Who is the "first city in the west"? This city is quietly riding into the dust

The competition between cities under a strong provincial capital is, to a large extent, a competition between provinces and between hinterlands and hinterlands.

Written by丨Xiong Zhi

Unconsciously, the size of Chengdu's permanent population is already approaching Beijing.

According to the latest data, Chengdu's permanent population will reach 21.403 million in 2023, a year-on-year increase of 135,000, while Beijing's permanent population will be 21.858 million, with a difference of just over 400,000 between the two cities.

At present, there are four cities with a population of more than 20 million in the country, namely Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu.

The continuous inflow of population is a direct reflection of Chengdu's attractiveness. This second-tier city (or new first-tier city) meets many people's expectations of a big city – the economy and industry are not bad, but the housing prices are relatively friendly and friendly, and the population is large but not so volatile, maintaining a casual market life. There is convenient transportation, tempting food, and a strong cultural atmosphere......

In the vigorous war for people, what did Chengdu do right?

01

In 2003, Zhang Yimou directed and filmed a promotional film for Chengdu, "Chengdu, a city that you don't want to leave when you come", this classic slogan began to spread.

In recent years, Chengdu has indeed confirmed this slogan with solid population inflow figures, and it is not a kind of unbounded boasting.

In the decade from 2010 to 2020, Chengdu's permanent population surged from 15.118 million to 20.938 million, an increase of 5.82 million, second only to the first-tier cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou among the country's key cities.

It should be pointed out that such a huge increase in population is not all natural and mechanical. In 2016, Chengdu managed Jianyang, realizing indirect expansion, bringing more than one million new people to it. But even after deducting the part of Jianyang, Chengdu's population increase is also among the top in the country.

In the past two years, the permanent population of first- and second-tier cities has continued to flow in, but the growth rate has slowed down significantly. The four first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen will even collectively have negative growth in 2022, and in this context, Chengdu still maintains considerable growth data.

In 2023, Chengdu's permanent population will increase by 135,000, continuing to be among the top in the country. In contrast, Chongqing, a CP group that has always been a topic, decreased by 219,000 people last year, which was the first negative population growth in nearly a decade, so much so that some people shouted "Chengdu is siphoning Chongqing".

Screenshot of picture/video

The large inflow of population is only one aspect of Chengdu's rapid development. Chengdu's economic growth rate is also galloping, with GDP more than tripling in the decade from 2010 to 2020. In 2023, it will increase by 6.0% year-on-year, ranking second among the top 10 cities.

The ranking of the top of the new first-tier cities may be mixed with certain commercial factors and may not be authoritative and accurate, but if the scope is locked to the west, compared with Chongqing, Xi'an and other cities, Chengdu's position as the "first city in the west" may be the least controversial.

For example, in terms of market vitality, Chengdu ranks first in the central and western regions in terms of the number of listed companies; in terms of transportation, Chengdu is the second city after Beijing to have double 4F airports, and many international routes, only Chengdu has them in the entire western region. The operating mileage of the subway is currently the fourth in the country, second only to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. In terms of opening up to the outside world, Chengdu is second only to Shanghai and Guangzhou in terms of the number of consulates......

02

We all know that Sichuan is a major province in terms of transfer payments, and the amount of transfer payments accepted is the first in the country. Fiscal transfers have indeed helped Chengdu, but it may not be fair to be deducted from such a hat.

First of all, Chengdu itself is a third-level finance, and it also needs to be handed over to the provincial level, so that a little of the money earned will be given to sister cities. Secondly, most of Sichuan's transfer payments are still distributed to those underdeveloped cities and prefectures, such as Liangshan, Ganzi and so on.

Of course, the policy and resource tilt given to Chengdu at the national level is indeed enough to make many cities envious. For example, Suzhou, which has a higher GDP, still does not have its own airport, while Chengdu already has two large airports. In addition, when it comes to some national strategies in the western region, Chengdu is basically taking the lead.

If any city wants to develop, it is difficult to achieve it by relying on heaps of resources alone. The most important thing about Chengdu's current achievements is that it is indeed competitive enough to find the right direction of development, especially to grasp the opportunity of strengthening the provincial capital.

At present, many coastal provinces have also begun to implement the strategy of strengthening provincial capitals, hoping to make provincial capitals bigger and stronger, and participate in the national resource competition. When it comes to strong provincial capitals, Chengdu can be said to be the "originator".

▲Chengdu City (picture/video screenshot)

In 1997, after the "separation" of Chongqing and Chongqing, Chengdu's position in the province was corrected, and in the face of Chongqing's competitive pressure, Sichuan began to concentrate resources and strength, and the power of the whole province to develop Chengdu, which was not only to avoid being siphoned by Chongqing, but also based on the grim reality of Sichuan's massive outflow of population.

Whether it is the location of Chengdu's new airport in Jianyang in 2013, or the subsequent direct management of Jianyang and indirect expansion, this is a microcosm of Sichuan's determination to make Chengdu bigger.

Chengdu's current economic primacy, that is, the proportion of GDP in the province, has reached about 36%. It ranks fourth among provincial capitals, higher than Wuhan and Xi'an, which is a huge difference from coastal provincial capitals. Like Nanjing, Jiangsu Province and Jinan, Shandong Province, their first degree is only about 14%.

Policies and resources have been given to the provincial capital, and as a result, the development level of cities in Sichuan other than Chengdu is uneven. The GDP of Mianyang, the second echelon, is just over 400 billion yuan, less than one-fifth of Chengdu.

However, it must be noted that if the whole province does not develop Chengdu, the population and resources will still be siphoned by other coastal cities, and those areas may not be able to develop better.

For many Sichuan people, after the rise of Chengdu, they have at least one more option to work nearby. Therefore, the rapid development of Chengdu in recent years has coincided with the return of population in Sichuan - Qipu data shows that more than 5 million of Chengdu's non-local population are from other cities in Sichuan.

03

The competition between cities under a strong provincial capital is, to a large extent, a competition between provinces and between hinterlands and hinterlands. This actually explains why Chengdu is more competitive than Chongqing and Xi'an in the race for the title of the first city in the west.

In 2023, the province's GDP will exceed 6 trillion yuan, an increase of 6%, and the province's permanent population will be 83.680 million at the end of the year, with a registered population of 90.714 million.

Although Shaanxi is also a strong provincial capital, it is a medium-sized province after all, with a total GDP of 3.4 trillion yuan, which is a little more than half of Sichuan's, and the total amount of resources that can be gathered is limited. This means that with the same primacy, the scale of Chengdu can be larger.

As for Chongqing, although it has the status of a municipality directly under the central government, it is a law that second-tier municipalities are not as good as the capitals of large provinces, and this is the case with Chongqing, and the same is true with Tianjin. Behind Chengdu, after all, is a vast hinterland with a population of 83.68 million, which is an advantage that Chongqing does not have.

Of course, having said that, although the development of domestic cities is largely inseparable from top-level design and policy dividends, it mainly depends on its own efforts to squeeze into the top camp.

In the past two years, Chongqing and Guangzhou have caught up with each other, and the position of the fourth city in terms of GDP has been changing. Many people know that the rapid development of Chongqing is closely related to the vigorous undertaking of industrial transfer in the past few years. For example, around 2008, it took great efforts to recruit companies such as HP and Foxconn to concentrate on the development of the notebook industry, and at the peak, there was 1 "made in Chongqing" for every 3 laptops and every 10 mobile phones in the world.

In fact, in terms of undertaking industrial transfer, Chengdu is not far behind. Around 2008, it also aimed at the electronic information industry, introducing Foxconn, Dell, Compal, Wistron, Texas Instruments, Lenovo and many other companies.

▲Chengdu High-tech West District (picture/video screenshot)

So far, 315 of the world's top 500 companies have settled in Chengdu. In addition, Chengdu has 117 A-share listed companies and nearly 150 domestic and foreign listed companies, which is in a leading position among second-tier cities. Because there are enough high-quality companies to provide jobs, Chengdu has become an important city for graduates.

It is worth mentioning that after the popularity of social media such as short videos, the concept of Internet celebrity cities has become more and more popular, and Chengdu, Chongqing, Xi'an, and cities such as Hangzhou, including Hangzhou in the east, can be regarded as the first generation of Internet celebrity cities.

The current Internet celebrity city marketing is gradually templated, from Zibo to Harbin to Tianshui, the lively index is as good as the first generation of Internet celebrity cities, but the effect of economic transformation is always doubtful.

At this level, the current Internet celebrity cities may have to learn from the first generation of Internet celebrity cities such as Chengdu, rather than spending empty efforts to engage in marketing and publicity, and sink down to do a good job of improving the economy and industry, so that the traffic can really become retained.