An aerial view of Longhua. Chen Jianhua

As the spring tide of development rises across the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Longhua District has officially sounded the bugle for a transformative year. Following the province-wide High-Quality Development Conference, Longhua held its own mobilization session Feb. 27 to chart a definitive course for 2026, aiming to build a "new Longhua" through digital intelligence and strategic urban expansion.

Presided over by district Party secretary Wang Wei, the meeting underscored a pivotal transition: 2026 is the inaugural year for the 15th Five-Year Plan period. With a focus on the "Digital Longhua" strategy, the district is positioning itself not just as a manufacturing base, but also as a global nexus for smart technology and high-end services.

The ‘three-arrow’ strategy: From old trees to new forests

The core of Longhua’s 2026 outlook is a synchronized leap across three industrial tiers. District officials described a "three-arrow" approach to industrial evolution:

Empowering traditional industries: Accelerating the digital transformation of established sectors such as fashion and furniture to help "old trees grow new branches."

Strengthening emerging clusters: Enhancing self-reliance in supply chains for semiconductors, integrated circuits, the low-altitude economy, and medical devices.

Seeding future sectors: Identifying "technological singularities" in humanoid robots (embodied intelligence), brain-computer interfaces, and autonomous driving.

"We must move quickly and act decisively," the meeting emphasized, noting that the goal is to integrate manufacturing with high-end services and drive digital transformation in finance, logistics, and R&D and design.

The ‘dual-center’ blueprint 

The 2026 roadmap places heavy emphasis on the "dual-center" strategy, a spatial reorganization designed to make Longhua a more attractive "magnet for resources."

The district is accelerating the development of several world-class platforms:

· The digital economy core area

· The world-class semiconductor industry science and tech hub

· An energy technology city and a high-end medical device city

Beyond industry, the "dual-center" vision focuses on livability. Plans for 2026 include upgrading public facility operations and advancing major infrastructure projects, such as the construction of Metro Phase 5, to ensure Longhua is as much a “happy home” as it is a “workplace.”

Global reach: Leveraging the APEC momentum

With the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) meetings scheduled to be held in Shenzhen, Longhua is seizing the opportunity to enhance its international profile. The district plans to use the summit as a springboard to:

· Attract iconic foreign investment: Targeting large-scale projects with high global influence.

· Support local companies to ‘go global’: Helping Longhua-based enterprises stabilize traditional markets while exploring emerging ones.

· Enhance international services: Improving the "eat-sleep-travel-shop-work" ecosystem to meet international standards for expats and visiting professionals.

A commitment to action

District Mayor Lei Weihua relayed the spirit of the provincial and municipal mandates, emphasizing that 2026 calls for a “new way of playing the game.” The meeting concluded with a call for officials to be more diligent — urging for "faster progress, higher quality, and a stronger foundation" for the district’s economy.