It is learned from authoritative statistical departments that in 2019, Nanjing City ranked 11th in the country, and its economic aggregate is lower than that of provincial capital cities such as Wuhan and Hangzhou, and far lower than Suzhou, the prefecture-level city of the province. If economic aggregate is used as a standard, Nanjing's strength is lower than Shanghai, Suzhou and Hangzhou in the Yangtze River Delta region, ranking fourth. However, the urban belt with Nanjing as the center can be formed into a national-level Nanjing metropolitan area, while Suzhou wants to form the Su-Wuxi-Changzhou urban belt with Wuxi and Changzhou. The Hangzhou metropolitan area is positioned as a Zhejiang provincial-level urban area. What is the reason for this contrast? After analysis, we can get a preliminary understanding. Let's take a look with Yamano-san!

According to 2019 economic data, the GDP of Nanjing City is 1.4 trillion yuan, that of Hangzhou City is 1.53 trillion yuan, and that of Suzhou has reached 1.92 trillion yuan. Nanjing's total GDP can indeed be described as much lower than that of Suzhou. However, what surprised us is that Nanjing's status in the Yangtze River Delta is still second only to Shanghai as a sub-central city in the Yangtze River Delta, and it has also established a national-level Nanjing Metropolitan Area. The status of Hangzhou's metropolitan area is lower than that of Nanjing's metropolitan area, and Suzhou has not even built a metropolitan area. This phenomenon seems a bit puzzling.

If we first analyze the economic aggregate and urban structure, it is not difficult to find that Nanjing City is the only large city in Jiangsu Province without a county city. Although Gaochun County and Lishui County have been transformed into the jurisdiction of Nanjing City in recent years, the economic aggregate of Gaochun and Lishui Counties accounts for a small proportion of Nanjing. It can almost be said that Nanjing's total GDP is equivalent to Nanjing's urban economic strength. The GDP of Suzhou City includes the five county-level cities with the strongest county economies in China. They are all among the top ten of the country's top 100 GDP countries, Kunshan, Zhangjiagang, Changshu, Wujiang and Taicang. Among them, Wujiang has only been planned to be Wujiang District of Suzhou City in recent years. After deducting Wujiang District, the total GDP of the remaining four county-level cities exceeds 1 trillion yuan. This shows that the total economic volume of Suzhou City is not as strong as imagined. It is not difficult to find that Nanjing's urban economy is stronger than Suzhou. This should be indisputable, right?

In addition to its strong urban economic strength, Nanjing has abundant resources, mainly including educational resources, medical resources, scientific and technological resources, transportation resources and location advantages. The total number of famous universities in Nanjing City is second only to Beijing and Shanghai, and the city's highly skilled national medical institutions also rank among the top ten in the country. In terms of transportation, Nanjing has Asia's first high-speed railway station, South Station, and South Station, and the future Nanjing High-speed Railway North Station. Moreover, Nanjing is also the first station in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and a node city of cities along the Beijing and Shanghai route. The core cities of Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, together with Shanghai in the east, constitute the dual-core central cities of the Yangtze River Delta Economic Belt. In this way, the Nanjing metropolitan area must be a national-level metropolitan area.

Nanjing not only serves as the capital of Jiangsu, but also has a great influence on the development of southern Anhui's urban agglomeration. The major cities in Jiangsu Province have high economic levels, while some cities bordering Nanjing have weak economies and have great influence from Nanjing. Therefore, Nanjing is nicknamed "Huijing" among the people. Nanjing has a leading role in cross-provincial development. Its upstream is connected to Ma 'anshan, Wuhu, Tongling, Anqing and other places in the Wanjiang River cities, and its downstream is connected to Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou and Shanghai. It has become the most developed area of the Yangtze River Economic Belt. An important node city has the role of inheriting the past and the future. Nanjing's status can be imagined!

Compared with Hangzhou, Nanjing's total economic volume is 130 billion yuan lower than Hangzhou. However, Hangzhou currently also includes county cities such as Jiande, Tonglu, Chun'an and other places. Lin' an has just been transformed into a municipal district. If the county economy is deducted, Hangzhou's economic strength at this level should be comparable to Nanjing's. Therefore, Hangzhou's urban economy is equivalent to Nanjing's urban economic strength. However, Nanjing still has strong university resources, available land resources, Transportation resources and population development space. In terms of comprehensive strength, Nanjing's comprehensive strength may be higher than Hangzhou. However, compared with the livability of the city, I personally prefer Hangzhou.

Nanjing has developed infrastructure, high-quality educational resources and urban economy, which makes Nanjing metropolitan area national and Hangzhou metropolitan area provincial? Now that we look at the strategic layout of the two metropolitan areas, it is not difficult to understand these issues. The scope of the Nanjing Metropolitan Area includes Huai 'an, Yangzhou, Zhenjiang, and Suqian in Jiangsu Province, Chuzhou, Ma' anshan, Wuhu, Xuancheng, and Tongling in Anhui Province. In the long term, it will also extend to Changxing, Huzhou, Zhejiang, Huangshan, Anhui and other places, with a cross-provincial driving effect. The farthest north of the Nanjing metropolitan area reaches Suqian City in the province, and the farthest south is Jixi County in Anhui Province. The north and south are not close apart. However, the Nanjing metropolitan area is connected by a 350-hour high-speed railway, which makes it possible to reach Suqian in one hour and reach Jixi in 50 minutes. The purpose of County, coupled with the opening of the Ningxuan High-speed Railway, Xuanji High-speed Railway and Jihuang High-speed Railway in the future, Nanjing to Huangshan will also achieve an hour journey time, and Huangshan will be officially included in the Nanjing metropolitan area.

The Hangzhou metropolitan area is limited to the Hangjiahu Shao area of Zhejiang Province. In the long run, Quzhou and Huangshan in Anhui Province will be added. However, both Quzhou and Huangshan are far away from Hangzhou, and the feasibility of joint development is not optimistic. In terms of resource docking and application, Hangzhou metropolitan area has missed many opportunities. For example, Ningguo City, which borders Hangzhou closest, has always been excluded by Hangzhou. The straight-line distance from Hangzhou to Ningguo is only about 110 kilometers. If the construction of the high-speed rail is not a "selfish" layout, the construction of the high-speed rail from Hangzhou to Ningguo can on the one hand realize the formation of the Wanjiang River and Zhejiang Economic Belt, and on the other hand, it can realize Hangzhou's direct access to Huangshan Scenic Area and Jiuhuashan Southern Anhui International Tourism Demonstration Zone. The north of the high-speed rail route is the Shanghai-Hangzhou High-speed Railway and the south of the Hangzhou-Huangshan High-speed Railway. Whether you are going to the Wanjiang City Belt or Hangzhou, the Southern Anhui International Tourism Demonstration Zone, you need to make a detour. Of course, unless Hangzhou does not need to develop in conjunction with Wanjiang City and the cities in the Southern Anhui Tourism Demonstration Zone, these detours do not matter.

In terms of comprehensive strength, Nanjing is second only to Shanghai. In terms of the pattern and layout of the metropolitan area, Nanjing is more forward-looking and has a larger pattern. The Nanjing Metropolitan Area can include Jixi County, which is more than 200 kilometers away, into the Nanjing Metropolitan Area, but Hangzhou has shut out areas that are only more than 100 kilometers away. This kind of mind and pattern have lost to the Nanjing Metropolitan Area. In addition, the various resources of Nanjing metropolitan area are also superior to those of Hangzhou metropolitan area, so the doubt that Nanjing metropolitan area will become a national metropolitan area can be solved.

Finally, Yamano-san would like to clarify that the purpose of writing this review is for communication and discussion, and there is no other purpose. I like Nanjing, but I prefer Hangzhou. Having lived and worked in Hangzhou and Ningguo for a long time, I have had enough of the pain caused by transportation costs. It should have been 20 minutes to reach the two places, but it was painful because there was no high-speed rail and even high-speed kilometers were dead roads, resulting in several hours of time wasted. It is hoped that the future pattern of Hangzhou metropolitan area will be as forward-looking and strategic as the Nanjing metropolitan area, and strive to become a national key metropolitan area. By then, it can form Chizhou (Huangshan)-Wuhu-Xuancheng-Ningguo-Hangzhou Economic Corridor and Nanjing-Xuancheng-Ningguo (Jixi)-Anji-Lin 'an-Hangzhou Development Channel.