On New Year's Day, Xiaoshen, who works in a state-owned energy company in Taiyuan, took his children to take Metro Line 2, which had just opened for four days.

On the same day, the total passenger flow of line 2 inbound was as high as 216,100, and the cumulative passenger flow in four days exceeded one million, with the majority of check-ins like Xiaoshen.

　　"Different from the subway life in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, Taiyuan, which has squeezed into the second-tier city, is more like a light-seeker. It has begun to have some basic configurations of international cities such as subways and highways." Xiao Shen said.

　　As one of the capital cities of the six central provinces, Taiyuan's development is a bit embarrassing. In the 2019 national provincial capital cities' per capita GDP and GDP rankings, Taiyuan ranks 17th and 21st, respectively, with Changsha and Wuhan, both of which are the capitals of central China. The gap is large.

　　In order to narrow the gap, Taiyuan has a clearer development vision in the recent "14th Five-Year Plan" proposal of Shanxi, that is, significant progress has been made in the construction of the system of "one master, three assistants and six city centers", and Taiyuan has become an international influence National regional center city.

　　Not only Shanxi, but a reporter from China Business News found that in many places in the “14th Five-Year Plan” proposal, “strong provincial capital” has become a key word, including Shandong, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Guangdong, Hubei and other places that have proposed making them stronger The provincial capitals, such as Nanjing in Jiangsu, Hangzhou in Zhejiang, and Jinan in Shandong, are even more striving for the goal of becoming a national central city.

Make the capital city stronger and bigger

　　“Ten years ago, people who came to Taiyuan for the first time would have a deep feeling. Taiyuan is not like a provincial capital city, but more like third- and fourth-tier cities in developed areas.” said Xiaoshen, a native of Taiyuan.

　　Provincial capital cities are the centers of politics, economy, culture, education, medical care, transportation and other fields in the provinces where they are located, and are the leaders of economic development in various regions.

After the economy has entered a new stage of transformation and upgrading, the leading role of provincial capital cities has become more prominent.

　　In 2018, during the first round of inspections of the 19th Central Committee, several cities were named as “not enough to lead and lead”, and the wording also included “not enough leading role”, “not enough role of provincial capital”, “not enough role of central city” and so on.

　　In recent years, many places have proposed to vigorously increase the primacy of provincial capital cities and enhance the ability of central cities to radiate and drive.

It is also very obvious in the "14th Five-Year Plan" proposals of various provinces announced recently.

　　For example, the full text of Shandong's "14th Five-Year Plan" proposal is more than 20,000 words, and Jinan, the provincial capital, has been mentioned 11 times.

The plan proposes to clearly implement the strategy of strengthening the provincial capital, support Jinan to build a modern international metropolis of "Great and Strong Meifutong", accelerate the construction of a national central city, make every effort to create a comprehensive national science center, and build an international consumption center city.

　　Guangxi’s "14th Five-Year Plan" proposal points out that in-depth implementation of regional coordinated development strategies, perfect regional coordinated development systems and mechanisms, and speed up the formation of a new regional economic pattern of "leading-driven, regional support, distinctive features, and coordinated development".

Vigorously implement the strategy of strengthening the capital, deepen the integration of Beiqin and defense, build the Nanning metropolitan area with high standards, jointly build the Beibu Gulf city cluster, build an excellent and strong Beibu Gulf economic zone, and promote the leading high-quality development and high-level openness of the region Faucet.

　　Jiangxi’s "14th Five-Year Plan" proposal puts forward to make Nanchang Metropolitan Area stronger and better.

Promote Nanchang to demonstrate the responsibility of the provincial capital, enhance the functions of the provincial capital, build the metropolitan economic center, financial center, science and technology center, quality consumption center and high-end service industry development center, and enhance core leading functions and radiate and drive energy levels.

　　Similarly, Guizhou’s "14th Five-Year Plan" proposal also put forward support for Guiyang to grow bigger, strictly implement urban planning, improve urban management, promote the integrated development of Guiyang and Gui’an, and increase the primacy of the provincial capital.

　　In addition, Shenyang, Hangzhou, Kunming and other provincial capitals have also proposed to build "national central cities", which also means that the competition for national central cities will be a "provincial capital battle."

　　"This kind of development direction is definitely correct. From the perspective of our urban and industrial development path, it is basically through the accumulation of advantageous resources such as population and technology in the provincial capital and central cities to drive the development of the entire region." Researcher Hu Chi of the center said in an interview with a reporter from China Business News that the dual development strategy of "strong provincial capital" and "national central city" to enhance the city's energy level and lead position in the province is already the choice of many provincial capital cities. .

Compete for the national center city

　　The national central city is the highest level of China's urban system planning and has five characteristics: the state organizes economic activities and allocates resources; the national comprehensive transportation and information network hub; the national science, education, culture, and innovation center; it has international influence and competitiveness ; The "tip city" with the strongest comprehensive strength in the national urban system.

　　Since 2010, the national central cities have expanded from 5 to 9, namely Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Chengdu, Wuhan, Zhengzhou, and Xi'an.

　　On the whole, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Guangzhou should lead the Bohai Rim, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions; Chongqing is located in the hinterland of the inland, occupying an important strategic position connecting the east and the west; Wuhan radiates the central and middle reaches of the Yangtze River; Zhengzhou; To assume the role of a transportation hub in China's eastern, central and western regions; Xi'an is based on the starting point of the ancient Silk Road, giving full play to its unique advantages of linking east and west, economic development connecting east and west, and cultural exchange and mutual learning.

　　At present, there are two opinions in the academic circles about whether national central cities should be expanded. One believes that national central cities should not be overrun, and if they continue to expand, their gold content will decline; the other believe that China is vast, with more than 600 cities, and regional development. The imbalance is still severe and it is necessary to expand.

　　At the same time, the tenth "national central city" quota has become the target of competition for many cities.

　　For example, Shenyang, located in the center of the Northeast Asian Economic Circle, is a comprehensive hub from the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region to the Guandong region. It is the central and southern Liaoning city cluster and Shenyang Economic Zone located in the Bohai Rim. Core city.

The work report of the Shenyang Municipal Government in 2020 clearly stated that efforts should be made to upgrade the level of urban development, accelerate the progress of Shenyang from a regional central city to a national central city, and strive to be included in the national central city system as soon as possible.

　　Nanjing is also competitive.

Jiangsu’s 14th Five-Year Plan proposes to accelerate the improvement of the development level of the Yangtze River urban agglomeration, support Nanjing's striving to become a national central city, promote the high-quality development of the Nanjing metropolitan area, accelerate the integrated development of Nanjing, Zhenyang, Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou, and create Sutong, Xichang The cross-river integrated development cities such as Thailand are organized to promote the construction of the Nantong Shanghai-Soviet cross-river integrated development pilot zone.

　　In addition, in terms of the full release of consumption potential, the planning proposal puts forward support for the construction of international consumption centers in Nanjing, Suzhou, Xuzhou, and Wuxi, and support for the construction of national cultural and tourism consumption demonstration cities in Nanjing and Suzhou.

It can be seen that "supporting Nanjing to create a national central city" will become a focus of Jiangsu Province in the future regional development.

　　However, Hu Chi also said that the radiation of urban agglomerations and regional central cities should avoid a situation where one province is dominated by one city. The'domesticity of one city' brings about a break in the urban system, making large, medium and small cities and It is difficult to form a coordinated development pattern of small towns.

　　"It is unknown who the flowers will fall, but with this goal, each city will inevitably move closer to a higher standard, which can stimulate the endogenous driving force of economic development. If a healthy competition is formed, a hundred flowers will compete for beauty. The situation is the best." Hu Chi thought.

　　Author: Chen Han speech