Northern coastal provinces are targeting the next "trillion-yuan GDP city"

Shijiazhuang Municipal People's Government holds an executive meeting to seize the opportunity of Hebei's implementation of the strong provincial capital strategy

According to reports from Shijiazhuang Daily, Wang Suwen, Deputy Secretary of the Shijiazhuang Municipal Party Committee and Mayor, recently presided over an executive meeting of the municipal government. The meeting pointed out that it is necessary to seize the opportunity of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government to implement the strong provincial capital strategy, adhere to the direction of intelligence, green transformation and integrated development, and focus on building a modern industrial system with advanced manufacturing as the backbone.

We must strengthen innovation-driven development, accelerate the construction of Shijiazhuang as an important fulcrum of the Beijing (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) International Science and Technology Innovation Center, actively connect with innovation resources in Beijing and Tianjin, speed up the development of technology intermediary institutions, and promote the incubation, transformation and industrialization of more scientific and technological achievements. We need to consolidate the industrial foundation, focus on five leading industries, accurately strengthen, extend, supplement and upgrade industrial chains, foster and expand emerging industries and future industries, and promote the in-depth integration of advanced manufacturing and modern service industries. We should focus on digital and intelligent empowerment, thoroughly implement the "Artificial Intelligence + Advanced Manufacturing" initiative, create a model of digital and intelligent transformation, and stimulate the endogenous growth momentum of the manufacturing industry.

The meeting emphasized that all departments at all levels should adhere to high-standard positioning, establish a global awareness, awareness of serving the provincial capital, and awareness of striving for excellence, actively benchmark against the advanced levels across the province and the whole country, take the work standards of taking the lead and setting an example, and take the mission responsibility of shouldering heavy responsibilities and making contributions, so as to promote all construction work to achieve higher quality, greater efficiency and deeper implementation.

Not long ago, Luo Wen, Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee, delivered a special report at the reading class of the Provincial Party School, where more than 300 leading officials from provincial government departments, cities and counties gathered. Luo Wen proposed that it is necessary to continuously deepen the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, further promote the high-quality construction and development of Xiongan New Area, vigorously implement the strong provincial capital strategy, actively build a coastal economic rising belt, continuously consolidate the foundation of county-level economy, and effectively increase the contribution rate of scientific and technological innovation to economic growth.

After that, mainstream media in Hebei Province focused on reporting the implementation of the strong provincial capital strategy in Hebei, further releasing a clear signal of striving to enhance Shijiazhuang's primacy ratio in the provincial economy and drive the high-quality development of the whole province. The report pointed out that the return of the "strong provincial capital" initiative is not simply "supporting one single city", but is carried out in coordination with the coastal economic rise and county-level economic improvement under the background of the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the high-quality construction of Xiongan New Area.

The reason why it is said to be back in the spotlight is that Hebei has entered the era of "strong provincial capital" since 2021. In terms of results, Shijiazhuang's national economic ranking has risen from 40th in 2021 (with a GDP of 649.03 billion yuan) to 34th in 2025 (with a GDP of 865.17 billion yuan). However, there is still a gap compared with the previously set target of "the city's total economic output exceeding one trillion yuan by 2025".

At present, the outline of Hebei's 15th Five-Year Plan puts forward new targets. By 2035, the province will achieve a substantial leap in economic strength, scientific and technological strength and comprehensive strength, and its total economic output will rank among the major economic provinces. Generally speaking, major economic provinces mainly refer to provinces whose GDP ranks among the top 10 in China. Hebei's GDP ranks 13th nationwide. To move up further, major economic cities in the province still need to make greater efforts.

Tangshan, the "largest economic city" in Hebei Province, achieved a GDP of over one trillion yuan in 2024, but its location is in the east of the province, making it difficult to undertake the important task of driving the development of the whole province. As the provincial capital, Shijiazhuang is expected to focus on enhancing its economic primacy ratio, increasing its contribution to the overall development of the province, and building a strong growth pole that drives the high-quality development of the whole province.

Under the goal of building a "strong provincial capital", one of the mentioned directions is to build an innovative city. At present, the coverage of the Beijing International Science and Technology Innovation Center has been expanded to the three regions of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, shifting from the "single-point breakthrough" of a single city to the "group operation" across provincial administrative regions. The purpose is to activate the innovation momentum of the whole region and shape the competitive advantage comparable to the world's top innovation clusters through the integration of space, factors, industries, systems and other aspects.

At this executive meeting of Shijiazhuang, it was also proposed that it is necessary to strengthen innovation-driven development, accelerate the construction of Shijiazhuang as an important fulcrum of the Beijing (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) International Science and Technology Innovation Center, actively connect with innovation resources in Beijing and Tianjin, speed up the development of technology intermediary institutions, and promote the incubation, transformation and industrialization of more scientific and technological achievements.

Some specific measures have been determined, including fully supporting North China Pharmaceutical to cooperate with the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Tsinghua University and Shanghai University to establish the "National Key Laboratory of AI Biomanufacturing and New Biological Products", promoting the construction of Yanzhao Electronic Information Laboratory, exploring the construction mode of the innovation port of Hebei Center of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei National Technology Innovation Center, and building a first-class cluster of science and technology innovation platforms.

This article is from the WeChat official account "City Evolution Theory", written by Yang Huan, and published with authorization by 36Kr.