From the southern to the northern parts of Zengcheng, a magnificent picture of integrated urban-rural development is slowly unfolding.
Stepping into the core zone of Zengcheng Economic and Technological Development Zone, where the Eastern Central City is situated, the upstream and downstream industrial chains of the integrated circuit industry have taken shape in clusters. Enterprises engaged in chip manufacturing, packaging and testing, display panels and other sectors come into view one after another.
A little further north, at the Guangzhou Eastern Multimodal Transport Hub (Zengcheng West Railway Station), the China-Europe Railway Express sounds its whistle, telling the vivid story of “Guangdong Goods, Zengcheng Delivery” that spans mountains and seas.
Continuing north to the Zengcheng section of the Nankun Mountain – Luofu Mountain Leading Area, a number of upgraded projects including the Zengjiang Gallery Tour, Zhengguo Post Station, Baishuizhai Scenic Area and Senlinhai Resort have been unveiled. These projects link natural landscapes, cultural heritage and pastoral scenery, attracting tourists from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area for sightseeing and check-ins.
This year marks the final year of the 14th Five-Year Plan and also the year for the “100 Counties, 1,000 Towns, 10,000 Villages Project” to deliver initial results as scheduled in three years. Since the launch of the project, all sectors across the district have forged ahead with boundless enthusiasm, tackled tough challenges with unwavering perseverance and strived for excellence through mutual learning and competition. We have pooled a powerful synergy for development, depicting a vibrant panorama of integrated urban and rural advancement.
Strategic Guidance: Anchoring Major Development Platforms to Draw the Blueprint for Development
As the top priority for Guangdong to pursue high-quality development, the “100 Counties, 1,000 Towns, 10,000 Villages Project” aims to resolve the urban-rural dual structure and promote coordinated development between urban and rural areas. It sets forth the goals of “making a good start in one year, achieving initial results in three years, seeing remarkable changes in five years and realizing fundamental transformation in ten years”.
Geographically advantaged as a vital link between the Guangzhou and Shenzhen metropolitan circles, our district has been entrusted by the provincial and municipal governments with the strategic mission of building two major development platforms: the Eastern Central City and the Nankun Mountain – Luofu Mountain Leading Area. Endowed with both urban and rural areas, industrial and agricultural sectors, Zengcheng shoulders the crucial responsibility of advancing integrated urban-rural development. In the course of development, we have always regarded the “100 Counties, 1,000 Towns, 10,000 Villages Project” as the core guiding principle for pursuing high-quality development.
Over the past three years, we have swiftly established a command system consisting of a district-level headquarters, 12 special working groups and 13 towns/subdistricts, and built a four-tier advancement mechanism featuring “overall coordination by the headquarters, tackling key tasks by special groups, inter-departmental collaboration and implementation by towns/subdistricts”. A full-chain supervision system has also been put in place. We have carried out targeted campaigns to advance major tasks such as the construction of the Nankun Mountain – Luofu Mountain Leading Area, forming a sound work pattern of solid implementation at every level. Up to now, we have delivered tangible outcomes for a total of 577 key tasks and 25 major tough projects.
Thanks to three years of dedicated efforts, Zengcheng’s overall economic strength has been further enhanced. In 2024, the district achieved a regional GDP of 141.24 billion yuan, with an average annual growth of 4.7% in the past two years; the total industrial output value of industrial enterprises above designated size neared 200 billion yuan, growing at an average annual rate of 7.7% in two years; the total import and export volume reached 144 billion yuan in 2024, surging by an average of 65% annually over the two-year period; the total number of market entities exceeded 320,000, with an average annual increase of 15.7%. The Guangzhou Eastern Multimodal Transport Hub has been accredited as a national logistics hub for production and services, and Zengcheng Economic and Technological Development Zone has jumped 137 places in the comprehensive evaluation of national-level economic and technological development zones in nine years. The gap between urban and rural development and the disparity in living standards among villagers have narrowed significantly, with farmers’ per capita income reaching 38,200 yuan, a 5.7% average annual growth in two years.
Industrial Empowerment: Forging a Core Engine for High-quality Development
Industry is the backbone of regional revitalization. Adhering to the simultaneous development of district-boosting industries and people-enriching industries, we have continuously stimulated the endogenous driving force for development.
Industrial agglomeration has maintained a sound momentum. The industrial clusters of integrated circuits, new display and new energy vehicles have achieved clustered development. Major projects such as Zengxin Semiconductor have been completed and put into production, while leading enterprises including Visionox and Zhongshan Precision have maintained stable and increased production. In 2024, industrial investment exceeded 30 billion yuan, accounting for 42% of the fixed asset investment, up from 18.6% in 2022.
The development level of industrial parks and platforms has been continuously elevated. Guangzhou Xintang Railway Station in the core zone of the Eastern Central City connects 70 cities across 7 provinces. The reform of “one zone with multiple parks” in Zengcheng Economic and Technological Development Zone has been deepened: the Smart Sensor Industrial Park has been rated as a Provincial Characteristic Industrial Park, and the High-end Electronic Information New Material Industrial Park has become the first chemical industrial park in Guangzhou. The Guangzhou Eastern Multimodal Transport Hub has been approved as a national logistics hub for production and services; Zengcheng West Railway Station now connects 34 cities in 17 countries, with its freight volume accounting for 43% of Guangdong Province’s total.
Agricultural modernization has also scored remarkable achievements. We have boosted agricultural development with the same rigor as we do for manufacturing industries: the grain sown area reached 158,000 mu (10,533 hectares), with grain output increasing for six consecutive years, and our district ranked first in the comprehensive evaluation of the farmland chief system in Guangdong Province. Over 30 high-quality varieties of Simaomi rice have been cultivated, with the brand value exceeding 5 billion yuan. Zengcheng Litchi has been selected as a National Leading Agricultural Variety for three consecutive years, the only lychee variety to receive this honor nationwide.
Urban-Rural Renovation: Painting a Picture of Livable, Business-friendly and Harmonious Development
Narrowing the urban-rural gap is the core of the “100 Counties, 1,000 Towns, 10,000 Villages Project”. We have persisted in exploring a development path of new-type urbanization plus beautiful countryside, enabling urban and rural areas to showcase their unique charms and achieve shared prosperity in beauty.
Urban quality has been upgraded to a higher level. Xintang Town has been listed among China’s Top 100 Towns in Comprehensive Competitiveness and is expanding in accordance with small city standards. Four model towns for the project – Xintang, Shitan, Zhengguo and Paitan – have been built to high standards, bringing the total number of Zengcheng’s towns listed among China’s Top 1,000 Towns to five. The Entrance Corridor of Beautiful Paitan Town and the Town Hall of Beautiful Zhengguo Town have been selected as exemplary cases of beautiful town construction in Guangdong Province for 2025, achieving an all-round upgrade in both “visual appeal” and “cultural temperament”.
Rural landscapes have taken on a completely new look. We have cultivated 105 model villages, 262 beautiful and livable villages, 67 characteristic boutique villages and 3 demonstration belts for new countryside development, creating a number of model zones with Lingnan characteristics such as Shangjiubei Village. A total of nearly 6,000 existing rural houses have undergone landscape upgrading; over 250 kilometers of “three types of lines” (power, communication and broadcasting lines) have been renovated, with more than 2,100 key spots improved. Our rural areas have transformed from a state of disorder to an image of elegance and delicacy.
Ecological conservation has yielded more fruitful results. Zengcheng has been awarded the title of National Ecological Civilization Construction Demonstration Zone, and our implementation of the forest chief system has been commended with national incentives (the only county-level unit in Guangdong Province to receive this recognition). The Zengjiang River has been selected as an Excellent Case of Beautiful Rivers and Lakes by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the Paitan River has been included in the list of Happy Rivers and Lakes construction by the Ministry of Water Resources. We have built the “Litchi Charm · Lihu Lake Park” as a high-standard ecological demonstration site for Green and Beautiful Guangdong, adding over 2,000 mu of urban green space and 7,715 mu of rural green space, with 154 various parks completed. We have basically realized the vision of “seeing greenery through every window and parks within easy reach”.
Improved Livelihood: Writing a Heartwarming Chapter of Common Prosperity
The ultimate goal of development is to bring happiness to the people. We have promoted the integrated construction of urban-rural infrastructure, public services and social governance, ensuring that the fruits of development benefit the people with greater warmth.
Urban and rural infrastructure has been accelerated and improved. Fifteen urban and rural transportation network projects, including the demonstration section of the most beautiful tourist highway in the Nankun Mountain – Luofu Mountain Leading Area, have been completed and opened to traffic, with 128 kilometers of highways newly built or renovated. Zengcheng has been awarded the title of National Demonstration County for High-quality Rural Roads, and our “rural toilet revolution” has been selected as a national typical example.
The level of public services has been steadily raised. A total of over 56,000 new urban jobs have been created, realizing the dynamic zero of zero-employment families. Twelve colleges and universities have settled in Guangzhou Science and Education City; Zhengguo Central Primary School, the first rural boarding primary school in Guangzhou, has been put into use. The Fourth Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University and Zengcheng District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine have successfully passed the assessment for Grade III Class A hospitals, and Shitan Hospital has become the only town-level health center in China accredited as a Stroke Center.
Grassroots social governance has achieved remarkable results. We took the lead in Guangzhou in reserving 841 village-level reserve cadres through open selection. The “1+6+N” social security comprehensive governance system and the “Li’an Alliance” brand for mass prevention and mass governance have been further consolidated, ensuring overall social stability and security.
Institutional Innovation: Activating the Reform-driven Engine of Endogenous Dynamics
We have addressed development challenges through reform, and rolled out 30 experience practices that have been replicated and promoted at the national, provincial and municipal levels: the reform of streamlining the formalities for industrial project preparation has shortened the certificate processing time to 6 working days, and the “construction upon land acquisition” model has been selected as one of the Top 100 National Typical Cases. The comprehensive land improvement across Shitan Town has added more than 1,000 mu of cultivated land, and the case of rural collective operational construction land entering the market has been selected as a national typical example.
As an important part of the Nankun Mountain – Luofu Mountain Leading Area, we have advanced the implementation of 114 key tasks in a checklist-based manner. At present, the 186-kilometer most beautiful tourist highway in the Zengcheng section has been fully opened to traffic; the “Lingnan Guest Post” Zhengguo Post Station has been completed and operates integrally with the Zhengguo Old Street area. The Longcheng International Rehabilitation Hospital, with an investment of 3.6 billion yuan, has officially opened and released the world’s first AI rehabilitation large model, jointly building a high-end medical and health care complex with the Senlinhai Tourism Resort. Solid progress has been made in the construction of projects such as the third phase of Senlinhai, Paitan Sports Town and the quality upgrading of Baishuixian Waterfall Scenic Area. With the in-depth integration of culture, tourism and sports, tourism revenue has grown from 11.1 billion yuan in 2022 to 24 billion yuan in 2024, making Zengcheng a new cultural and tourism landmark in the Greater Bay Area.
Meanwhile, we have encouraged extensive participation of social forces in the “100 Counties, 1,000 Towns, 10,000 Villages Project”. We have facilitated pairing cooperation between 41 municipal government departments and enterprises with 13 towns/subdistricts in the district; the “Double Hundred Action” has promoted 22 university-local co-construction projects, with 615 university commando teams stationed in towns and subdistricts. The initiative of “Thousands of Enterprises Assisting Thousands of Towns, Tens of Thousands of Enterprises Revitalizing Tens of Thousands of Villages” has driven the implementation of 469 paired assistance projects, achieving full coverage of enterprise-village docking in 285 administrative villages. All these efforts have pooled a tremendous synergy of “everyone adding firewood to build a strong flame”.
