Fuzhou Port serves as a key water transport hub for the cooperation zone. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Fujian-Zhejiang-Jiangxi-Anhui Fuzhou economic coordination zone recorded a total GDP of 6.36 trillion yuan ($937.8 billion) in 2025, with an average annual growth rate of 11.4 percent since its establishment in 1996.

The interprovincial zone spans 14 cities across eastern China, covering parts of Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Anhui provinces, with a total area of about 250,000 square kilometers. It sits at a strategic junction linking the Taiwan Strait, the Yangtze River Delta, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The cooperation framework, launched in 1996, is based on equal partnership, mutual benefit, and shared development, operating under a government-guided, industry-supported, and enterprise-led model focused on investment promotion, market integration, and infrastructure connectivity. Fuzhou serves as a key hub, using its coastal advantages to help inland cities expand trade and investment links by sharing policy support, investment platforms, and development experience.

The economic structure has shifted significantly since the zone's launch, with the tertiary sector accounting for more than 58 percent of GDP in 2025. Cross-regional industrial chains have formed, including an electric vehicle production chain relying on battery research in Ningde, vehicle assembly in Fuzhou, and materials supply in Jiangxi and Anhui, as well as textile supply chains spanning coastal design, inland manufacturing, and global sales.

Living standards have also improved, with urban and rural per capita disposable incomes rising more than tenfold since 1996. In inland cities such as Jingdezhen and Shangrao, average wages exceeded 80,000 yuan in 2024, more than 15 times higher than in 1996.