Jinquli (Jinhua, Quzhou and Lishui) Region, composed of Jinhua, Quzhou and Lishui, three prefecture-level cities, is located in the southwest of Zhejiang Province and has a total area of 370,000 square kilometers. Jinquli region, compared with other parts of Zhejiang Province, is relatively underdeveloped. However, with its superb ecological environment and rich unexploited natural resources, it’s second-mover advantages are beginning to become obvious and the right time has come for its accelerated development.

As the headwaters of Qiantang River, Oujiang River, Cao’e River, Feiyun River and Jiaojiang River, Jinquli Region features high forest coverage rate, good environmental resource condition, and rich water, forest and mineral resources. The per capita water resources of Lishui is more than three times the national and provincial average, and the installed capacity of hydroelectric power station that can be developed accounts for over one third of the provincial total. Lishui and Quzhou are the key forestry regions in Zhejiang, with forest coverage rate reaching 79.1% and 70.9% respectively. Besides, Jinquli Region has a rich reserve of such nonmetal minerals as pyrophyllite, fluorite, limestone, perlite and tuffs. This region also boasts rich workforce resources and Jinxu Basin has enormous land resources. Therefore, with the upgrading of its traffic and geographic advantages and with the improvement in its investment environment, this region has a great potential for development.

The general positioning of the development in Jinquli Region can be summed up as: developing the region into an “economic corridor” and an “ecological screen”.

　　(1) Economic corridor: Jinquli Region has rich unexploited resources and second-mover advantages and is a new economic growth area in Zhejiang. The economic growth of this region mainly concentrates in the traffic corridor along Hangzhou-Jinhua-Quzhou and Jinhua-Lishui-Wenzhou Expressways and Railways. As a connecting link between the eastern coastal regions and the vast western inland areas, the region has an important economic transmission function. It is an important passage through which the economic radiation effect from the Yangtze River Delta and the coastal regions can reach Middle and Western China.

　　(2) Ecological screen: Five out of the eight water systems in Zhejiang Province originate from Jinquli Region. Its location on the upper and middle reaches of the Qiantang River and Oujiang River has endowed it with an important strategic status in the ecological safety system as the ecological screen of Zhejiang Province. Therefore, whether Jinquli Region can become “the green lung” of Zhejiang Province is of vital importance to the harmonious development of human and nature not only in Zhejiang Province but in the bordering provinces and cities.

According to the general positioning of Jinquli Region mentioned above, the developmental goals of this region can be summed up as: developing itself into a new regional economic growth point, the biggest region where human beings live in harmony with the nature, an emerging manufacturing base of feature products, a key green agricultural product growing base and a reputable ecological-tourism and recreational resort in Zhejiang Province by 2010.

Jinquli Region consists of two types of development areas: one is the area along Hangzhou-Jinhua-Quzhou and Jinhua-Lishui-Wenzhou Expressways and railways that features advantageous location and space conditions and is thus the key development area where population and enterprises will converge and where industrial belts should be established; the other is the vast mountainous area where there are rich environmental resources and relatively high ecological requirements. Confronted with the dual tasks of serving its ecological functions and developing its economy in an active yet reasonable way, it needs to maintain its population outflow and should therefore be built as an ecological economic development zone. The overall goal is to realize the harmonious development of Jinquli Region by building the above-mentioned two types of development areas with contrasting population and economic features.

Compared with the Around-Hangzhou Bay Region and Wenzhou-Taizhou Coastal Industrial Area, the industrial belt along Hangzhou-Jinhua-Quzhou Expressway and Jinhua-Lishui-Wenzhou Expressway is relatively underdeveloped and thus enjoys more flexibility in its development. Moreover, as it features high ecological requirements, appropriate industrial development orientation and priorities that suit local conditions shall be chosen.

Industry: Considering the region’s enormous flexibility in development due to its fledgling industries, it shall introduce and encourage growth industries and diversify industrial categories. As this region features high ecological requirements and is located inland with limited transport capability, high-pollution and high-energy-consumption industries and high-transportation-volume industries that its local resources do not support shall be strictly restricted. Considering the substantial differences in the industrial bases of the three cities, it is necessary to choose the proper key industries for each city in the short run. However, in the long run, administrative division should be removed and the three cities shall be integrated economically and division of labor and industrial cooperation shall be organized on the basis of industrial chains so as to realize the integral, harmonious and clustering development of industries. Such key industrial clusters as autos, daily commodities, hardware and machinery, fluorine chemicals, food processing and building materials, etc shall be developed.

Service industry: Develop the service industry with emphasis on such categories as international trade, modern logistics, leisure tourism and culture industry, etc. Make service industry develop interactively with industries so as to promote the formation and development of industrial belts.

    Modern Agriculture: Facilitate the strategic adjustment of agricultural structure, improve the industrialization level of agriculture, popularize advanced technology and quality varieties, introduce factory production and enterprise-style management in a gradual manner and focus on the development of characteristic livestock breeding, flowering plants and nursery stocks, fruits and vegetables and high-quality rice, etc.