Xuanhan County in Dazhou City, Sichuan Province, boasts a natural gas prospective reserve of 1.5 trillion cubic meters and is home to the Puguang Gas Field, the largest marine facies integrated gas field in China, serving as the source for the "West-East Gas Pipeline." The image shows the Sinopec Puguang Natural Gas Purification Plant. (Photo provided by the Xuanhan County Committee Propaganda Department)
The stability of the nation hinges on well-governed counties, and national strength is built upon prosperous counties. During the important window of the National Two Sessions, we turn our attention to Xuanhan County in Dazhou City, located in eastern Sichuan at the southern foot of the Daba Mountains. Once a "nationally designated poverty-stricken county" hidden deep in the mountains, Xuanhan is now writing a remarkable chapter on high-quality county economic development, using reform as the pen and hard work as the ink. By 2025, Xuanhan's regional GDP had reached 80.23 billion yuan, crossing four 10-billion-yuan thresholds in five years. It was included among Sichuan's first batch of 29 pilot counties for strengthening counties by expanding powers and enabling reforms, as well as one of 20 pilot counties for urban-rural integration development reforms. Standing at the threshold of the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Xuanhan has anchored its goal of building a "100-billion-yuan county." With industry as its backbone, integration as its pulse, and environment as its wings, it is launching a general offensive to surpass 100 billion yuan in regional GDP by 2027.
**Industry as the "Backbone": From a "Resource Producer" to a "Hub of Industrial Rise"**
On December 29, 2025, good news came from the Puguang Economic Development Zone in Xuanhan County: the supporting facility for the pilot test on separate extraction and transportation of deep marine facies potash resources successfully completed its trial run, successfully extracting high-purity potassium chloride products. This signifies the overcoming of a critical bottleneck problem that had troubled the industry for over 20 years. It represents a historic breakthrough from zero to one in China's technology for developing and extracting deep marine facies potash salts, laying a solid technical foundation for subsequently advancing the process from exploration to extraction and for large-scale industrialization of these resources.
"The critical bottleneck problem plaguing our industry for over two decades has finally been solved! The quality and purity of the potash salt we produce meet high standards," said Jia Xiaohua, Chief Engineer of Sichuan Baren Hengchuang Potash Salt Co., Ltd., unable to contain his excitement. Leading over 20 technical staff, he worked tirelessly day and night, ultimately bringing life to these reserves once considered difficult-to-mobilize "dormant minerals." This breakthrough is a microcosm of Xuanhan's industrial development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.
Over the past five years, leveraging its "four major resources" – natural gas, sulfur, lithium, and potassium – Xuanhan has systematically built six distinctive industrial clusters: green and fine chemicals based on natural gas, fine sulfur chemicals, new materials, new types of potash fertilizers, new energy, and agricultural product processing. A large number of projects valued over 100 million yuan have landed successively. The Puguang Chemical Park successfully expanded its area. Advantageous industries like natural gas fine chemicals and new materials have formed complete chains and clusters, while potential industries like potash salt/fertilizers and new energy storage are gathering and taking shape.
In 2025, the output value of the Puguang Economic Development Zone jumped from 59 billion yuan to 65.459 billion yuan. It successfully became a National-level Green Chemical Park and a National-level Green Industrial Park. Its ranking in the provincial "output per mu" evaluation rose from 7th to 4th place. Notably, the Puguang Chemical Park became the only chemical park in the province to successfully expand its area. The growth rate of value-added for industries above a designated size reached 14.6%, double the city's average, leading to its inclusion in the "National Top 500 Comprehensive Strength Ranking for New-type County Industrialization."
More noteworthy is the profound transformation of the industrial chain. The first phase of the Zhengdakai project commenced production and reached efficiency, while the second phase is installing equipment. The project also successfully bid for the petroleum and natural gas exploration rights in the Wan Yuan North block – transforming from an "invited investor" to an active "chain leader" expanding resources externally. Ganfeng Lithium's Phase I and II projects commenced production successively, with Phase III equipment debugging nearing completion. Its products are supplied directly to new energy battery enterprises in the Sichuan-Chongqing region. Main factory buildings for Guangdong Mellow and Gongchuang Lithium have risen from the ground. In 2025, 34 projects each valued over 100 million yuan were established in Xuanhan.
Looking ahead, Xuanhan will build upon the technological breakthroughs from pilot tests to gradually transform "underground resources" into "above-ground industries," promoting a shift in China's potash development from reliance on "continental facies" to emphasizing both "marine and continental facies."
Standing at the threshold of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the roadmap for Xuanhan's industrial development is already drawn. In 2026, Ganfeng's Phase III is expected to start production in the first quarter, Shengchao Juhua's Phase II in the second quarter, Mellow's Phase I to be completed in the third quarter, and Gongchuang Lithium's main structures for Phase I to be finished in the fourth quarter. Projects like Gechun Electronic Materials are slated for completion and operation within the year. The Puguang Economic Development Zone is advancing towards becoming a National-level High-Tech Industrial Development Zone and a 100-billion-yuan output park. The blueprint for a National New-type Potash Fertilizer Production Base is moving from the drawing board to reality.
**Integration as the "Pulse": Reform Experiments Breaking Down the Urban-Rural Wall**
Xiang Yingtian, Party Branch Secretary of Gaojia Village in Longquan Tujia Township, Xuanhan County, is a locally well-known online village livestreamer. In November 2025, the "Xuanpin Tianxia" agricultural specialty products exhibition and sales center opened in the county town. For the first time, Xiang Yingtian moved his livestreaming booth into the exhibition hall. In front of the camera, he shouted his fixed opening line in the Tujia language: "Fellow villagers, today we're selling cured meat." That day, the backend recorded 237 orders, with sales exceeding 30,000 yuan.
"Before, the cured meat from our village had to be carried to the town market. If it didn't sell, we had to carry it back. Now, the mobile phone is the 'new carrying basket'," said Xiang Yingtian. By the end of 2025, Xuanhan was officially included as one of Sichuan's 20 pilot counties for urban-rural integration development reforms.
The core proposition of this reform is not to "make the countryside like the city," but to establish recyclable institutional interfaces between the countryside and the city. Xiang Yingtian's livestreaming room is precisely such an interface. On one end, it connects the supply side of 520 types of agricultural products; on the other end, it links the supply chains of 45 contracted enterprises. In the middle is the "Xuanpin Tianxia" county-level public service platform. In 2025, the peak transaction value achieved through this interface reached 220,000 yuan in a single day. However, the整套 institutional innovation it leverages – including agricultural product brand authorization, supply chain financial support, and e-commerce talent training – represents the true outcome of the reform pilot.
In 2025, the output value of Xuanhan's characteristic industries, summarized as "Cattle, Medicinal Herbs, Edible Fungi, Tea, Fruits, +", exceeded 5 billion yuan. Even more noteworthy than this figure is another set of data: the urban-rural income gap narrowed to 1.98:1, falling below 2 for the first time in a decade.
The warmth of urban-rural integration is also reflected in the smiles of "the old and the young." In 2025, Xuanhan took the lead in the city to establish 10 "Silver Hair Canteens +", exploring a diversified funding mechanism involving "government subsidies, collective contributions, donations from local elites, and family payments." That same year, Xuanhan was selected as a National Pilot County for Innovation in County-level Elderly Care Service Systems. Also that year, 55 weekend boarding schools for left-behind children achieved full coverage across the county. On Saturday mornings, buses drive into remote villages to pick up children whose parents are migrant workers. This institutional innovation, recognized as a typical reform case in Sichuan Province, received approving comments from the China National Committee for Concerned About the Next Generation and senior provincial Party committee leaders.
The common logic behind these two initiatives is that they are not merely simple "practical deeds," but institutionalized provisions of public services.
In 2026, Xuanhan will continue to deepen urban-rural integration reforms. A three-year consecutive push for transportation construction has been fully launched. A general aviation airport, the Chengxuan-Dalin and Xuankai "two expressways" are moving forward accordingly. The renovation of National Highway G210, the construction of station squares for the Xuanhannan and Fanfou stations on the Xi'an-Chongqing high-speed railway, the Industrial-City Avenue, and the High-Speed Railway Avenue are accelerating. A new round of rural road quality improvement actions is advancing in depth. The construction of Nanba and Puguang as county sub-centers continues. Industrial strong towns, commercial hubs, and culturally renowned towns are developing with differentiated focuses. The total income target for village-level collective economies is set to exceed 53 million yuan.
The Xi'an-Chongqing high-speed railway achieved tunnel breakthrough by the end of 2025, and the construction of station squares will be fully rolled out in 2026. Xiang Yingtian plans to set up his livestreaming booth at the high-speed railway station square: "When the time comes, tourists getting off the train can buy Xuanhan cured meat right away. No need to wait for delivery; they can eat it while it's fresh."
**Environment as the "Wings": Institutional Vitality Unleashed by Expanding Powers and Empowerment**
By the end of 2025, Xuanhan was officially included among Sichuan's first batch of 29 pilot counties for the reform of strengthening counties by expanding powers and empowerment. This document from the provincial government pushed this eastern Sichuan county into a new historical position.
The essence of expanding powers and empowerment is to return more autonomy to the grassroots level. Project approvals, factor allocation, institutional reforms – matters that previously required reporting through multiple levels and involved long waits can now be handled within a closed loop at the county level.
"Before, we asked higher authorities for policies. Now, we formulate policies autonomously," said an official from the Xuanhan County Development and Reform Bureau, using an analogy. "It's like walking. In the past, we could only walk along paths built by others. Now, we can choose our own direction and lay our own roadbed."
This "autonomy" soon found practical application. The expansion of the Puguang Chemical Park, a specialized park within the Puguang Economic Development Zone, was Xuanhan's most challenging battle in 2025. Standards under the newly revised "Chemical Park Management Measures" were comprehensively tightened. Following the常规节奏, preparing the application dossier would typically take at least six months. Xuanhan established a special task force and set an aggressive schedule down to the hour. For several consecutive days thereafter, heads of the county's development and reform, economy and information technology, natural resources, ecological environment, and other departments practically moved into the Puguang Economic Development Zone. Every night at 9 p.m., the responsible county leader would "check off completed items" – marking them off one by one as they were finished. When the last page of materials was bound, they had turned the "impossible" into the "only one in the province." By the end of 2025, the Puguang Chemical Park became the only chemical park in the province to successfully expand its area.
"The essence of expanding powers is to bring decision-making authority closer to the scene. The people on the ground know best where it hurts and what's urgent," said a relevant official from the Puguang Economic Development Zone Management Committee.
Changes in the business environment are reflected not only in攻坚 major projects but also in the details of daily services. At the "Casual Labor Station" near Dongmen Square, masons, movers, and domestic helpers who once had to wait for work on the street corners now have a sheltered place to rest. The station provides hot water, benches, and electronic screens scrolling job information. Xuanhan has established 77 such stations, covering all townships and creating a "15-minute employment service circle."
At the 2026 Spring Festival symposium, Wu Chenguo, a delivery courier, spoke as a representative of new employment groups. Having delivered packages for seven years, he has traveled all the mountain paths and streets of Xuanhan. "Before, there were few orders from the countryside; I couldn't make many trips a day. Now, cured meat, honey, and mushrooms from the villages are all sold online. Sometimes I have to make two trips a day," he said. Pausing for a moment, he added emotionally, "I used to feel like we were just passersby in this city. Now, I feel that this city has taken us to heart."
In 2026, Xuanhan will continue to optimize its business environment. It will deepen reforms for "efficiently handling matters," promoting more pro-business policies that are "enjoyed without application" and "delivered swiftly and directly." It will promote joint law enforcement under "comprehensive inspection once," building a long-term mechanism for "appropriate penalties." It will improve the government's credibility in fulfilling commitments, allowing enterprises to develop with peace of mind and comfort. It will enhance sci-tech financial services, adopting models like "investment-led attraction" to guide more financial capital towards early-stage, small, long-term, and hard-tech investments. It will deeply implement the "Elite Plan" and "Returning Geese Plan," flexibly utilizing mechanisms like "county recruitment for enterprise use" and "enterprise introduction with county subsidy" to attract and cultivate more紧缺 talent.
Expanding powers and empowerment does not mean expanding administrative levels, but rather expanding the autonomous space for counties to solve complex problems. Reform pilots are not testing grounds for policy洼地, but for institutional innovations that are replicable and scalable.
In 2025, Xuanhan was selected by the Sichuan Provincial Development and Reform Commission as the sole representative of Sichuan's high-quality county economic development to report and exchange experiences at the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission, contributing "grassroots experience" to the national guidelines for high-quality county economic development.
What does this mean? It means that the over-decade-long effort to攻克 potash fertilizers, the consecutive days of "checking off items" in the tough battle, Xiang Yingtian's livestreaming room, Wu Chenguo's tricycle, the 77 casual labor stations, the 55 boarding schools, the 10 silver hair canteens – these people and events from the depths of the Daba Mountains could potentially be written into policy documents elsewhere, becoming a reference point for more counties seeking to break through.