This central Chinese province wants its own "Yiwu"

According to Jiangxi Daily, on June 2nd, Yin Hong, the Secretary of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee, visited Ruichang City and Lianxi District in Jiujiang City for a special research on the development of county - level economy. He emphasized that based on resource endowments and industrial foundations, it is necessary to select the right tracks to cultivate and strengthen advantageous leading industries and promote the high - quality development of county - level economy according to local conditions.

Yin Hong pointed out that industries are the core support for the development of county - level economy. It is necessary to adhere to the principle of adapting to local conditions and implementing classified policies, actively cultivate and develop characteristic and advantageous industries, vigorously implement the upgrading action of industrial clusters, accelerate the construction of a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone, and continuously enhance the core competitiveness of county - level economy.

He also mentioned that it is necessary to adhere to the integrated development of promoting industries, strengthening counties and enriching the people, continuously deepen reform and innovation, stimulate the driving force and vitality of county - level development, and strive to build a number of economically strong counties, agriculturally strong counties, culturally and touristically beautiful counties, and ecologically famous counties, so as to form a county - level economic development pattern with distinct characteristics, differential development, complementary advantages, and prosperity.

Recently, regions across the country have been learning from the "Yiwu Development Experience". The common focus is to promote the high - quality development of county - level economy.

County - level economy is the micro - foundation and "capillaries" of the national economy. In recent years, "cultivating and developing county - level economy", "vigorously developing county - level economy", and "promoting the high - quality development of county - level economy" have been successively included in the government work reports. The 15th Five - Year Plan Outline also clearly proposes to develop county - level economies with distinct characteristics.

For Jiangxi, the area of counties accounts for about 90% of the province's total area, the permanent population accounts for more than 70%, and the economic aggregate accounts for more than 50%. County - level economy plays a crucial role in the province's economic development. It can be said that "for Jiangxi to be strong, its counties must be strong".

In recent years, Jiangxi has taken many actions in promoting the development of county - level economy.

In February 2025, Jiangxi issued the "Several Measures on Promoting the High - quality Development of County - level Economy", requiring to "accelerate the construction of a county - level economic development pattern with distinct characteristics, complementary advantages, and strong competitiveness".

When industries thrive, counties prosper. Some analysts believe that there are significant differences in resource endowments among Jiangxi's counties. There are industrial bases such as copper smelting in Guixi and medicine in Zhangshu, agricultural brands such as Gannan navel oranges and Nanfeng tangerines, and unique advantages such as ecological tourism and red resources. Building a differential and characteristic industrial system is the fundamental path to strengthen the county - level economy.

In the same year, the Leading Group for Regional Coordinated Development of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee issued the "Work Plan for Concentrating Efforts to Build a Number of Economically Strong Counties, Agriculturally Strong Counties, Culturally and Touristically Beautiful Counties, and Ecologically Famous Counties". Among the 73 counties (cities) in the province, considering the local resource endowments, characteristic advantages, development foundations and trends, a number of economically strong counties, agriculturally strong counties, culturally and touristically beautiful counties, and ecologically famous counties (a total of 25) were selected.

In October 2025, Yin Hong also said at the Special Consultation Meeting on the Research Results of Non - Party Personages in Jiangxi Province in 2025 that "it is necessary to deeply understand the important position and role of county - level economy, place more importance on supporting county - level development, concentrate resources, gather strength, and integrate policies, and continuously create a new situation for the high - quality development of county - level economy".

Previously, the 15th Five - Year Plan Outline of Jiangxi proposed to support each county to give full play to its comparative advantages and develop competitively, form county - level economies with distinct characteristics, and create more growth points for high - quality development.

According to the plan, by 2030, there will be about 20 economically strong counties in Jiangxi with a GDP of over 40 billion yuan, about 15 agriculturally strong counties with a total output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery of over 8 billion yuan, about 10 culturally and touristically beautiful counties with the cultural and tourism industry as the pillar industry, and about 10 ecologically famous counties with an ecological quality index of over 82.

In the view of local media, compared with Yiwu, a "top student", there is still a lot of room for Jiangxi's county - level economy to strengthen itself, and there are still many short - boards to make up. Learning from Yiwu is not to become the second Yiwu, but to "forge a better Jiangxi".

This article is from the WeChat public account "Urban Evolution Theory", author: Liu Yanmei. Republished by 36Kr with permission.