Background

　　To build “big and strong, excellent and beautiful” modern megacity, Yichang must be supported by a strong economy, among them the county economy plays a significant role. The Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government make it clear that it is important to highlight the fundamental and supporting role of county economy. We should strive to build an upgraded version of county economy and to ensure that the work of county economy is in the forefront of Hubei Province. Each county, county-level city and district has livened up to the trust and spared no effort to be the first. In the Work Meeting of County Economy of Hubei Province this year, Yidu, Yiling, Dangyang and Zhijiang are in the top 20, ranking the third, the fifth, the seventh, and the eighth respectively and are honored with the title of “2012 Annual Advanced County (county-level city, district) in County Economy Development of Hubei Province”.

　　On November 23rd, after an interview in Yichang, Ke Dong, a reporter of interviewing group “China Dream, A Journey Cross Hubei Province”, said with deep feelings, “The development of Yichang county economy is as powerful and strong as f ‘a backbone’.”

　　From January to October, Yichang’s industrial enterprises above designated size have yielded an industrial added value of 101.857 billion RMB, of which Yidu, Yiling, Dangyang and Zhijiang took up the half.

　　A city cannot thrive without prosperous county, while only in prosperous counties, residents can get rich. In recent years, based on coordinated development of different regions, Yichang has accelerated its overall planning of urban and rural areas, and has actively constructed an urban structure of “one primary part and five subsidiary ones”---namely one central urban area and five county-level cities including Yidu, Dangyang, Zhijiang, Zigui and Changyang”, forming the urban development spatial pattern of “one area and four corridors”---namely the Yangtze River and Xiangxi River, Juzhang River, Qingjiang River, Yuyang River”, promoting leaping development of county economy.

　　Each county, no matter county-level city or district, is far-sighted. “Where there is a will, there is a way.”  Encouraged by the achievements made by 100 counties nationwide and the advanced counties in midland, each county keeps on struggling for economy progresses enthusiastically. Yidu, Yiling, Dangyang and Zhijiang take the lead in development, building the “upgrade version” of Yichang county economy, Yuan’an strives to enter the province’s first group as soon as possible, and mountainous counties including Zigui, Xingshan, Changyang and Wufeng grasp the opportunities of Three Gorges follow-up work planning, poverty alleviation in Wuling Mountain District, and Yichang-Badong Highway etc. to construct a unique and preponderant industrial system and enhance the “hematopoietic” function.

　　Yidu: Sprinting For the Top 100 Nationwide

　　In late autumn, large projects over a hundred million investments settled in Yidu one after another, for instance, the opening of an annual output of 300,000 high-end hydrocylinder projects by Dongfu Machinery Co. Ltd, and the starting of the Soil and Old Foolish Biotechnology Park, raising a new upsurge of sprinting the top 100 counties and county-level cities nationwide.

　　From the beginning of this year, Yidu Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have taken competitive spirit promotion as the primary task of sprinting the top 100.

　　Supported by Honghuatao, Gaobazhou, Lucheng, Zhicheng and other towns along the river, Yidu City plans to build a modern comprehensive industry cluster district with  prominent features and rational distribution, town zones along Yangtze River and the billion “economic corridor” by centralized layout of the project, intensive use of resources, cluster development of industries, and integration of urban and rural parts.It is estimated that 20 km? of industrial park will be built by 2016 with the industrial enterprises of designated size of more than 240 and  main business revenue over 100 billion RMB .

　　Zhicheng Town took the lead in holding a mobilization meeting, sprinting provincial top 5 towns. Subdistrict Office of Lucheng again refreshed the goal to be the top 10 rural economy in Hubei; Honghuatao Town is unwilling to yield to others and targets to be the top 20 towns in Hubei. Sprinting to be the top 100 nationwide has become the new target to motivate 400,000 people of Yidu for leaping development.

　　“2012 Annual Top 100 Villages and Towns in Hubei Province” came out On Oct. 21st. Five villages and towns including Subdistrict Office of Lucheng, Zhicheng Town, Honghuatao Town, Songmuping Town and Yaojiadian Town rank the provincial top 100 villages and towns, of which Lucheng ranks the second in Hubei ,first in Yichang.

　　Yiling District: Integration of Three Main Industries and Urban-rural Coordination

　　Before the National Day Holiday, Xiaoya Road, a first-grade road with an investment of 700 million RMB, was open to traffic in Yiling District, forming big outer ring road of Yichang city.This road plays a key role on the construction of 15 major projects including Xiaoxita Hi-tech Industrial Park, Guanzhuang Village (village with best ecological environment),Longquan Town (pilot town for “Four Modernizations”), Yaqueling Town.(pilot town for new-type urbanization).

　　The District sticks to putting industry at the first place, promoting integration of three main industries and coordination of urban and rural areas, and booming Yichang with thriving industries. The first industry concentrates on revenue increase aiming at developing agro-processing in the high-tech Park and central towns, building the best citrus bases, tea bases as well as ecological forest lands, promoting the combination of agriculture and rural tourism. The second goes to transformation of industrial parks aiming at facilitating the platform construction of six major parks, so as to expand towns and perfect their functions. The third focuses on supporting resources aiming at expanding producer services and forming three business areas (Changjiang Market, Yichang City Proper and Fazhan Avenue) based on its geographic advantage.

　　At present, Yiling District has already possessed 2 industrial parks with gross output of more than 10-billion RMB and 2 industries with annual output value of 20-billion RMB. There are four towns on the list of Top 100 Towns of Hubei Province, among which Zhangcunping Town is on the list of Top 10.. In addition, the annual output value of four towns in this district will exceed r100 million RMB.

　　Dangyang: "To Be No.1 Project"

　　Considering the small economic aggregate, Dangyang City sticks to the principle of early start on accelerating the development of county economy. Thanks to "To Be No.1 Project" and "Doubling Increase Plan", Dangyang City has jumped to 7th from 18th, 14th and 12th in the ranking list of county economy in Hubei Province in 2013. From January to October in 2013, the county-level city has signed a total of 54 projects, with an agreed investment of 11.2 billion RMB. Among them, 214 projects with an investment of over 5 million RMB are under construction. A number of big brands and items like Daohuaxiang Liquor, Stanley, China Huiyuan Juice Group Limited have settled down in Dangyang. Some projects have been built up and put into operation, like Cogeneration of Heat and Power Project by Huaqiang Chemical Group Co., Ltd, Energy-saving Glass Project by Hubei Sanxia New Building Material Co., Ltd. Last year, Dangyang got 432 investment projects within the limit of the central and provincial budgets, with a paid-in fund of 1.64 billion RMB. The number of running investment projects and available funds ranked forefront in Hubei Province. "Doubling Increase Plan" has greatly promoted the development of leading industries. In 2012, it witnessed 3 industrial clusters with an annual output value of over 10 billion RMB, 140 enterprises with an annual output value of over 100 million RMB, and 17 with tax revenue of over 10 million RMB. Huaqiang Chemical Group Co., Ltd entered the list of large enterprise groups with over 5-billion-RMB sales. Hubei Sanxia New Building Material Co., Ltd has been ranking top 10 in the field of glass industry. A number of enterprises were heading towards the enterprises of 5-billion-RMB sales, like Gezhouba Group Cement Co., Ltd, Stanley Fertilizer, ONLYLONG, Yichang Xincheng Graphite Co., Ltd and Baojiali Ceramics. Dangyang leapfrogged to No.1 in Yichang with 203 municipal-scale industrial enterprises.

　　Zhijiang: Experiencing Transformation

　　On October 30, Zhijiang city proper witnessed the holding of Investment Promotion Conference named “Passionate Striding over Beautiful Zhijiang”, in which 24 projects were signed with an investment of 40 billion RMB at the promotion.

　　Zhijiang plans to blend into mega-Yichang, and to build large industrial parks by attracting great investments and fostering big industries. The city has long been insisting on scientific development, green development, planning to import number of transformation development projects in order to lay a solid foundation for the transformation of economic development.

　　This year, ZhiJiang has brought in a group of strong Hi-tech enterprises, infusing a strong driving force into the transformation of industrial economy. Sanning Company has invested 5 million RMB in the production of 200,000 tons of caprolactam, accelerating its transformation and upgrading from coal chemicals and phosphorus chemicals to petrochemicals and fine chemicals, and getting closer to the goal of becoming an enterprise with gross output of 10-billion RMB. The Ethylene Glycol Project with total investment of 2 billion RMB and annual production of 200 thousand tons has promoted the transformation and upgrading of Hubei Fertilizer Companyand, and has revitalized this old SOE. Zhijiangdaqu Liquor also has invited successfully Weiwei Group to build an Industrial Park, has established a 50000-ton filling center with an investment of 5 billion RMB and a 20000-ton base liquor project with an investment of 1 billion RMB, boosting "ZhiJiang Liquor" to be the largest new famous liquor brand in China.