Henan Province has unveiled a detailed plan to foster high-quality urban development, establishing a strategic framework for its cities.

At a recent policy briefing, provincial authorities provided an interpretation of the newly released "Implementation Plan for Promoting High-Quality Urban Development."

The plan focuses on optimizing the modern urban system, outlining a development pattern described as "one core, two sub-centers; one circle, two belts; four regions, multiple points."

Central to the strategy is enhancing the leading role of the "one core, two sub-centers." This involves strengthening Zhengzhou's role as a national central city, improving its core functions in logistics, opening-up, scientific innovation, and culture, and successfully completing a pilot reform for market-based allocation of production factors.

Concurrently, the plan supports Luoyang in accelerating its development as a national hub for innovation, an advanced manufacturing base, a modern eco-friendly city, a cultural tourism destination, and a center for cultural exchanges. It also supports Nanyang in expanding and strengthening its central urban area and deepening cooperation with Beijing under the South-to-North Water Diversion Project framework.

The "one circle" refers to the Zhengzhou metropolitan area, while the "two belts" are the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway belt and the Lanzhou-Lianyungang Railway belt.

The plan explicitly calls for coordinated development of the "circle and belts." This includes enhancing functional integration within the metropolitan area, improving the quality and efficiency of Zhengzhou-Kaifeng integration, and boosting the area's overall carrying capacity and regional influence to form a powerhouse for high-quality growth.

Furthermore, efforts will focus on upgrading the industrial and factor aggregation functions of cities along the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway and enhancing the role of cities along the Lanzhou-Lianyungang Railway as key nodes in the Belt and Road Initiative, aiming to create two robust urban agglomerations and industrial clusters.

Cities at the four endpoints—Anyang, Shangqiu, Xinyang, and Sanmenxia—are positioned to play crucial roles in internal coordination and external opening-up.

The strategy also proposes linking cities along the Yellow River, Huai River, Hai River, and Yangtze River basins. Guided by the "two belts," the province is divided into four regional urban development zones: northeast, northwest, southwest, and southeast.

County towns will serve as vital carriers for fostering integrated urban-rural development. The plan includes ongoing initiatives for the transformation of old industrial cities and resource-based regions, the revitalization of old revolutionary base areas, and the cultivation of characteristic towns, aiming to achieve coordinated "four regions, multiple points" development.

Provincial officials stated that the plan is grounded in Henan's urban development history and resource endowment while aligning with major national strategies, including the rise of central China, ecological conservation and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin, and integration into the national unified market.

Relevant departments will collaborate to implement the plan's various deployments thoroughly, providing robust support for writing a new chapter of Chinese modernization in the Central Plains region.