The "Central Triangle" is poised to take shape. The recently released outline for the 15th Five-Year Plan specifies support for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to develop into world-class city clusters. It also aims to elevate the development capacity of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone, creating a crucial growth pole for high-quality development, and to accelerate the growth of the Yangtze River Mid-Reaches city cluster, among others. This signifies a clear future development plan for China's city clusters. The Yangtze River Mid-Reaches city cluster is expected to become the fifth major city cluster, following the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and the Chengdu-Chongqing region, positioning it as China's "fifth economic pole."
What enables its status as the "fifth pole"? The Yangtze River Mid-Reaches city cluster is highly distinctive. In 2015, the State Council officially approved the "Development Plan for the Yangtze River Mid-Reaches City Cluster." According to an article on the National Development and Reform Commission's website, this was a key measure to implement the major national strategy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the first cross-regional city cluster plan approved after the "National New Urbanization Plan (2014-2020)" was released.
Over the past decade, the status of the Yangtze River Mid-Reaches city cluster has progressively risen within national development plans. In the outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan, it was listed as one of the city clusters targeted for "development and expansion." The 14th Five-Year Plan outline placed it alongside the other four major clusters, proposing to "optimize and upgrade the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Chengdu-Chongqing, and Yangtze River Mid-Reaches city clusters." This March, the call to "accelerate the development of the Yangtze River Mid-Reaches city cluster, among others" was included in the Government Work Report for the first time and incorporated into the 15th Five-Year Plan outline.
The geographical position of the Yangtze River Mid-Reaches city cluster is highly significant. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and Chengdu-Chongqing region form a "diamond structure" on the map, with the Yangtze River Mid-Reaches cluster situated precisely at the geometric center, filling a gap in the middle. Leveraging its unique locational advantage, the cluster can "connect the east and west, link the south and north," potentially becoming a core hub for facilitating smooth domestic circulation and building a unified national market.
The Yangtze River Mid-Reaches city cluster encompasses 31 cities, with a permanent population exceeding 130 million. Its total GDP is projected to reach 12 trillion yuan by 2025, making it the largest and strongest city cluster in central China. Furthermore, it is set to be a vital support for the development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the rise of the central region.
Which city acts as the "leading dragon"? The structure of the Yangtze River Mid-Reaches city cluster is also quite unique. Typically, a city cluster has one or several "leading" cities, such as Beijing in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region or Shanghai in the Yangtze River Delta. The spatial pattern of the Yangtze River Mid-Reaches cluster, however, is characterized as "three cores, three circles, three belts, and multiple nodes."
The "three cores" refer to the provincial capitals of Hubei, Hunan, and Jiangxi—Wuhan, Changsha, and Nanchang. All three are regional central cities, forming an approximate equilateral triangle on the map. In advancing the coordinated development of the cluster, the proposal is to focus on the "Wuhan metropolitan area as the center." The Wuhan metropolitan area is designated as a "national-level metropolitan area," with an economic output projected to reach 3.8 trillion yuan by 2025.
Chen Yao, Vice President of the China Society of Regional Economics, analyzed that the central role of the Wuhan metropolitan area within the cluster has been shaped by long-term development. It possesses advantages in terms of its hub location, economic strength, and scientific, technological, and industrial capabilities that position it well to be the cluster's center. In Chen Yao's view, centering on the Wuhan metropolitan area highlights two functions: on one hand, Wuhan, as the central city, should radiate and drive the development of its metropolitan area; on the other hand, it clearly assigns the Wuhan metropolitan area the mission of leading the development of the entire city cluster.
How to break down the "barriers"? For a cross-provincial city cluster, collaborative mechanisms are crucial. During this year's National People's Congress sessions, Ning Yong, a member of the Hubei Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee and Head of the United Front Work Department, stated that cooperation among Hubei, Hunan, and Jiangxi provinces currently lacks overall coordination, with industrial and innovation synergies not being tight enough, and cross-regional industrial chain collaboration still insufficient. The inadequacy of inter-provincial consultation and coordination mechanisms was also identified as a prominent issue in the "Implementation Plan for the Development of the Yangtze River Mid-Reaches City Cluster during the 14th Five-Year Plan Period."
Currently, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Yangtze River Delta hold annual meetings of top Party and government leaders; Guangdong-Hong Kong and Guangdong-Macao have established joint cooperation conference mechanisms; to promote the Chengdu-Chongqing economic zone, Party and government joint conferences between Chongqing and Sichuan are held every six months; the Yangtze River Mid-Reaches city cluster holds consultation meetings among its provincial capital cities.
Cai Ling, a professor at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, suggested that the state should guide Hubei, Hunan, and Jiangxi to establish a high-level management framework, implementing an annual joint conference system to coordinate matters like facility layout and project approval. "It is necessary to mobilize the enthusiasm of all parties," Chen Yao believes, noting that the core problem in cross-provincial coordination is a lack of motivation. He proposed building momentum mechanisms across multiple areas, including policy guidance, market drive, infrastructure connectivity, scientific and technological collaboration, joint ecological conservation, integration of industrial and supply chains, and benefit sharing, thereby forming a comprehensive system of driving mechanisms. "The collaborative mechanism for city clusters is also continuously being explored," Chen Yao said.
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