On July 27, Weifang held a press conference with a very direct theme: getting a strong start in the "15th Five-Year Plan" period and pushing hard towards becoming a trillion-yuan city.
The trillion-yuan mark is a clear benchmark in city competition, a goal many economically strong cities are striving for. Weifang is expected to cross this threshold around 2028.
However, viewing "Shandong's next trillion-yuan city" as Weifang's most defining label would be a significant underestimation of this city.
Weifang represents a rare sample of urban development. The trend it represents is more valuable than its economic size.
By the end of last year, there were 29 cities in China with a gross domestic product exceeding one trillion yuan. Among them, some are dominated by high-end services, like Beijing, where IT and finance contributed over 70% of economic growth, and Shanghai, where the service sector accounts for nearly 80% of added value. Others are manufacturing-oriented, such as Suzhou, Foshan, and Wuxi. For traditional manufacturing powerhouses, the core competitiveness lies in the scale of manufacturing and a complete supply chain. The industries these cities rely on differ, but their underlying logic is common: pursuing excellence in specific industrial fields and forming an irreplaceable ecological niche by extending their longest board.
Among these trillion-yuan giants, it is difficult to find a city where the three major industries—agriculture, industry, and services—develop synergistically and remain at a high level simultaneously. The reason is not hard to understand. Trillion-yuan cities are generally in a stage of high industrialization and urbanization, with an industrial structure primarily based on the secondary and tertiary sectors. This naturally squeezes the share of "low-efficiency" industries, such as agriculture, in the economy. Many leading cities have an agricultural share of less than 1%, and some even lower than 0.1%.
However, among the cities approaching the trillion-yuan mark, Weifang is a unique presence. In 2025, Weifang's three major industries had a structure of 8.5:41.2:50.3, with agriculture accounting for over 8%. This is truly rare among cities at or approaching the trillion-yuan level. The urban-rural income ratio has narrowed to 1.82:1, highlighting the characteristic Weifang feature of "rural prosperity." In the first half of this year, Weifang's industrial added value above a designated size grew by 8.3%, ranking second in the province. The total output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fisheries reached 71.14 billion yuan, firmly holding the top spot in the province. The service sector was also strong, with added value growing by 6.3%, accounting for 50.74% of GDP. The simultaneous progress of the three major industries reflects a highly distinctive development path for Weifang: balance.
The industrial structure is just one facet of Weifang's balance. In terms of urban-rural development, the per capita disposable income of farmers has crossed the 30,000 yuan threshold, and the urban-rural income ratio is better than the national and provincial averages. Regional development sees multiple peaks rising together, with a solid county-level foundation, where economically strong towns, industrial models, and cultural cities each excel in their own way. Weifang has set "strong strength, excellent quality, and beautiful life" as its goals, proposing to build a "Better Weifang." This itself is a systematic expression of the logic of balance at the city level.
There are many cities that "don't favor one subject over another," but it is truly rare to find one that, on the basis of this balance, can also have different dimensions work in the same direction, jointly supporting a city's leap and sprint. In the past few decades, the most common logic for Chinese urban development has been to maximize the "longest board," firmly locking in an irreplaceable niche in the national and global division of labor. Weifang's rarity lies in offering another possibility for reaching the trillion-yuan mark: it doesn't have to favor one over the other. By relying on holistic improvement and accumulating systemic advantages, it can still become "better" and stand at the forefront.
Not a provincial capital, not a city with independent planning status, not a special economic zone with policy preferences—how can an ordinary prefecture-level city gain such systemic advantages?
At this press conference, there was an interesting detail. Weifang introduced its overall development layout not with a highly generalized overview or a superficial mention of highlights, but by using a 32-character city business card as a framework to comprehensively review its assets.
First, look at the "City of Dragons and Elephants, Weifang of Mountains and Seas." Whether from a temporal or spatial dimension, Weifang is a city with depth. How to turn this inherent condition into an advantage for future development depends on how the city positions itself within a larger framework. Weifang is located at the strategic intersection of the Jinan and Qingdao metropolitan areas. As a "corridor city," it can either "benefit from both sides" or "suffer brain drain from both." Weifang chose to connect eastern and western resources, integrate in both directions, and cooperate deeply: the reopening of the Xiaoqing River saw Weifang promote channel extension, route planning, and innovative services, making Weifang Port a solid "golden outlet to the sea" for the Jinan metropolitan area; around the Jiaodong Peninsula Science and Innovation Alliance and the provincial marine science and technology achievement transformation platform, a work system and mechanism were established, facilitating the push of over 3,500 effective scientific and technological achievements and the on-the-ground transformation of more than 40 high-quality achievements.
Next, "Highland of Civilization, Weifang of Farming and Learning." With a human cultural history of over 8,000 years, an administrative history of about 2,200 years, and a city-building history of over 1,400 years, Weifang, a national historical and cultural city, does not lack cultural resources, but rather the transformation and development of those resources. In recent years, Weifang has systematically sorted its cultural resources, digitally confirmed their rights, operated them through IP, and injected various factors such as people, capital, and markets, seeking contemporary value for its historical heritage. Now, a single kite supports a hundred-billion-yuan industry with over 600 enterprises. "Give Weifang a string, and it can fly the whole world," igniting the city's cultural confidence.
Then, "Abundant Resources and Vibrant Weifang." Industrial prosperity can easily lead to a functional imbalance where "industry is strong but the city is weak," such as excessive land development intensity or widening urban-rural disparities. Weifang chose to place "strengthening industry" and "enriching the people" on the same chessboard: using a "chain-thinking" approach to cultivate high-quality enterprises and expand industrial clusters, solidifying its base and growing the pie with 2 national advanced manufacturing clusters, 5 hundred-billion-level, and 10 ten-billion-level full industry chains; innovating systems and mechanisms to accelerate the flow of resources downward, allowing industry and wealth creation to reinforce each other. Last year, 6,104 village collectives had an income exceeding 100,000 yuan, and 560 villages exceeded one million yuan. Since the start of the "14th Five-Year Plan," the added value of wholesale and retail, accommodation and catering, and residential services in the city has grown by an average of 9.2% annually.
Finally, "Livable and Healthy Weifang." Industry can attract people, but what makes them stay is the quality of life in the city. In recent years, Weifang has made significant investments in people's livelihoods, with over 80% of general public budget expenditure, continuously focusing on optimizing a series of "key trivial matters" like talent housing, children's education, and medical services, holistically raising the level of basic public services. The number of national-level preschool education universal counties and compulsory education balanced development counties accounts for 1/10 and 1/7 of the province's total, respectively. The number of provincial-level high-quality development hospitals and provincial-level counties supported for rural medical and health high-quality development both rank first in the province. The cost-effectiveness of "living in Weifang" is constantly improving.
The four dimensions of a single business card clearly sort out what a city "has, lacks, and where to exert effort." This formal innovation at the press conference actually revealed a valuable development methodology for Weifang: clarifying various fundamental advantages, resource endowments, and supporting conditions, integrating them holistically to form a combined force, promoting the solution of core problems, unleashing the maximum development potential, and enhancing the city's competitiveness.
"Not favoring one subject over another" is itself a form of competitiveness. For a city, it means a resilience that allows for mutual support and buffering. When industry is under pressure, agriculture can provide a safety net; when external shocks come, domestic demand and the service sector can still hold steady. It enables a city to better withstand unpredictable "black swan" events and economic fluctuations from a single industry, with a stronger recovery ability—the more diverse the structure, the more powerful the room for maneuver.
In a downward cycle, this development resilience becomes even more apparent. In the first half of this year, among the 15 main indicators reflecting growth rates, 11 of Weifang's were higher than the provincial average, and 4 ranked in the top 4 in the province, which is a testament to this resilience.
On a deeper level, Chinese urban development is currently undergoing a profound transformation from a "development-centric" to a "people-centric" approach. Future competition among cities will no longer depend on who builds more or who builds faster, but on who can better make people more vibrant and creative. The value of the Weifang model lies precisely in the trend it represents. They have carved out a new path for urban development: not single-mindedly pursuing the scale and strength of a particular industry, but holistically raising the "chassis" of city operations, ultimately allowing development to be realized by every individual. A strong industry does not have to come at the expense of agriculture; urban prosperity does not have to result from hollowing out the countryside; rapid growth does not mean mortgaging people's livelihoods. The three major tasks of new industrialization, new urbanization, and comprehensive rural revitalization can be addressed as a whole. Protecting people's dignity and well-being can go hand in hand with the city's rise. And this path deserves more travelers to join.