From quiet backwater to bridgehead economy

Ganzhou - a mountainous city in Jiangxi province that has long suffered from poverty and poor transport development - is poised to be a major gateway between Jiangxi province and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Home to a large number of impoverished old revolutionary bases, the prefecture-level city has been underdeveloped for a long time. It wasn't until last year that all of its 11 poor counties were removed from the nation's regional poverty list.

With the construction of high-speed railways and the central government's support, Ganzhou entered the high-speed-rail era and revitalized its old revolutionary districts. Following the opening of the Nanchang-Ganzhou high-speed railway in 2019, the Ganzhou-Shenzhen high-speed railway is due to start operating by the end of this year.

Located in the southernmost region of landlocked Jiangxi, Ganzhou enjoys a distinct geographical position, adjacent to three provinces - Hunan, Guangdong, and Fujian.

Both the Nanchang-Ganzhou and Ganzhou-Shenzhen high-speed rail links are part of the planned Beijing-Hong Kong high-speed railway - a key vertical section of the nation's high-speed railway network that directly connects Hong Kong with the nation's capital.

With the completion of the Ganzhou-Shenzhen high-speed railway, the travel time between Shenzhen and Ganzhou will be shortened from the seven hours to about two hours.

"The transportation link is expected to enormously accelerate Ganzhou's integration into the traffic network and economic development of the Greater Bay Area. It will be a great leap in the region's development," said Huang Changfei, general Party branch secretary of the Xinfeng railway station in Ganzhou.

Station attendant Huang Xinshun, 26, said he expects the rail link to benefit cross-regional commuters who live in Ganzhou and work in the Greater Bay Area. It will also help Ganzhou attract more enterprises from the south, given the convenience in traffic, he said. As the largest city in Jiangxi, taking up about one-fourth of the province's total area, Ganzhou has vast land and resources for businesses from the Greater Bay Area that intend to move to the city.

Gree Electric - a household company in home appliances based in Zhuhai, Guangdong province - has set up a manufacturing base in Ganzhou's Nankang district, focusing on producing intelligent home appliances. As one of the world's top 500 enterprises rated by Fortune Magazine, Gree Electric is the first such enterprise from the Greater Bay Area to have set foot in Ganzhou.

Besides the breakthroughs in the transportation and manufacturing sectors, Ganzhou and the Greater Bay Area have seen closer cooperation in other areas, such as in food supply, tourism and medical health, in recent years.

Huang Xinshun is confident that by leveraging opportunities emerging with the Greater Bay Area's development, Ganzhou is in an ideal position to grow faster and prosper.