Big dreams, shiny projects and regional inequalities in China's inland cities

Large metropolitan areas in central and western China are powering ahead, but will the benefits of their growth spill over?

- Aw Cheng Wei China Correspondent

Driverless vehicles including a bus in Wuhan's National Intelligent Connected Vehicle (ICV) zone. Beijing granted Wuhan the central region's first national-level ICV testing and demonstration zone in 2019 because of the city's strong automobile sector. PHOTO: WUHAN ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT ZONE

(WUHAN ECONOMIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT ZONE)

CHONGQING - Robotaxis that ply the streets of Wuhan are equipped with heated seats and massage functions. Rides are ordered via an app, and commuters confirm their identities on the touchscreen windows of the driverless cabs before they are whisked off.

In 2019, the capital of Hubei province became the first Chinese city to issue commercial licences for trials of driverless vehicles in open road conditions.

Today, it is a global front runner in driverless technology, a key area in the country's fractious competition with the US that Chinese leaders are keen to dominate.

While the coastal cities of Shanghai, Zhuhai and Xiamen have long been China's economic powerhouses, inland cities - that had lagged behind for years because of their more remote locations - are showing why it is now their time.

They are seeing the fruit of policies to reduce regional inequalities, such as the Go West strategy in 2000 and the Rise of Central China plan in 2006, which focused on industrialisation and connectivity in those regions.

Central provinces Hubei and Anhui as well as western Gansu grew 5.8 per cent in 2024, beating the national average of 5 per cent that year.

Today, gleaming skyscrapers and flagship infrastructure projects dot the landscape in cities in these provinces.

The provincial-level municipality of Chongqing has also overtaken Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong province, to become China's fourth-largest economy in 2022, during the 14th five-year plan period.