The National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Overall Plan for the Construction of Hunan-Jiangxi Border Area Regional Cooperation Demonstration Zone", according to an announcement made on its official website on October 20, 2021.

It will build the Hunan-Jiangxi border area into a national pilot zone of revitalization of the old revolutionary base areas, an inter-provincial pacesetter of coordinated development, and a pioneer zone of green development and ecological civilization.

The border area is located at the junction of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces, covering 50,500 square kilometers.
It consists of 24 counties, county-level cities, and districts in the two provinces, including the following places in Hunan Province:
--Changsha’s Liuyang County-level City;
--Zhuzhou’s Liling County-level City, Youxian County, Chaling County, and Yanling County;
--Yueyang’s Pingjiang County; and,
--Chenzhou’s Anren, Yizhang, Rucheng, and Guidong counties.

And the following places in Jiangxi Province:
--Pingxiang City;
--Jiujiang’s Xiushui County;
--Yichun’s Yuanzhou District, and Wanzai and Tonggu counties;
--Ji'an’s Jinggangshan County-level City, and Suichuan and Yongxin counties; and,
--Ganzhou’s Shangyou and Chongyi counties.

The plan puts forward the overall requirements for the construction of the demonstration zone. It aims to jointly promote the inheritance of red culture, inter-provincial industrial cooperation, urban-rural integrated development, joint protection of ecological environment, infrastructure connectivity, and joint construction and sharing of public services, and guide the coordinated development between the border area and former central Soviet areas such as southern Jiangxi, and interactive development between the border area and city clusters in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

The plan clarified that by 2025, the comprehensive strength of the demonstration zone will be significantly enhanced, the protection and utilization of red culture strengthened, and the compensation mechanism for ecological protection upgraded. A comprehensive transportation network with high connectivity will be built. A mutually complementary modern industrial system will be taken shape. Integration of basic public services will be improved. The growth of urbanization rate of permanent population will be higher than the average level of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces. Replicable experiences will be accumulated for high-quality development of old revolutionary base areas.

By 2035, significant results will be achieved in regional cooperation in the border areas of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces. A new development diagram for old revolutionary base areas will be formed, with prosperous red culture, complete infrastructure, coordinated industrial development, beautiful ecological environment, equal basic public services, and happy life.

The plan specified the spatial layout of the demonstration zone: "one core, two zones, and four city clusters".
"One core" refers to the construction of a patriotic education base and a red tourist destination with the Jinggangshan area as the core.
"Two zones” refer to the building of the Luoxiao Mountain and Nanling ecological conservation zone, and an ecological corridor connecting the Yangtze River Basin and the Pearl River Basin.
"Four city clusters" refer to the establishment of a city cluster-based development pattern with distinctive characteristics and specific division of work, including Liuyang-Yuanzhou-Wanzai-Tonggu-Xiushui-Pingjiang, Liuyang-Liling-Shangli-Xiangdong-Anyuan-Luxi, Youxian-Chaling-Anren-Yanling-Jinggangshan-Yongxin-Lianhua and Guidong-Suichuan-Shangyou-Chongyi-Rucheng-Yizhang city clusters.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn