Central "Iron Triangle" Aims to Become China's Fifth Economic Pole

Ask AI · How can the Central Yangtze River City Cluster replicate the G60 experience through technological innovation?

Source: Times Weekly Author: Alimire

The old saying “Two lakes are one family” has been passed down among the people for over a hundred years. Now, Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi are also coming together to form a tighter “Iron Triangle.”

At this year’s National Two Sessions, the “Central Yangtze River City Cluster” was included in the government work report for the first time. Subsequently, the 14th Five-Year Plan also explicitly states the need to accelerate development in this region.

A series of signals indicate that, following the “Four Poles” of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Greater Bay Area, and Chengdu-Chongqing, the Central Yangtze River City Cluster is speeding up to compete for China’s fifth economic pole.

As a strategic hub connecting the east and west, and linking the south and north, the Central Yangtze River City Cluster not only fills the gap in the national-level central city cluster but also supports the economic development of the central region with a total GDP exceeding 12 trillion yuan.

The plan is clear—what’s next?

Recently, Wuhan organized a delegation to visit Changsha and Nanchang consecutively. From the locations visited, it’s clear that technological innovation enterprises are the main focus. Similar to the G60 Sci-Tech Innovation Corridor in the Yangtze River Delta, cross-regional collaborative innovation is exactly the path the central region wants to pursue.

Upgraded Status

Looking at the layout of city clusters, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao, and Chengdu-Chongqing form a diamond shape, with the Central Yangtze River City Cluster located at the geometric center, also called the “Central Triangle.”

Thanks to this unique location, it connects east and west, and south and north. It is a key pivot for promoting the Yangtze River Economic Belt and for the rise of the central region, as well as an important part of consolidating the “Two Horizontal and Three Vertical” urbanization strategy.

However, downstream along the Yangtze River, the Yangtze River Delta integration has been a national strategy since 2018, and the Chengdu-Chongqing twin-city economic circle joined in 2020. Yet, the Central Yangtze River City Cluster has always lacked a clear identity.

Once elevated to a national strategy, it means more policies and resources will be tilted toward it, potentially reshaping population flows and industrial layouts, and promoting resource optimization and regional coordinated development.

Population movement Source: TuChong Creative

For this reason, the national government has been continuously planning the development of the Central Yangtze River City Cluster for over a decade.

In 2015, the “Development Plan for the Central Yangtze River City Cluster” was officially issued. This was the first cross-regional city cluster plan approved after the new urbanization plan, and an important measure to implement the Yangtze River Economic Belt strategy. At that time, the focus was more on the rise of the central region and urbanization.

Over the next five years, a “triangular, radiating” intercity transportation network centered on Wuhan, Changsha, and Nanchang was basically completed, with the railway network exceeding 10,000 kilometers. The industrial and innovation foundation was continuously strengthened, with clusters in equipment manufacturing, automobiles, electronic information, aerospace, and other advantageous industries gradually taking shape.

Data shows that in 2020, the permanent population of the Central Yangtze River City Cluster was about 130 million, with a GDP of approximately 9.4 trillion yuan, accounting for about 9.3% of the national total.

However, despite its large size, there are also shortcomings in development. For example, the radiation-driven capacity of the central cities is insufficient, secondary cities develop relatively slowly, and inter-provincial consultation and cooperation mechanisms are not yet sound; key technological breakthroughs and成果转化能力不足，核心竞争力产业较少。

To address these issues, in 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the “14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Central Yangtze River City Cluster.” At that time, the “14th Five-Year Plan” had just begun, and domestic circulation became a top priority. The core goal was to enable resource flow across the country, break down administrative barriers, and promote true linkage among regions.

Therefore, the plan clearly states that by 2025, the integration of the two major metropolitan areas of Wuhan and Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan will achieve substantial breakthroughs, and Nanchang will have closer cooperation with surrounding cities and counties; a nationally competitive advanced manufacturing industry cluster will take shape, and a regional collaborative innovation system will be initially established.

Under the guidance of the plan, during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the economic volume of the Central Yangtze River City Cluster has successively surpassed 10 trillion, 11 trillion, and 12 trillion yuan, maintaining about 9.2% of the national share.

Meanwhile, with the opening of the Wuhan-Yichang section of the Shanghai-Chongqing high-speed railway at the end of last year, the Han-Xiang-Yi high-speed railway loop has taken shape, forming a rapid 1-hour transportation and economic circle among the three major cities, making the flow of talent, capital, and technology more smooth.

High-speed rail loop Source: TuChong Creative

Entering a new development stage, how this Central Yangtze River City Cluster can achieve coordination, what breakthroughs are needed, and where to focus efforts for efficiency, have become key issues.

Innovation Community

The development of city clusters depends on the “core” driving force. In the Central Yangtze River City Cluster, Wuhan, Changsha, and Nanchang are the three cores.

The goals of these three cities are also clear. One of Wuhan’s targets by 2030 is to surpass 3 trillion yuan in GDP, becoming a national economic center, national science and technology innovation center, national commerce and logistics hub, international exchange center, and regional financial center.

Changsha focuses on building “three highlands” (a highland for advanced manufacturing, a highland for core technological innovation, and a highland for inland reform and opening-up), consolidating its strategic position as the central city of the Central Yangtze River region. Nanchang aims to “build a trillion-yuan high-energy city.”

With the direction set, how to proceed? From March 8 to 10, Wuhan’s party and government delegation visited Changsha and Nanchang for study and inspection. The locations chosen reveal the answer.

In Changsha, Wuhan focused on hardcore sci-tech innovation enterprises: Hunan Provincial Institute of Advanced Technology is an important platform for Hunan to connect with national strategic scientific forces; China Electric Star River is a “national team” in BeiDou application; Zhongke Yun Valley is a benchmark for industrial internet empowering traditional manufacturing.

In Nanchang, the focus was also clear—learning about local transformation and upgrading in modern textile and apparel, as well as emerging sectors like aerospace equipment, new energy, and intelligent manufacturing.

Intelligent manufacturing Source: TuChong Creative

Moreover, the government is very optimistic about regional cooperation in sci-tech innovation.

On November 5, 2025, the joint promotion meeting for the construction of Wuhan Regional Science and Technology Innovation Center was held in Wuhan. Minister of Science and Technology Yin Hejun stated that in recent years, Wuhan’s regional science and technology innovation center’s strategic scientific forces have been continuously strengthened, breakthroughs in key core technologies have been achieved, and regional collaborative innovation has begun to take shape and show results.

“Give full play to the main role of Hubei Province, support Wuhan Regional Science and Technology Innovation Center with greater efforts and practical measures to strengthen strategic scientific forces, and enhance original innovation capabilities; strengthen coordination and build an innovation community in the Central Yangtze River City Cluster,” Yin Hejun said.

From the deployment of ministries to interactions within provinces, it is evident that technological innovation is the breakthrough point for the three cities to work together and is a key focus for the linkage development of the Central Yangtze River City Cluster.

In this regard, the G60 Sci-Tech Innovation Corridor in the Yangtze River Delta has already explored the path. This corridor runs along the G60 expressway and the Shanghai-Suzhou-Huzhou high-speed railway, connecting nine cities (districts) including Songjiang (Shanghai), Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Hefei, forming a “1-hour innovation circle.”

Within this innovation circle, Shanghai’s chip design teams can reach Hefei’s wafer manufacturing base in 2 hours to solve production problems in real time; Hangzhou’s AI companies can deliver algorithm models to Songjiang’s smart manufacturing factories within 1 hour. Data shows that the G60 Corridor, with a global city scale of only 0.0006%, contributes 3% of the world’s technological成果和3.1%的领先企业，国家级孵化器占长三角一半。

Today, Wuhan, Changsha, and Nanchang’s moves aim to replicate this “tech innovation enclave” model in the Central Yangtze River region.

Hohai University’s Regional Economic Research Center Director Liu Qihong told Times Weekly that currently, a 1-hour high-speed rail network connecting Wuhan, Changsha, and Nanchang has basically been established. In terms of industry, Wuhan has optoelectronic information, new energy, and intelligent connected vehicles; Changsha has equipment manufacturing, new metal materials, and information security; Jiangxi has advantages in rare earth materials, new energy, and electric intelligent equipment.

“Among these, Wuhan has the potential to become a leader, but there is still a significant gap: the total economic volume needs to surpass 3 trillion yuan, there are relatively few leading local enterprises, and the innovation and entrepreneurship environment needs further improvement. Despite abundant university resources, the proportion of graduates staying in Wuhan remains low,” Liu said.

The Dilemma of Economic Density

This issue is not unique to Wuhan; some other cities in the Central Yangtze River City Cluster also face similar problems, often described as “scattered” and lacking synergy.

The root cause may lie in spatial scale and economic density. Wuhan, Changsha, and Nanchang are all about 300 km apart in a straight line, whereas the distances between Beijing-Tianjin, Shanghai-Hangzhou, and Guangzhou-Shenzhen are only 130 km, 180 km, and 120 km respectively. Large space and long distances limit commuting activities, making it difficult for cities to form close linkage.

Meanwhile, low economic density results in weaker population attraction and carrying capacity, leading to less output value.

Comparing data from the seventh national census and late 2024, the overall populations of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces are declining, with only provincial capitals maintaining growth. Hunan’s population decreased by about 1.055 million over four years, with the largest decline. Hubei’s total population increased by 580,000, with Wuhan’s growth being the most significant at 1.483 million over four years.

More critically, the Central Yangtze River City Cluster covers about 317,000 square kilometers with a population of roughly 130 million. In contrast, the Yangtze River Delta spans 358,000 square kilometers but hosts 221 million people.

In terms of output, the per capita GDP of the Central Yangtze River City Cluster is about 124,000 yuan, less than half of the Yangtze River Delta, which indicates that both economic density and industrial synergy need improvement.

Hubei Wuhan cityscape Source: TuChong Creative

As for solutions, Liu Qihong believes that first, comprehensive planning is necessary—integrating land, industry, and ecological environment planning. To strengthen Wuhan, he emphasizes that Wuhan should not only serve Hubei but also truly act as a leader, driving coordinated development in Hunan and Jiangxi.

Meanwhile, leveraging Wuhan and Changsha’s advantages in science and education, breaking regional monopolies, and enhancing transportation links and industrial cooperation among the three metropolitan areas—especially in emerging and future industries—is essential.

The Times Weekly reporter noted that at the regional cooperation level, Hubei is jointly developing the “14th Five-Year Plan” for the Central Yangtze River City Cluster with Hunan and Jiangxi.

This includes advancing three major projects: “On the rails” (promoting Wuhan-jiu high-speed rail direct line, Wuhan-Anqing high-speed rail), “On the canal” (Ezhou-Xiang-Gan inland waterway corridor), and “On the sci-tech chain” (jointly building the Central China National High-tech Zone Alliance and striving to create the Yangtze River Central Innovation Center).

“Based on this, the integrated development of the Central Yangtze River City Cluster should not only promote the integration of commodity markets but also the integration of factor markets—that is the key to forming synergy,” Liu said.