After years of honing their skills, small towns and streets are now making a big splash.

There has always been fierce competition between cities with GDPs in the trillions and counties with GDPs in the hundreds of billions; every year, when the list is released, it sparks a flurry of commentary across the country.

This year, such competition extends beyond cities and counties, with “100-billion-yuan towns” and “10-billion-yuan streets” entering the public eye.

From cities to counties, and from counties to towns and streets, the foundation of China’s rapid economic growth is becoming increasingly solid.

With a single town forming an industrial cluster and a single street converging an industrial chain, small towns and streets have charted a development trajectory that defies the economic downturn.

One Town, One Industrial Cluster

This is not the first time a town’s economy has surpassed 100 billion yuan.

As early as 2017, the GDP of Shishan Town in Foshan, Guangdong, had already surpassed 100 billion yuan, officially becoming the first member of the “100-billion-yuan town club.”

Shishan Town is a key industrial hub in Foshan, with its industrial output accounting for half of the district’s total and one-seventh of the city’s total.

Mai Manliang, mayor of Shishan Town, stated, “In our exploration of industrial clustering, we have continuously integrated resources, attracting industries to fill gaps and constantly refining the entire industrial chain.”

A complete industrial chain and industrial cluster have propelled Shishan Town into the top tier of town-level economies. A look back at Shishan’s development history reveals that the automotive industry has been the key to its growth.

For Shishan Town, the process of attracting investment was akin to bringing “big trees” home.

In 1995, the first Japanese-funded enterprise, Nissho Iwai, settled in Shishan Town; the entry of this Fortune 500 company set a promising precedent for the town.

Starting in 2002, nine automotive-related Fortune 500 companies, including Honda and Toyota, poured into Shishan Town, where the automotive industry began to take root and flourish.

In 2010, the FAW-Volkswagen South China Plant—then the largest foreign investment project in Foshan’s history—formally signed an agreement with Shishan Town, propelling its automotive industrial cluster into a phase of rapid development.

The successive arrival of Fortune 500 projects not only transformed the local industrial landscape but also positioned Shishan Town at the forefront of economic development, leveraging the spillover effects of these mega-projects to drive shared prosperity in surrounding areas.

The complementary industrial structures between Shishan Town and Guangzhou have made Shishan a favored destination for Fortune 500 companies.

The main production bases in China for the three major Japanese automotive brands—Honda, Toyota, and Nissan—are all located within Guangzhou. Its geographical proximity to Guangzhou became the primary condition for Shishan’s “attracting major players.”

While being backed by Guangzhou offers a “first-mover” advantage, Shishan Town’s own efforts cannot be overlooked. In 2002, to attract the Honda project, Shishan completed all approval and construction procedures in just 22 days.

The efficiency achieved 20 years ago is something many places can only match 20 years later.

In 2003, to “rebuild a new Nanhai,” Nanhai District delegated 63 administrative management items to the town level, creating a business environment characterized by low costs and high-quality services.

Shishan Town received greater policy support, laying a solid foundation for industrial development.

Today, amid the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry, Shishan Town is keeping pace with this trend, aiming to pursue a dual-track approach that balances traditional and new energy sectors.

Last December, Guangdong Ruipu Energy secured a 220-mu plot in Shishan Town to serve as its production base in South China. Ruipu Energy is poised to become the “anchor enterprise” of Shishan Town’s new energy vehicle industry, driving the iterative upgrading of traditional industries.

One Street, One Industrial Chain

In 2022, Yinzhou District in Ningbo surpassed Yuhang District in Hangzhou to become the new “Number One District in Zhejiang” for the first time.

Having secured the top spot, how can the district leverage its competitive edge in this “neck-and-neck race” to achieve even more “firsts” and “leadership”?

The answer may lie in the development model of Panhu Subdistrict—the “top performer among the top performers.”

In 2021, Panhu Subdistrict’s GDP had already exceeded 10 billion yuan, reaching 10.51 billion yuan; in the first three quarters of 2022, its GDP had already reached 8.215 billion yuan, with projections indicating it could surpass 11 billion yuan for the full year.

As the “pioneer” among Zhejiang’s sub-districts and towns, the automotive industry has played an indispensable role as its “backbone.”

Panhuo Subdistrict’s most famous “Automobile Avenue” brings together 37 4S dealerships and 38 automotive brands, making it Ningbo’s municipal-level commercial district with the highest tax revenue per mu and the greatest ripple effect.

Leveraging its strengths, Panhu Subdistrict has deeply cultivated the automotive parts industry, attracting and nurturing more than 30 enterprises—including BorgWarner, Gaofa, and Shenglong—over the past decade. These enterprises generate a total output value of 8 billion yuan, accounting for nearly 40% of the subdistrict’s total industrial output value from enterprises above designated size.

At the same time, Panhuo Subdistrict has established a symbiotic automotive industrial chain encompassing manufacturing, testing, vehicle sales, and after-sales service.

The concept of "a single street housing an entire industrial chain" has become a reality in Panhu Subdistrict.

Beyond the automotive sector, Panhu Subdistrict is home to 612 industrial enterprises. By focusing on leading industries such as high-end equipment, electronics and information technology, and new materials, it has cultivated 101 enterprises above designated size, 19 “single-champion” manufacturing enterprises, and 6 listed companies.

Why have these "single-champion" enterprises—which other regions are desperately seeking—clustered in Panhu Subdistrict?

The Deputy Director of the Panhu Subdistrict Office and Deputy Director of the Investment and Innovation Center stated, “This is primarily due to enterprises continuously exploring new avenues while staying true to their core businesses, driving economic development through talent and technology to achieve innovative breakthroughs.”

For “Little Giants” and “Single-Champion” enterprises, retaining talent is crucial, so the subdistrict has intensified its support efforts. Addressing the educational needs of children for key personnel and resolving housing issues for talent in startups have become standard practices for the subdistrict.

To further consolidate resources from leading enterprises within the jurisdiction, Panhu Subdistrict took the lead in establishing Yinzhou’s first “Industrial Guidance Fund,” with the initial round of funding already providing financial support to multiple companies. In the future, Panhu Subdistrict plans to help more technologically advanced and promising startups “get off the ground.”

The Path to Development for Towns

Looking across the country, the development realities of most towns do not resemble those of the two regions mentioned above, which have “big trees” to rely on.

From a broader regional perspective, imbalance is a widespread phenomenon, and it becomes more severe the further down the administrative hierarchy one goes.

Based on 2022 statistical data:

The top 100 cities are distributed across 27 provincial-level administrative regions, with only four regions lacking a single top-100 city;

Among the top 100 counties, only 18 provinces are represented, with Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shandong alone accounting for more than half of the total;

For the Top 100 Towns, only 10 provinces are represented, with Suzhou in Jiangsu and Foshan and Dongguan in Guangdong accounting for nearly half of the total.

This situation stems from the comprehensive economic development model of the eastern coastal regions.

The development of many strong towns began with every household setting up a factory, leading to the formation of distinctive industrial clusters in these towns—a proliferation of “grass” that helped “trees” take root.

For example, every town (district) in Dongguan has its own leading industry: Chang’an Town specializes in smartphones, Songshan Lake in science and technology innovation, Humen Town in modern apparel, and Houjie Town in electromechanical equipment and footwear.

However, for central and western regions with a weaker private sector, development relies solely on large-scale projects. With only a handful of such “trees,” it is difficult to generate a cluster-based multiplier effect.

For towns lacking an industrial foundation, the approach of leveraging nearby industrial park platforms to build dominant industries with competitive advantages seems more viable.

What does this mean?

Take Changsha as an example: each of its counties has a national-level economic and technological development zone. If towns can leverage the resources of these zones to provide supporting services and establish their own industrial foundations, the process might be more efficient.

The same applies to Jiangsu. The “town-district integration” management approach not only leverages the flexibility of the development zone management committee system but also drives economic development in towns and townships.

It’s not just industrial parks and development zones; towns can leverage any available platforms or centers.

The development of the automotive industry in Qiucun Town, Guangde City, Anhui Province, originated from the impetus provided by the R&D and Testing Center of Shanghai General Motors/Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center.

In Conclusion

The era of unchecked economic growth in counties and towns has passed; a new phase is dawning, and regional competition will intensify. Only by securing greater autonomy and preferential resource allocation can towns overcome the current situation where “a small horse is pulling a heavy cart.”

As urbanization in county seats continues to advance, town-level economies may well encounter new opportunities.