Key portal to facilitate Bay Area bridgehead

Ganzhou, a city in the mountainous part of the eastern province of Jiangxi, has long been hampered by a poor transportation infrastructure.

Now, though, it is poised to become a key portal connecting the province with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Home to a large number of impoverished former revolutionary bases, the city was poverty-stricken until last year, when all of its 11 poor counties were removed from the national list of impoverished places.

The city is now entering the era of high-speed rail, thanks to the central government's drive to revitalize old revolutionary districts.

The Nanchang-Ganzhou High-speed Railway opened in 2019, and the Ganzhou-Shenzhen High-speed Railway is expected to become operational at the end of the year.

Located in Jiangxi's far south, Ganzhou has a number of geographical advantages as it is connected to three nearby provinces-Hunan, Guangdong and Fujian.

The two new rail routes are part of the planned Beijing-Hong Kong High-speed Railway, a key part of the bullet train network to connect Hong Kong with the capital.

With the completion of the Ganzhou-Shenzhen High-speed Railway, the journey time between Shenzhen, Guangdong province, and Ganzhou will be cut to about two hours from the current seven.

"The link is expected to greatly facilitate Ganzhou's integration into the traffic network and the economic development of the Bay Area. It will be a great leap in regional development," said Huang Changfei, general Party branch secretary at Xinfeng Railway Station in Ganzhou.

Huang Xinshun, a 26-year-old station attendant, said the connection will allow Ganzhou residents to work across the Bay Area and will also help the city attract competitive companies from the southern cluster.

Ganzhou, Jiangxi's largest city, occupies about one-fourth of the province. It has large tracts of land and an abundance of resources, which would provide space and services for companies that transfer from the Bay Area.

On July 10, Gree Electric Appliances, a manufacturer of home appliances in Zhuhai, Guangdong, established a manufacturing base in Ganzhou's Nankang district that mainly focuses on the production of smart home devices.

Rated by Fortune Magazine as one of the world's top 500 companies, it is the first such enterprise to transfer to Ganzhou from the Bay Area.

In addition to the breakthroughs in transportation and manufacturing, other fields such as food supply, tourism and health have also seen closer cooperation between Ganzhou and the Bay Area in recent years.

By making good use of the opportunities brought by the Greater Bay Area, Ganzhou will be in an ideal position to develop and prosper, Huang Xinshun said.