From a ‘World Factory’ to China’s Bay Area: A Review of the Outline of the Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area

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The Outline of the Development Plan (ODP) for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, (a region formerly know n as the Pearl River Delta – PRD – or the ‘world’s factory’) marks China’s determination to transform traditional manufacturing and accomplish the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The ambitious plan was born at the confluence of two major drives to boost China’s prominence. The first is ecological civilization, a policy first introduced in 2007 and endorsed by President Xi Jinping in 2013, before its incorporation into the Chinese constitution in 2018. The other being the now much less mentioned ‘Made in China 2025ʹ, unveiled in 2015, as an ambitious initiative to upscale China’s manufacturing industry. The ODP can be seen as part of China’s effort to transform its manufacturing industry, greening its economy and moving the nation towards an ecological civilization. The following first discusses the emergence of the Greater Bay Area (GBA), comprising Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing. Then, it introduces the ODP, including its high-level political deployment and multiple stakeholders, key ideas and implications. Challenges for implementing the ODP are discussed at the end.

The GBA comprises the same nine Guangdong cities in the PRD and Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions (SARs). It is one of the most open and active economic regions in China, with a population of over 70 million people, an area of 56,000 km² and a GDP of USD 1.64 trillion in 2018 (11.6% of China’s total GDP). The GBA has very complex political, socio-economic and legal institutions, incorporating both socialist and capitalist systems and encompassing three tariff zones and multiple languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, English and Portuguese). In 2011, the Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong governments concurrently launched a public consultation exercise for the ‘Study on Action Plan for the Bay Area of the Pearl River Estuary’, with an aim to transform the Bay Area into a ‘quality living area’ and a ‘pioneer area’ of a new mode of economic development (Government of Hong Kong, 2011). Hence, the GBA can be seen as a continuing effort to transform the PRD into a Bay area, driven by high-tech industrial systems, with mobile production factors amidst a superior quality of living. The ODP is a programmatic document to guide this transformation.

Why Transform the PRD to the GBA?

Since the economic reforms, China has prioritized the development of coastal regions by setting up several Special Economic Zones. Based on resource-intensive, low-value added and export-led manufacturing, as well as Hong Kong’s international markets and human capital, the PRD has since become the ‘world’s factory’. Between 1991 and 2018, the PRD’s GDP has grown 126 times (Guangdong Statistics Bureau, 1992, p. 387, 2019, p. 566). However, accompanying rising prices of labor and land and more stringent national environmental policies and regulations, the PRD’s cost advantage is disappearing. Increasing trade protectionism, scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation also challenge the PRD’s traditional development trajectory.

In fact, the PRD faces critical development bottlenecks, such as environmental degradation, heavy consumption of natural resources, socio-economic disparities, excessive production capacity, resource mismatches, internal competition, limited market connectivity and inefficient integration with Hong Kong and Macao. While China has already embarked on a sustainable development pathway (Verdini & Zhang, 2020), for example, investing in low-carbon and green industries, constructing ecological civilization, and launching the ‘Made in China 2025ʹ scheme, it still needs a new spatial strategy to respond to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, using less natural resources and fossil energy, alleviating poverty and promoting emerging industries such as artificial intelligence and smart manufacturing (Schwab, 2017). The GBA emerges in this context and has an historical mission to promote green, smart, energy-saving and low-carbon modes of production.

The ODP: High-Level Political Deployment Involving Multiple Stakeholders

The GBA development is directly instructed by the central government. President Xi Jinping held multiple high-level meetings to support and guide the construction of the GBA. He attended the signing ceremony of ‘Deepening Cooperation between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao and Promoting the GBA Construction Framework Agreement’ in Hong Kong on 1 July 2017. Established in August 2018, the GBA Construction Leading Group was led by Han Zheng, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party’s Central Committee and the Vice Premier of the State Council. The Chief Executives of Hong Kong and Macao SARs (Special Administrative Regions) are also group members, reflecting the central government’s concern about cross-border collaboration within the GBA.

The ODP is an outcome of high-level decision and intervention. It was officially issued by the Communist Party’s Central Committee and the State Council on 18 February 2019. It was jointly propelled and coordinated by the National Development and Reform Commission, Guangdong Provincial Government, Governments of Hong Kong and Macao SARs and the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council. The ODP clarifies the strategic position of the GBA in national development and adheres to the principle of ‘one country, two systems’ to promote long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao. The ODP covers various aspects of development, including science and technology, advanced manufacturing, infrastructure, hydraulic engineering, transportation, education, housing, health care, urban renewal, land utilization, heritage preservation, ecological environmental protection and energy conservation.

The ODP: Key Ideas and Issues

Altogether, there are 11 chapters and 41 articles in the ODP (The Central Government of China, 2019). Table 1 below outlines the contents of each chapter in the ODP.

Table 1. The contents of each chapter in the ODP

1	Background: development foundation, opportunities and challenges, and significance
2	Guiding philosophy, basic principles and strategic positioning and development objectives
3	GBA’s spatial arrangements: functions, roles, transportation network and interconnectedness of cities
4	Building an international scientific and technological innovation centre: constructing an open regional collaborative innovative community building carriers and platforms for high-level scientific and technological innovation Enhancing regional environment for innovation
5	Accelerating infrastructure connectivity: constructing a modern and comprehensive transportation system optimizing and upgrading information infrastructure building an energy security system strengthening water resource security
6	Building a modern industrial system with international competitiveness: accelerating advanced manufacturing development fostering and expanding strategic emerging industries accelerating the development of modern service industries developing marine economy
7	Promoting the development of ecological civilization: establishing ecological defensive boundaries strengthening environmental protection and governance inventing a green and low-carbon development model
8	Developing ‘a quality living circle for living, working and travelling’: creating an education and talents hub co-developing a cultural, recreational and healthy Bay area expanding employment and entrepreneurial opportunities promoting cooperation in social security and governance
9	Working together to join the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative, making the GBA a globally competitive, open and integrated market
10	Co-building plans for collaborative developments among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao such as: enhancing and promoting Qianhai development in Shenzhen making Nansha in Guangzhou a demonstration zone for Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong development progressing Hengqin in Zhuhai as a showcase of deep collaboration between Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong
11	Planning and implementation: strengthening leadership; promoting key tasks; avoiding risks; and enlarging social participation.

Source: The Central Government of China (2019).

As written in the ODP, the goal of the GBA development is to construct a world-class city region. As part of the drive towards an ecological civilization, development in the GBA emphasizes both qualitative and quantitative growth. For example, the mode of the GBA development is underpinned by innovation and strengthened economic, scientific and technological power. The GBA promotes improved levels of resource conservation and intensive utilization while effectively protecting the environment. It stresses people-oriented, co-operation and coordinated regional developments under ‘one country, two systems’ to trickle down changes to the surrounding areas. The objectives are to achieve mutual benefits and improve all people’s well-being and living standards; a high-level social civilization; and increased international competitiveness and influence, strengthening soft power of Chinese culture and deepening cultural exchange and integration.

The ODP raises some insightful ideas to tackle regional issues, charting an alternative development pathway in the region. For example, focusing on the integration of scientific and technological innovation, ecological civilization and people’s living quality, the ODP aims at building a model of high-quality green development in the GBA. The ODP supports the integration of Hong Kong and Macao into China’s overall development and aims at deepening collaboration among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. It sets Hong Kong and Macao as the leading cities in the GBA and builds various collaborative development platforms, including Qianhai in Shenzhen, Nansha in Guangzhou and Hengqin in Zhuhai to enhance market connectivity with an efficient and convenient flow of various resource elements and to advance the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative.

Challenges

The ODP is significant. It attempts to realize China’s ambition in greening the economy and moving the country towards an ecological future through holistic planning, strategic positioning, and spatial arrangements of the GBA. It endeavors to promote coordinated development and win-win co-operation among Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, to advance the operation of ‘one country, two systems’.

However, significant challenges for the implementation of the ODP exist. As China’s urban development has already been criticized as prioritizing economic growth, whether officials in the cities of Guangdong can make decisions to restore the ecological environment and improve human conditions will determine its future sustainability and a new kind of prosperity that respects nature and humanity. This is a pressing issue in the context of tightening resources, energy requirements, and deteriorating ecological environments in the region. Within the GBA, cities are diverse in terms of socio-economic development levels. For example, while Shenzhen has strong innovative capacity, cities such as Zhaoqing still rely on the more traditional resource-intensive industries. In this sense, reconciling the top-down mode of planning, shown in the ODP with various local situations, is very important. A one-size-fits-all approach is not feasible for the GBA, and specific steps catering for the needs of different cities are essential.

Given significant institutional, cultural and legal differences, cross-border collaboration between the mainland and Hong Kong has proved to be difficult (Ng, 2011). The current political situation in Hong Kong makes the collaboration and coordination even more difficult. While Hong Kong is more inclined towards consultation, China’s mode of governance allows the central government to make unilateral decisions. Within the GBA, Guangzhou is the capital city of Guangdong, Shenzhen is China’s Special Economic Zone, while Hong Kong is an international centre for finance, shipping and trade. Whether the ODP can help optimize the respective advantages of these cities and avoid unnecessary competition among them will determine the future of coordinated regional development in the GBA.

The recent political tension in Sino-American relations, and negative global reactions to China’s ambition in ‘Made in China 2025ʹ, have cast uncertainties onto the nation’s march towards a green economy. The outbreak of COVID-19 and other environmental problems testify to the formidable pathway towards ecological civilization. The spread of COVID-19 also reveals the challenges of developing the GBA, as the boundary between Hong Kong and cities within the GBA has been closed to stop the spread of the virus. Nevertheless, the construction of a socio-economic and ecologically integrated, healthy and innovative GBA will be an important pointer to China’s next round of socio-economic and political transformations.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Debates and Reflections editors for their insightful comments.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This project is funded by the Research Sustainability of Major RGC Funding Schemes 2018-19 (Project code: 3133239).

Notes on contributors

Chen Li

Chen Li is a post-doctoral fellow in the Institute of Future Cities at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research focuses on land politics, state-society relation, social and environmental justice and sustainable development.

Mee Kam Ng

Mee Kam Ng is the Director of the Urban Studies Programme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and a fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners (HKIP) and the Academy of Social Sciences in UK.

Yuanzhou Tang

Yuanzhou Tang is a research associate of the Institute of Future Cities at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He worked for China Academy of Urban Planning and Design (CAUPD) before as the secretary general of Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macao Research Center.

Tung Fung

Tung Fung is the Chairman of Department of Geography and Resource Management, Director of Institute of Future Cities, and Associate Director of Institute of Environment, Energy and Sustainability at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He was Associate Vice President of the CUHK (2009-2017).