On May 21, at a seminar on comprehensive development strategies for China's top 100 cities in 2021 held in Beijing, Shen Hanyao, president of the Walton Institute of Economic Research, put forward a new pattern of integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta in the form of "one, two, three, four and five", i.e., a new pattern of one core area, two main cores, three new growth poles, four sub-centers, and five radiation belts.

Shen Hanyao pointed out that has 3.87 trillion yuan GDP of Shanghai is China's largest economic city, but only 3.8% of the country's share to drive the Yangtze River Delta development is still not enough. And Shanghai's population, land and tend to be saturated, coupled with excessive agglomeration caused by the "urban disease" also needs to be resolved. Therefore, the best choice is to create a new center 100-200 kilometers away from Shanghai, forming a double core of sister cities. Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou, with a GDP of more than 4 trillion yuan, is just such an ideal place, which can be fully integrated into a special joint market-oriented rather than administrative city, and integrated with Shanghai to form the dual core of Shanghai + Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou Sister Cities. With a GDP of nearly 8 trillion yuan, accounting for nearly 8% of the country's GDP, the same as New York's share of the United States, the two main cores are fully capable of driving the development of the Yangtze River Delta and the whole country.

The two main cores of Shanghai and Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou, plus five cities of Taizhou, Nantong, Huzhou, Jiaxing and Zhoushan together form a core area with a GDP of 10.4 trillion yuan, which is the inner ring of the Yangtze River Delta.  The outer ring includes the entire area of three provinces and one city in the YRD region, including Xuzhou and Lianyungang in the north, Fuyang and Anqing in the west, and Quzhou and Wenzhou in the south. These cities are the center cities of the outer ring of the YRD, and they are at the junction of the provinces, especially Quzhou and Xuzhou, which are at the junction of the four provinces, and they are important nodes of the YRD's radiation to the outside. In addition, there is another city within the YRD that is located at the junction of Suzhou, Zhejiang and Anhui and has an enclave in Shanghai - Xuancheng. These three cities can be focused on as new growth poles in the YRD to radiate and drive the development of backward areas and promote common prosperity. In order to further drive the development of the whole country, the Yangtze River Delta can radiate to the whole country and the Belt and Road through five high-speed rail lines. The first one is to the north along the two Beijing-Shanghai lines, radiating to Jinan and Qingdao. The second one is to the northwest along the Xulan High Speed Railway and Lanxin High Speed Railway, radiating to Zhengzhou, Xi'an, Lanzhou and Urumqi, connecting with the Belt and Road. The third one is to the west along the Shanghai-Hanzhong high-speed railway, radiating to Wuhan, Chongqing and Chengdu. The fourth one is to the southwest along the Hukun high-speed railway, radiating Changsha, Kunming, connecting the Belt and Road. The fifth is to the south along the coastal high-speed railroad, radiation Fuzhou, Xiamen, connecting the Maritime Silk Road.

In terms of industrial pattern, Shen Hanyao pointed out that the world today is in the fourth industrial revolution - scientific and technological revolution, and the fourth industry is mainly independent from the tertiary industry, which consists of science and innovation industry and science and education, culture, medical care and so on. The fourth industry is the dominant industry in today's world, which determines the energy level of the city in the regional economy of the city. In today's era, whoever is at the forefront of the world in science and innovation research and development, and whoever is the most developed in science, education, culture and life and health will become the center of the world economy. Therefore, the Yangtze River Delta in general should be led by the fourth industry, based on the first industry, with the second industry as the main body and the third industry as the support, forming a pattern of coordinated development of the four major industries. Specifically, the two main cores of Shanghai, Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou and the four sub-centers of Nanjing, Hefei, Hangzhou and Ningbo should develop the four major industries in the order of four, three, two and one. Other large and medium-sized cities are to develop in the order of three, four, two and one industries, while small and medium-sized cities are to focus mainly on the secondary industry and develop according to the industrial pattern of two, three, four and one. Small towns and villages, mountainous areas, and ecological reserves should grasp the primary industry as the basic industry, and develop according to the order of one, two, three, and four.

Shen Hanyao also pays special attention to strategic emerging industries, and believes that the most dominant and fundamental core strategic emerging industry in the world today is the integrated circuit industry. The Yangtze River Delta should focus on the layout of the focus, the formation of Shanghai, Wuxi, Nanjing, Hefei as the "long dragon", Nantong, Shaoxing as the "two wings" of the "one dragon, two wings" pattern, in which the three provinces and one city, Nantong and Shaoxing are the "two wings". Under this pattern, the three provinces and one city to cooperate and coordinate the competition, will be the world's largest and most advanced technology world-class high-end industrial clusters.

In particular, Shen Hanyao pointed out that in order to build a good new pattern of the Yangtze River Delta, it is necessary to deepen the coordination and operation among the cities. The first is to have a global strategic planning, to plan the space, industrial development strategy and transportation skeleton of the Yangtze River Delta in an integrated manner. The second is to do a good job in two major transportation projects. The first is to transform and upgrade the Su'nan Shuofang Airport into a world-class international airport with an adult passenger flow of more than 50 million passengers (higher than Hongqiao Airport and lower than Pudong Airport), so as to make it compatible with the positioning of the Su, Wuxi and Chang as the main core of the Yangtze River Delta. The second is to build the world's highest level of network, system, and operational integration of the Yangtze River Delta rail transit network, and to establish a new mechanism of inter-city and municipal non-transfer direct rail transit "one network through the line". Thirdly, we should strengthen the financial support for the integration of the Yangtze River Delta. On the one hand, we should give full play to the decisive role of the market mechanism, and promote the natural generation of the integration of the Yangtze River Delta with market-oriented funds. On the other hand, the government should play a better role in guiding the integration with policy funds to optimize the integration, and jointly ensure the smooth promotion of the integration of the Yangtze River Delta.

(Organized by the Walton Economic Institute based on the recording of Shen Hanyao's speech)