Since the launch and implementation of the Project for High-quality Development of Counties, Towns and Villages (hereinafter referred to as the “County-Town-Village Development Project”), Shenzhen has resolutely undertaken its political responsibilities. From a political, holistic and strategic perspective, Shenzhen has advanced the targeted assistance and cooperation with four cities—Shantou, Heyuan, Shanwei and Chaozhou, as well as the counterpart industrial cooperation with three counties in Huizhou, with top-tier efforts. It has strengthened its radiation-driven role, innovated cooperation mechanisms, accelerated the coordinated and integrated development with surrounding cities, and promoted the higher-quality development of counterpart regions with the responsibility and deeds of a pacesetter. Shenzhen ranked first for two consecutive years in 2023 and 2024 in the provincial assessment of the County-Town-Village Development Project.
In 2025, Shenzhen allocated a total of 3.915 billion yuan in targeted assistance funds within Guangdong Province, and selected 392 cadres to be stationed permanently in cities, counties, towns and villages of the counterpart regions. Shenzhen has brought its high-tech resources, advantageous industries, technical talents and experience-based standards to these regions, helping them optimize and upgrade industries, continuously strengthen endogenous development drivers, and further enhance local residents’ sense of happiness and gain.
Shared Livelihood Benefits: Shenzhen Speed Embodies Shenzhen Responsibility
“The community has a pleasant environment and convenient transportation. We no longer worry about our children’s schooling or the elderly’s medical care, and life is full of hope now.” During the Spring Festival this year, disaster-affected residents in Pingyuan County, Meizhou City, celebrated their first reunion festival in their new homes at the resettlement community built with Shenzhen’s assistance. Mr. Li, who moved into his new house, expressed his delight, stating that his family was able to settle in a spacious, bright and fully-equipped new home in such a short time, all thanks to Shenzhen’s support and aid.
From a blueprint to a new home for the New Year, this community was completed in only 142 days. It conveys the Shenzhen Warmth through the Shenzhen Speed, vividly interpreting Shenzhen’s responsibility to encourage the better-off to help the less privileged and advance the coordinated development of urban and rural areas and regions.
In advancing the County-Town-Village Development Project, Shenzhen has conscientiously integrated its own development into the overall development layout of the nation and Guangdong Province. It has built model projects of assistance and cooperation with Shenzhen Speed and Shenzhen Standards, empowering counterpart regions to achieve high-quality development.
In Longchuan County, Heyuan City, a mountainous area in northern Guangdong, a new urban area with a planned area of about 58.2 square kilometers is under full-steam construction, underpinned by high-starting-point and high-standard planning guidance.
Revitalizing the vitality of “the First Ancient Town of Lingnan in the Qin and Han Dynasties” and “building a first-class new urban area” are the missions entrusted to Longchuan by the provincial Party committee and government in the new era. The CPC Shenzhen Municipal Committee and Shenzhen Municipal Government have firmly implemented the provincial Party committee’s decisions and arrangements on the planning and construction of Longchuan New Urban Area, increased support for capital and other essential resources, taken the lead in formulating a high-standard master plan for the new urban area, and set up a joint venture platform company with Longchuan for construction and operation, fueling the high-quality development of Longchuan County.
Beyond urban and rural infrastructure construction, Shenzhen has also focused on addressing the weaknesses and shortcomings in key livelihood sectors of counterpart regions, tilting assistance resources toward basic livelihood areas such as education, medical care and employment. The program of “Renowned Teachers Delivering Lectures to Rural Areas” has spread the seeds of knowledge, the initiative of “Ten Thousand Physicians Going to Rural Areas” has safeguarded residents’ health, and a number of major livelihood projects including the Shenshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine have been completed.
Today, in the counterpart regions, stretches of Shenzhen Roads extend in all directions, clusters of Shenzhen Buildings have risen rapidly, a host of Shenzhen Projects have been implemented and borne fruit, and numerous Shenzhen Teachers and Shenzhen Doctors have delivered warmth and hope—all of which have continuously enhanced local residents’ sense of happiness and gain.
Mechanism Innovation: Shenzhen’s Strength Meets the Development Needs of Counterpart Regions
In September this year, Heyuan City’s first heavy-duty truck ultra-fast charging demonstration station was put into operation in the Shenzhen-Heyuan Industrial Cooperation Park, enabling “5 minutes of charging for 100 kilometers of driving range” and effectively alleviating the range anxiety of new energy logistics vehicles in the park. “This ultra-fast charging station has greatly solved the pain points of difficult and slow charging for dozens of new energy heavy-duty trucks of our company in the industrial park,” said Guan Guoning, General Manager of Guangzhou Haohang Transportation Co., Ltd. The station has significantly improved charging efficiency and effectively reduced the operational costs of logistics enterprises.
As the first ultra-fast charging station for heavy-duty trucks in Shenzhen’s counterpart assistance regions that adopts Shenzhen’s technologies and standards, the Shenzhen-Heyuan Heavy-duty Truck Ultra-fast Charging Demonstration Station is a key measure for Shenzhen to further implement the County-Town-Village Development Project and upgrade the construction of new energy charging and swapping infrastructure in Heyuan.
Not only in Heyuan, Shenzhen’s ultra-fast charging facilities have also been deployed in multiple counterpart regions including Chaozhou, providing a Shenzhen Solution for the construction of county-level charging and swapping infrastructure. This is also a vivid practice of Shenzhen’s innovative assistance and cooperation mechanism: guided by the government and operated by the market, it has promoted the priority implementation of Shenzhen’s concepts, models, standards and technologies in counterpart assistance regions.
In fact, Shenzhen has continuously strengthened its radiation-driven role, aligning what Shenzhen can do with what counterpart regions need for development. Giving full play to the role of assistance and cooperation mechanisms as a platform and bridge, Shenzhen has strengthened exchanges and interactions with counterpart regions, organized Shenzhen-based enterprises, chambers of commerce, financial institutions and social organizations to carry out various docking activities in these regions, and achieved mutually reinforcing bilateral cooperation outcomes. This has boosted the endogenous driving forces for the development of counterpart regions and added vitality to Shenzhen’s economic and social development.
Meanwhile, the County-Town-Village Development Project has greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of social forces in Shenzhen—including industry associations, private enterprises and mass organizations—to participate in rural revitalization. Over the past three years, the amount of donations pledged and received through the June 30th Initiative for Rural Revitalization has exceeded 680 million yuan. A vibrant landscape has taken shape, featuring “a thousand enterprises assisting a thousand towns, ten thousand enterprises invigorating ten thousand villages”, “a hundred associations supporting a hundred towns (villages)” and “a hundred social organizations connecting a hundred villages”, forging a strong synergy for coordinated development.
Industrial Cooperation: Complementary Advantages for Win-win Cooperation
Municipal-level industrial parks focus on leading industries such as new materials, new energy and textile and garment manufacturing, extending and consolidating industrial chains around leading enterprises; seven district-level industrial parks are under full-scale development, and seven industrial synergy development bases established in Shenzhen have broken spatial constraints, opening up a forward position for Shantou enterprises to connect with resources in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area… In Shantou, the 1+7+N Shenzhen-Shantou industrial cooperation and development model has outlined a clear cooperation path for the two cities.
Breaking away from the model of one-way financial support, industrial cooperation has advanced to a deeper and higher level. Giving full play to its advantages in industries, science and technology, and capital, Shenzhen has jointly built 4 municipal-level industrial cooperation parks and 23 county-level characteristic parks with counterpart regions including Shantou, Heyuan, Shanwei and Chaozhou over the past three years. It has set up a 2.5 billion yuan industrial park fund, jointly attracted 68 projects each with an investment of over 100 million yuan (with a total investment exceeding 28 billion yuan), and formed cross-regional cooperation models such as Headquarters + Base, R&D + Production, Entrustment + OEM Manufacturing and Production + Services, helping local economies achieve higher-quality and more sustainable development.
By deepening bilateral cooperation and building a win-win pattern, the Shenzhen Approach has been widely recognized. The effectiveness and experience of Shenzhen’s counterpart cooperation with Shanwei have been fully affirmed by the National Development and Reform Commission and promoted nationwide. The paired assistance and cooperation between Shenzhen and Heyuan (for two consecutive years) and between Shenzhen and Shanwei have been awarded the grade of Excellent in the provincial assessment of promoting the orderly transfer of industries.
At the same time, as a core city and pivotal engine of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Shenzhen has taken the construction of the Shenzhen Metropolitan Area as an important starting point, and proactively led the deepening of strategic coordination with other cities in the metropolitan area such as Dongguan and Huizhou. By promoting the interconnection of infrastructure, the in-depth integration of industrial systems and the joint construction and sharing of public services, the Shenzhen Metropolitan Area is accelerating the formation of an integrated development pattern with a clear spatial structure, complementary urban functions and orderly factor flow. It has become a vivid practice of regional coordinated development, and contributed Shenzhen’s strength to exploring the construction of a modern metropolitan area for Guangdong Province and even the whole country.
