Seeking Space from Stock, Seeking Increment in Industrial Chains

How much tax revenue can one mu (0.067 ha.) of land generate? How many enterprises can be assembled in one industrial chain? How long does it take for a project to go from signing the contract to starting production? In Hunan, the answers to these questions are mostly found in the industrial parks.

From January to September this year, the value added of industries above designated size in Hunan's 130 provincial-level and above industrial parks increased 5.9% year on year. The figure was 2.9 percentage points higher than the provincial average and 0.6 percentage points higher than the national average, accounting for 80.3% of the provincial total. The data clearly confirmed that both Hunan's industrial "fundamentals" and "growth poles" are in the industrial parks.

In 2021, Hunan proposed creating "Five-good" industrial parks with good planning and positioning, good innovation platforms, good industrial projects, good systems and mechanisms, and a good development image. As the "15th Five-Year Plan" period (2026-2030) begins, how should the "Five-good" industrial parks set off again?

Every inch of land shows true value, the main engine reinforces "ballast stone"

In 2025, the value added of industries above designated size in Hunan's industrial parks grew 8%, 1.8 percentage points higher than the provincial average. Compared with 2020, the share of industries above designated size in industrial parks rose from 69.1% to 77.2%.

Behind the increase is the industrial parks' shift from expansion to elevation.

In planning and positioning, the industrial parks no longer merely pursue being "large and all-inclusive." Hunan completed the merger and integration of 17 industrial parks, streamlining the number to 130. The national-level industrial parks follow "two main and one characteristic" industrial structure, while provincial-level industrial parks aim for "one main and one characteristic," with characteristic industrial parks accounting for 45%. The land development rate rose from 67.76% in 2020 to 75.42%, and per-mu tax revenue of industrial parks reached 162,700 CNY, with an average annual growth of 8.3% during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period (2021-2025).

The number of industrial parks decreased, but efficiency actually improved. Competing not on the size of territory but on output per unit area represents a profound shift in development philosophy.

This philosophy is most clearly evident in two industrial parks.

One is in Xiangtan. In 2005, Geely settled in the Xiangtan Economic and Technological Development Zone. Over the past 20 years, the company has transformed from fuel vehicles to new energy vehicles production, with complete vehicle production exceeding 600,000 units and attracting more than 90 supporting enterprises. Since the Xingyuan project was launched, Geely's Xiangtan base has integrated 5G, industrial internet, and visual inspection into its production, has enabled mixed-model manufacturing for multiple vehicle types, and has sold products to more than 30 countries and regions worldwide.

The other industrial park is in Liuyang. In 2019, HKC's 8.6-generation ultra-high-definition display panel project settled in the Liuyang Economic and Technological Development Zone. The company completed land acquisition in 30 days and built a main plant of 640,000 square meters in 130 days. The project took less than a year and a half from signing to the first production line being put into operation. Upon production, the project faced a downturn in the industrial cycle, and the industrial park helped the company weather the storm. In 2024, Changsha HKC's output value and tax amount climbed 28.7% and 57.25% respectively year on year, becoming the second enterprise with output value exceeding 10 billion CNY in the industrial park. HKC has joined hands with Lens Technology and other enterprises to open up the "glass-panel-module-terminal" industrial chain. In 2025, the output value of Liuyang's electronic information industrial chain reached 44.743 billion CNY.

Good industrial parks not only attract projects but also retain industrial chains.

Looking across Hunan, the industrial parks cumulatively introduced 84 projects from Fortune Global 500 enterprises and cultivated 27 national-level industrial clusters during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period. The number of national advanced manufacturing clusters ranked 5th in China and 1st in central China. The high-tech enterprises in industrial parks increased from 5,795 to 13,032, and the transaction value of technology contracts rose from 48.1 billion CNY to 463 billion CNY. In 2025, Hunan's ten major technological research projects were all arranged in industrial parks. Zoomlion developed a large embodied intelligence model and five humanoid robots in the Changsha High-Tech Industrial Development Zone, with 100% domestically-made key controllers.

The "ballast stone" of industry and the "source of innovation" are mostly in the industrial parks. This is the confidence underlying the industrial parks' role as the "main engine" and "main battlefield" of economic development.

Reform breaks barriers, one key activates the overall situation

Whether industrial park development is vibrant depends largely on institutional mechanisms.

In the past, many industrial parks operated under a condition of "administrative committees like governments and industrial parks like urban districts," with investment promotion staff entangled in social affairs. In 2025, Hunan issued the "Regulations on Development Zones of Hunan Province," completing the reform of administrative systems and mechanisms for industrial parks. The number of industrial park administrative institutions decreased from 136 before reform to 117, internal organs were streamlined 21.4%, 2,539 social affairs management functions were divested, and the efforts of industrial parks were returned to focus on economic development.

The approach to investment promotion is also changing. New planning for investment promotion draws red lines, and the old path of relying on tax rebates, land discounts, and fiscal subsidies no longer works. Hunan established a dynamic evaluation mechanism for investment promotion, pushing evaluation from focusing on the number of signed contracts to comprehensive pragmatic results. In 2025, industrial parks across Hunan introduced 1,284 major projects each worth 200 million CNY or more, with a total investment of 675.44 billion CNY. Competing on the strength of industrial ecosystems and business environments rather than preferential policies is a harder path, but one that can go further.

The toughest challenge in reform is figuring out how to balance the "benefit equation" for industrial parks. How to allocate tax revenues, how to consolidate data, and how to set performance metrics—these are all "tough nuts to crack" in the reform process. The central government has made clear that institutional reform and innovation in industrial parks should involve exploring mechanisms for sharing benefits—such as tax revenue, land use, and carbon emission quotas—between the areas from which industries are relocated and the areas receiving them. In 2025, Hunan issued a series of policies establishing benefit-sharing mechanisms and supporting the development of "enclave industrial parks." Models such as the Hunan-Hainan Advanced Manufacturing Industrial Park, the Hunan Advanced Research Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University in the Xiangjiang New Area, and the "Yuhua-Xupu joint construction" have created models that can be replicated. This year, industrial parks were further encouraged to take the lead in trials, initially forming four models of single-enterprise transfer cases.

Make stock resources "come alive." This year, Hunan issued several measures to support the revitalization and efficiency improvement of stock land, and launched a new round of special cleanup initiatives of industrial park land use. Since 2022, a total of 304,900 mu (20,326.7 ha.) of "three types of underused land" has been revitalized or disposed of.

Industrial park services are also being upgraded. The Wangcheng Economic and Technological Development Zone in Changsha was selected as a national "development zone reform and innovation" typical case for "AI + credit governance." Credit-based approval reduced 84% overall approval time compared with statutory time limits, significantly lowering the cost of doing business for enterprises.

From extensive to targeted administration, and from offering incentives to providing a favorable environment, the logic behind Hunan's industrial park reform is very clear. The government should withdraw from areas it has no business regulating, effectively administer those it must regulate, and leave room for the markets and enterprises.

The blueprint takes another step forward, "Five-good" industrial parks advance with innovation

Since 2025, the Central Economic Work Conference, the National "Two Sessions," and other important meetings have made a series of new arrangements and requirements for the high-quality development of industrial parks during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period. Efforts should be mainly made in three aspects:

- Efficient resource use, revitalizing stock assets such as industrial parks and orderly streamlining and standardizing various development zones;

- Green transformation, supporting areas with the conditions to take the lead in building a batch of zero-carbon industrial parks; and,

- Institutional innovation, improving industrial transfer coordination mechanisms and benefit-sharing mechanisms.

According to the "Development Plan for Industrial Parks in Hunan Province During the '15th Five-Year Plan' Period," by 2030, there will be one industrial park with output exceeding 500 billion CNY and 10 industrial parks each exceeding 100 billion CNY provincewide, bringing the total number of 100-billion-CNY industrial parks to 20. The share of high-tech industrial revenue among "four-above" enterprises will reach 60%, and the share of main and characteristic industrial revenue will reach 45%. The total import and export volume and actual use of foreign capital will achieve 550 billion CNY and two billion USD respectively.

As the blueprint takes another step forward, Hunan is building on its existing foundation to successfully pursue five paths.

Seek space from stock. Hunan's industrial parks still have a stock of 190,200 mu (12,680 ha.) of "three types of underused land"—both a burden and a potential. Land cleanup must shift from "campaign-style" to normalization‌, while revitalizing idle state-owned assets through market-oriented operations and asset securitization. This will both expand development space and steadily resolve debt risks of industrial parks.

Seek incremental improvements in industrial chains. Addressing problems such as low local supporting rates for key industries and both ends of the raw materials and products production process outside‌, the industrial parks should make good use of industrial chain investment promotion, fund-based investment promotion, and business environment investment promotion, to fill upstream and downstream supporting gaps. Hunan boasts long industrial chains of construction machinery, rail transit, and new energy. With each missing link filled in, the local ecosystem becomes a little richer.

Seek momentum through innovation. More than half of Hunan's sci-tech and innovation platforms are located in industrial parks, and about 90% of college sci-tech and innovation achievements are transformed in industrial parks. The next step is to arrange innovation consortia, concept verification centers, and pilot test bases around industrial chains, so that more laboratory results will "take root and thrive" in industrial parks with enhanced industrial value added.

Seek out the future through green initiatives. The cumulative reduction in energy consumption per unit of value-added in industries above the designated size in provincial industrial parks has exceeded 30%, and 35 national-level green industrial parks and one zero-carbon industrial park have been built. Efforts will be made to promote direct green power connections and integration of source-grid-load-storage, pushing low-carbon transformation of traditional industries such as steel and petrochemicals. The zero-carbon industrial parks are both a constraint and a new track and a new calling card for investment promotion.

Seek vitality through mechanisms. Hunan will make good use of comprehensive industrial park evaluations, give priority support in land, funds, and bonds to advanced industrial parks, and give well-performing parks a bright future. Meanwhile, the province will improve mechanisms for tolerating and correcting mistakes, encouraging industrial parks to boldly explore in areas such as benefit sharing and market-oriented investment promotion.

The construction of "Five-good" industrial parks is being advanced comprehensively, and what is being compared is not just scale and speed, but also quality, efficiency, and sustainability. When every inch of land yields greater returns and every industrial chain takes deeper root locally, Hunan's industrial parks, the "main engine," will be able to run more steadily, faster, and farther during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government. www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn