energy vehicles, and computing power infrastructure accelerating their formation and establishment. In 1954, the provincial capital of Henan was relocated from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou. Leveraging its status as a provincial capital and the continuous expansion of its railway network, Zhengzhou has gradually evolved from a crucial transportation hub connecting the north-south and east-west corridors into a megacity with a population exceeding ten million and an economic output surpassing one trillion yuan. In recent years, this "city pulled up by the railroad" has further converted its connectivity advantages into developmental strengths, becoming a fertile ground for industrial innovation where clusters of new industries like micro-dramas, new energy vehicles, and computing power infrastructure are rapidly taking shape.
With nearly a hundred short dramas starting production daily, Beijing-based micro-drama director Ding Bincheng received an offer from a short drama company in Zhengzhou by the end of 2025. Traveling from Beijing to the Zhengzhou set, he completed the initial filming for this micro-drama in about a week. "Taking the high-speed rail from Beijing to Zhengzhou only takes two to three hours, and there are many departures, which is very convenient," Ding Bincheng explained. Having worked in the film and television industry for over a decade as a director and screenwriter, he shifted his focus to the micro-drama sector two or three years ago and has since been consistently receiving offers. At the Jumei Konggang Vertical Screen Film Base where Ding's crew was working, over ten other micro-drama crews were simultaneously filming, with many practitioners hailing from outside Henan province. According to operations staff, some personnel can complete filming and return to their home cities on the same day, reducing crew costs. Furthermore, common settings like daily life and workplaces featured in micro-dramas can be achieved with "one-stop" services here, leading to火爆 bookings since its opening that require advance reservations.
Industry insiders indicate that centered on Zhengzhou, Henan has formed a "12345" high-speed rail travel circle: 1 hour to cover provincial cities, 2 hours to connect with surrounding provincial capitals and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, 3 hours to reach the Yangtze River Delta, 4 hours to access the Chengdu-Chongqing area, and 5 hours to arrive in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and other major national economic zones. This network not only facilitates the movement of crew members but is also highly advantageous for the transportation and allocation of filming equipment, props, and other materials. Leveraging its transportation hub status and rich historical and cultural heritage, Zhengzhou has seen the rise of a number of micro-drama creation and filming bases. These bases typically offer "one-stop" services, including script incubation, shooting locations, costumes/makeup/props, post-production, and even review and distribution support, significantly reducing production costs and transition time for crews. In recent years, the micro-drama industry, with its long industrial chain, wide involvement, large number of从业人员, and strong driving capacity, has become a new industrial growth point for some regions. In 2025, Zhengzhou hosted the "2025·Zhengzhou High-Quality Micro-Drama Development Conference," proposing the development goal of building a "Capital of Micro-Drama Creation" and providing specific policy support for the micro-drama industry. Suggestions for the "15th Five-Year Plan" propose prospering new mass literature and art under internet conditions. Data from the Zhengzhou Municipal Committee Propaganda Department shows that currently, there are over 800 micro-drama production enterprises in Zhengzhou, employing nearly 40,000 people, with close to a hundred short dramas starting production daily. Zhengzhou has become a major national hub for micro-drama creation, ranking second in the country for the annual number of micro-dramas filmed.
Small cars queue up to "ride" the train. A project commenced construction within 37 days and successfully began production in 17 months. In April 2023, BYD's largest vehicle production base by capacity commenced operations in the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone, achieving an output value of 33.47 billion yuan and producing over 200,000 vehicles that year. As of November 2025, it had cumulatively produced over 1.1 million new energy vehicles, with a total output value exceeding 200 billion yuan, helping Henan rank among the top ten provinces in China for annual automobile production. Not far east of the Zhengzhou BYD factory lies the 50-square-kilometer Zhengzhou International Land Port, which offers convenient logistics like "from factory to container" without the need for flatbed trucks. It enables整车 delivery to Europe within 15 days and simultaneously provides storage services for 1 million new energy vehicles and components. In October 2025, with the formal relocation of container train services from the western operation area to the eastern operation area, the distinctive "East Containers, West Vehicles" operational pattern of the Zhengzhou International Land Port was fully formed, achieving specialized分工 for commodity vehicle and container transport. Leveraging its proximity to BYD, the port's western operation area has pursued targeted investment attraction based on a "one core, three supplements, multiple chains" strategy. Partnering with China Railway Special Cargo Services, it aims to build the largest commodity vehicle distribution center in central China. Its new energy vehicle transport business covers mainstream brands like BYD and Nissan, achieving a stable daily dispatch of 3 to 4 trains, and has attracted over 20 upstream and downstream enterprises, with warehouse and parking lot occupancy rates both exceeding 60%. As a comprehensive service provider for整车, auto parts, and engineering machinery export trade, Guangzhida Group's整车·Auto Parts Full Supply Chain Product Selection Center landed in the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone in October 2025, filling a critical link in the automotive industry chain development. "This area is not only a key node for the China-Europe Railway Express but also possesses the combined advantages of rail, road, air, and water transport. With the opening of waterway channels, the efficiency of multimodal transport will be further enhanced," said Wang Peng, co-founder of Guangzhida Group. In 2025, the Zhengzhou International Land Port surpassed its annual target of 800 train departures 65 days ahead of schedule. A relevant负责人 from the port stated that they are currently negotiating KD component rail-sea联运 services with BYD headquarters and Shandong Port Group, aiming for a monthly dispatch of 50 trains by 2026 to further expand business boundaries.
Transitioning from a "Channel City" to a "Value Hub." At the beginning of the new year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission website disclosed that Superfusion Digital Technology Co., Ltd. had submitted its listing辅导备案 materials to the Henan证监局. As a globally leading provider of computing power infrastructure and services, Superfusion's journey from initial business discussions in 2021 to signing and establishing operations in Zhengzhou took less than three months. This serves as a vivid example of the initial success of Henan's efforts to build an innovation ecosystem and also benefits from the region's efficient logistics and supply chain support. Leveraging Henan's "traffic flow," Superfusion has established a global spare parts center in Zhengzhou, offering expedited services like 2-hour delivery to 40 domestic cities and 4-hour delivery to 64 cities. Simultaneously, it can achieve 4-hour spare parts delivery to key global cities. Occupying the "traffic flow" is conducive to seizing market share. Superfusion's sales revenue broke through 10 billion yuan in 2022, exceeded 28 billion yuan in 2023, leapt directly to the 43.5 billion yuan mark in 2024, and ranked second among domestic server整机 manufacturers in the first half of 2025 with sales of 26.8 billion yuan, maintaining the top spot in the Chinese standard liquid-cooled server market share for two consecutive years. The company's实践 resonates with provincial strategy. In terms of computing power infrastructure, using Superfusion as a pivot point, the Zhengzhou Unified Computing Power Scheduling Platform was launched in the first half of 2025. It has already managed and scheduled over 2200P of intelligent computing power from within and outside the province, with a reserve computing power exceeding 10,000P, laying a solid foundation for industries like artificial intelligence. Now, situated at the geographical center of the eight national computing hub nodes under the "East Data, West Computing" project, Zhengzhou has developed into a national hub for computing power transit and distribution. The total bandwidth of the national internet backbone direct connection points has been expanded to 4000G, with average intra-network and inter-network internet latency ranking first and third in the country, respectively. With the advancement of major projects like the Zhengzhou-Qinghai-Haixi Urban Computing Power Network Experimental Field, the National Supercomputing Internet Core Node, the National Songshan Artificial Intelligence Public Computing Power Open Innovation Platform, and the Zhongyuan Computing Valley, Zhengzhou is accelerating the re-creation of its advantages and the transformation of its growth drivers, transitioning from a "Channel City" to a "Value Hub."
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