Let go of the "old grudges"; this time, the two major provincial sub-centers won't compete anymore.

Xiangyang and Nanyang, this time there will be no contention. As sub-central cities in Hubei and Henan provinces, both are located in the South Xiang Basin, connected by mountains and rivers and sharing cultural ties, yet they have experienced a millennia-long “love-hate” relationship—competing over Zhuge Liang’s Memorial to the Troops, vying for the Ningxi Railway and He-Kang High-speed Railway to pass through, with their economic strengths often clashing, and openly competing in the cultural and tourism consumption markets.

But now, the two cities are experiencing a “breakthrough.” On March 23, at the “Knowledge of Hubei, Path of Blossoms”—the 2026 Hubei Cultural Tourism Flower Viewing Season Nanyang Promotion Conference, 18 cultural tourism enterprises from Nanyang and eight cities in Hubei signed agreements to promote resource complementarity, tourist flow exchange, and market connectivity, with four tourism routes linking Nanyang and Xiangyang launched simultaneously.

Prior to this, Xiangyang’s and Nanyang’s cultural tourism departments also released a collaborative video inviting netizens to “take a trip to Xiangyang and Nanyang for an endless story of two cities.” The joint operation of the two official platform accounts has even been called a “historic reconciliation” by netizens.

From the beginning of the year, when the authorities officially “certified” the relationship between the two cities—Xiangyang “noted” that its connections with Nanyang and surrounding cities had become “closer and cooperation more active”—to the recent frequent interactions in the cultural tourism market, what does this transformation signify?

Turning Point

The opening of The Memorial to the Troops states: “I was originally a commoner, farming in Nanyang.” This farming land has been the battleground for the “struggle” between Nanyang and Xiangyang for a thousand years, with Nanyang possessing Wolong Ridge and Xiangyang holding the ancient Longzhong.

This has also laid the groundwork for both cities’ covert and overt competitions across various fields. Regarding the routes of the Ningxi Railway and He-Kang High-speed Railway, Nanyang, Xiangyang, and Suizhou have clashed multiple times, with Nanyang largely regarded as the winner in the disputes over these lines. However, in the cultural tourism market, Nanyang has been deeply stimulated by Xiangyang.

At the start of 2023, a letter from Xiangyang Overseas Chinese Town’s Fantasy Resort mentioned that “over 30,000 friends from Nanyang, Henan, crossed 138 kilometers to Xiangyang, Hubei,” which unsettled Nanyang, having just announced efforts to “strengthen cultural tourism consumption,” prompting public reflection on its cultural tourism and cultural innovation industries.

Now, after three years, the “handshake” between the cultural tourism departments of the two cities appears extraordinary. Hubei’s side specifically noted that the promotion conference received “strong support” from Henan’s Department of Culture and Tourism and the Nanyang Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, and Tourism, with both sides simultaneously launching four tourism routes linking Nanyang and Xiangyang:

Nanyang Rose Garden to Xiangyang Zhaoyang Peach Blossom; Nanyang Government Office to Xiangyang Tang City and North Street; Nanyang Wulong Ridge to Xiangyang Ancient Longzhong; Xiangyang Overseas Chinese Town to Nanyang Xixia Dinosaur Park.

Particularly, the linkage between Wulong Ridge and Ancient Longzhong demonstrates the firm commitment to cultural tourism cooperation between Nanyang and Xiangyang. When resource complementarity and tourist exchange become routine, regional barriers will be further broken down, making the so-called “tale of two cities” possible.

“Instead of fighting over the cake, it’s better to work together to make the cake bigger.” Qin Zunwen, Vice President of the China Urban Economics Society and Secretary-General of the Yangtze River High-end Think Tank Alliance, stated that cultural tourism is partly an attention economy, and joint development is the trend. Historically, Nanyang and Xiangyang have been closely linked, and setting aside disputes to collaborate and grow is a positive development.

In fact, the cultural tourism industry itself is one of the key pillars of economic development for both cities. Xiangyang’s tourist reception has exceeded 100 million visitors for three consecutive years, with total tourism revenue surpassing 90 billion yuan. Nanyang’s tourism in the first 11 months of last year also exceeded 96.89 million visitors, with comprehensive tourism income reaching 80.2 billion yuan, showing rapid growth.

In the 2026 government work report, Nanyang proposed to continue focusing on the “Four Articles”: culture, mountains and waters, health, and roses, and to actively carry out “exchanges among cities along the South-to-North Water Diversion,” aiming for over 5% and 10% growth respectively in tourist reception and total tourism revenue. Xiangyang plans to enhance the attractiveness of key scenic spots such as “Ancient City - Ancient Longzhong - Tang City - Overseas Chinese Town,” to expand the “ticket economy,” and to strive for over 110 million visitors and 100 billion yuan in tourism income.

This demonstrates the strong momentum of both cities to lead in the cultural tourism industry.

Linkage

The cooperation between Xiangyang and Nanyang extends beyond tourism, with even greater potential.

Recently, the national “14th Five-Year Plan” emphasized promoting green transformation and upgrading of industries along the Yangtze River economic belt, and fostering coordinated development among upstream, midstream, and downstream regions. How to fully unleash the development potential of cross-regional connected areas has become a key focus.

“From the national two sessions to the ‘14th Five-Year Plan,’ there has been a strong emphasis on coordinated development. Xiangyang and Nanyang are precisely cross-regional connection cities and both serve as provincial sub-central cities with high development positioning,” Qin Zunwen said. Developing in coordination, especially strengthening tourism and automotive cooperation, offers promising breakthroughs.

Xiangyang’s economy is driven by the automotive industry, which is its largest sector. It has successfully been approved as a national pilot zone for intelligent vehicle networking, and is accelerating its upgrade to new energy and smart connected vehicles, forming a clustered development of complete vehicles and parts. For example, the Dongfeng Yipai Nano 01 assembly line produces a new vehicle every two minutes, exporting to over 20 countries including Germany, Nepal, Chile, and Malaysia.

Nanyang’s strength lies in automotive parts. By December 2024, the Nanyang Development and Reform Commission publicly reported that the city has 130 automotive enterprises, including key companies like Feilong, Xijiang, and Zhongde. Their products—water pumps, shock absorbers, turbocharger housings, intake and exhaust manifolds—have high market shares domestically, mainly supplied to over 40 vehicle manufacturers such as SAIC-GM, FAW-Volkswagen, Dongfeng, and exported to more than 10 countries including the US, UK, and Brazil.

However, it admits that compared to Wuhan, Xiangyang, Shiyan, and Suizhou, there are urgent issues such as industrial transformation and upgrading, low industrial clustering, and weak independent innovation capabilities that need addressing.

Nanyang’s location between the Wuxiang-Shiyan-Suizhou automotive corridor and the Zhengkai automotive belt makes regional cooperation especially important. Strengthening collaboration with Xiangyang is crucial for expanding markets for automotive and parts industries and enhancing competitiveness.

This presents a significant opportunity for joint development in the automotive sector. Qin Zunwen believes both Xiangyang and Nanyang are major agricultural cities, with Nanyang’s advantages in agricultural processing and traditional Chinese medicine industries unmatched by Xiangyang. For example, Muyuan Co., Ltd. has become a world-leading pig farming enterprise, driving rapid growth in agricultural product deep processing industries. These sectors can be further strengthened through cooperation.

Center

Urban development must be coordinated, but competition is inevitable. Over the past decade, Xiangyang and Nanyang have shifted positions, with Xiangyang overtaking Nanyang thanks to the rapid rise of its automotive industry.

In 2012, Xiangyang’s GDP first surpassed that of Nanyang, and by 2021, the gap had widened to 96.721 billion yuan, increasing at roughly 10 billion yuan annually. In 2025, Xiangyang’s GDP is projected at 6113.85 billion yuan, and Nanyang’s at 5167.86 billion yuan, with growth rates of 2.1% and 6.5%, respectively, narrowing the gap to 945.99 billion yuan.

Externally, Xiangyang was designated as a provincial sub-central city in 2003 and developed rapidly under provincial policies, while Nanyang only achieved “upgrade” status in 2021, entering a fast development phase. Recently, Xiangyang’s growth has slowed due to automotive industry transformation, with Yichang surpassing it in 2024, while Nanyang has begun to lead in growth rate.

Qin Zunwen believes this is mainly because Xiangyang is still in a transitional phase with a heavily weighted industrial structure. Although automotive accounts for a large share, the transition to new energy and smart connected vehicles is relatively slow compared to leading regions, and emerging industries like new energy materials and low-altitude economy have yet to form sufficient support.

From the provincial perspective, Xiangyang and Nanyang are similarly positioned. Both are provincial sub-central cities, ranking third in GDP within the province, tasked with radiating and driving regional development as part of the coordinated central cities. Nanyang aims to “strengthen the sub-central, create growth poles, and pursue new brilliance,” while Xiangyang seeks to accelerate the construction of a true “sub-central” and develop into a regional hub city for western and central China, better leading the Han River Basin, radiating the South Xiang Basin, and linking high-quality development in northwestern Hubei.

This also raises new expectations for their future development. Qin Zunwen sees both Xiangyang and Nanyang as key national transportation hubs, where advancing modern logistics is vital for building sub-central cities. As a strategic node on the Han River shipping route, Xiangyang actively integrates into the Han-Xiang-Gui inland shipping corridor, striving to create new advantages in the “South Port-Northern Rail” hub.

“The Han-Xiang-Gui Canal runs from Ankang, Shaanxi, to Xiangyang, then to Wuhan, and via the Xiang River and the Xiang-Gui Canal to the Beibu Gulf for export. Nanyang began planning about seven or eight years ago to connect the Tangbai River with Xiangyang into the Han River, with strong support from Henan,” Qin Zunwen said.

Recently, Nanyang Party Secretary Wang Zhihui emphasized during inspections of the Nandan Expressway and Mianxi Expressway that building a high-quality national comprehensive transportation hub city is essential.

To achieve integrated development, efforts must focus on deeply promoting “transportation + industry,” “transportation + cultural tourism,” and “transportation + logistics,” leveraging large transportation infrastructure to drive logistics, boost commerce, and connect industries, transforming hub advantages into development momentum. Strategic planning for the “14th Five-Year” transportation development must be thorough, with major projects identified and implemented to ensure smooth circulation through “hard connectivity,” aiming to establish a national hub economy pilot zone.

This exemplifies how provincial sub-central cities leverage their geographic advantages for upgrading. As they enter the “14th Five-Year,” building a national comprehensive transportation hub and transforming hub advantages into growth drivers are crucial steps for urban renewal and economic revitalization.