There has been a number of cities in Auhui province emerging recently along a 400-kilometer stretch of the Wanjiang River that are the focus of a new national economic modernization plan, centered on Anhui, the provincial capital.

According to local authorities, over the next five years, some of Hefei's counties and cities at the county level will support industrial development and at the same time help coordinate urban-rural development.

Hefei's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) calls for it to follow a new industrial road, expand in size, and develop the downtown, suburban, and township areas together, and eventually become a mega-city with national influence.

The northern part of the city is expected to reach the same level and standards as the city proper.

Meanwhile, all this talk of growth has brought opportunities for Hefei's Shuangfeng Economic Development Zone, which itself has geographical and transportation advantages.

The zone is playing a key role in the local economy and is an important part of Hefei's "1+4+1 space development strategy" (meaning one main city, four satellite cities, and one new river-lake region).

By the end of 2010, the zone had 108 large industrial companies, 29 of them each with an annual output worth more than 100 million yuan, and 28 focused on new technology.

It also had some key enterprises, such as the Yili Industrial Group; Hong Lu Group; the Jincen Co; Shangzhan Mould Industrial Co; China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuff Corp (COFCO); Erdos Cashmere; and the Hefei Chaochai Co.

These mainly concentrate on the following: foodstuff, agricultural produce, auto parts, engineering machinery, new construction materials, and home appliances.

The Shuangfeng (double phoenix) economic development area may reflect the ideas of the Han Feizi, a philosophical work of the Legalist School of the Warring States (475-221 BC), which said, "The phoenix spent three years developing wings, during which time it neither flew nor cried, it just watched and waited. If it flies, it must shoot into the sky, and if it cries, it must shock others."

The zone wants to be a model area for industrial transfers from the more advanced coastal areas and become a national economic development zone. Ultimately, a mega-Shuangfeng could emerge, with an annual output value worth 100 billion yuan.

It will cover a 770-square-kilometer area in southern Changfeng county and include Shuangdun, Gangji, Wushan and Xiatang townships.

The zone's total economic output is expected to account for 80-90 percent of the entire county's output by 2015.

Regional GDP is expected to reach 70 billion yuan, with revenues of 7 billion yuan, and fixed assets of 200 billion yuan, 120 billion yuan of that in industry.

An industrial transfer park and the Xiatang heavy industry base of the Shuangfeng Economic Development Zone, the "1+2 region", is expected to have an output worth 150 billion yuan, with 5 billion yuan in revenues.

Over the next five years, the Shuangfeng will become a center of home appliances, fittings, electric power, and auto parts, and an important base in Anhui for food processing and new construction materials.

Its new industries will include equipment manufacture, electronic information, and new energy.

By 2015, its infrastructure, development level, and administration will be at the same level as Hefei's downtown area and provide a solid foundation for the future national economic development area.

(China Daily 12/09/2011 page56)