In September 2020, China Pilot Free Trade Zone will be expanded again, and Hunan Pilot Free Trade zone was officially approved. Chenzhou City, as one of the "South Gate" of Hunan Province, has been shortlisted as one of the three major areas, and has been given the mission of docking with the construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, highlighting the direct connection between Hunan, Hong Kong and Macao, focusing on the development of non-ferrous metal processing, modern logistics and other industries, creating an important platform for inland areas to undertake industrial transfer and processing trade transformation and upgrading, as well as the Hunan Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Cooperation Demonstration Zone.

Chenzhou core functional area is 19.84 square kilometers (including Chenzhou Comprehensive Bonded Area of 1.06 square kilometers), all located in Chenzhou High-tech Zone. Based on the irreplaceable geographical advantages, Chenzhou City is expected to play the role of channel and link to connect Hunan, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and build the frontier of undertaking industrial transfer in inland areas.

Chenzhou City is the nearest city in Hunan to the Pearl River Delta, and it is also the earliest city in Hunan to "open to the South". It is not only the "South Gate" of Hunan Province, but also the "bridgehead" of the central region connecting Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. It is also one of the most direct and convenient channels for the industrial transfer of the Pearl River Delta into the central and western regions, with unique location and transportation advantages.

Hengyue in the north, Wuling in the south, Jiangxi in the East and Yongzhou in the West, there are many railways and developed highways. Beijing-Guangzhou line, Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway and other transportation hubs meet here. Beijing-Guangzhou railway, Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway, Yuelin Expressway, Pingru Expressway and Beijing-Shenzhen High Speed Railway pass through the territory. No.106 and No.107 national roads run through the north and south, and Xiamen- Chengdu Expressway runs through the east and west.

In recent years, Chenzhou City has successively built such rapid customs clearance platforms as Chenzhou Comprehensive Bonded Area, railway port, rail sea intermodal transport, International Express Center, etc., becoming one of the cities and prefectures with the most complete open platforms and the best functions in Hunan and even the central and western regions. From speeding up the opening-up and development of southern Hunan at the provincial level to giving Chenzhou 34 special policies to undertake industrial transfer first, from becoming a "key undertaking place for gradient transfer of national processing trade" to being rated as a national demonstration zone for undertaking industrial transfer in southern Hunan and western Hunan, and a comprehensive experimental zone for cross-border e-commerce, Chenzhou's opening-up door is opening wider and wider.

Chenzhou has both natural resources and industrial base. As a world-famous town of non-ferrous metals, by the end of 2017, Chenzhou had discovered 112 kinds of minerals and 46 kinds of minerals with proven reserves. Tungsten and bismuth reserves rank first and second in the world, molybdenum reserves rank first in China, graphite reserves rank first in China, tin reserves rank third in China, zinc reserves rank fourth in China, among which bismuth, molybdenum and microcrystalline graphite reserves rank first in China.

At present, Chenzhou City has formed nine advantageous industrial chains: new graphite materials, big data, non-ferrous metals, electronic information, food and medicine, energy conservation and environmental protection, new chemical materials, minerals and gems, equipment manufacturing and agricultural machinery. In particular, non-ferrous metals, electronic information, mineral gems and other industries in Chenzhou form a chain agglomeration advantage. At present, there are more than 130 large-scale non-ferrous metal enterprises in the city, with an annual output value of more than 80 billion yuan; there are more than 130 mineral and gem enterprises, with an annual output value of about 13 billion yuan.

Hunan Free Trade Zone Chenzhou Area

As a practitioner of innovating urban economy and life, the free trade zone will lead the future development of Chenzhou and drive the new rise of the region. There is no doubt that it will take off Chenzhou's open economy.

In Chenzhou area of the free trade zone, there are more than 1000 enterprises involved in gem processing, non-ferrous metals, logistics and warehousing industries. Duan Waibin, Director of Chenzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, said that the "free circulation" of production factors such as investment, goods import and export, personnel, capital and technology in the free trade zone will surely bring better employment and entrepreneurship environment, more open investment opportunities, greatly reduce living and production costs, and gather strong driving forces for urban development.