Chongqing — Chongqing’s Liangjiang New Area, China’s third state-level new area and the first in western China, entered a new phase in 2025 as it transitioned into a full urban district. The shift offers a revealing case of how China is using spatial governance reforms to advance a new round of reform and opening-up.

Since the 1980s, landmark zones such as Shenzhen, Shanghai’s Pudong New Area, and Tianjin’s Binhai New Area have served as institutional testing grounds, pairing preferential policies with evolving governance models. Over time, Pudong and Binhai were granted broader economic management authority, expanded urban infrastructure such as metro networks, and strengthened public services—enabling them to anchor new growth drivers and contribute significantly to both local and national development.

Liangjiang now stands at a comparable inflection point. Its transition from an administrative committee–led model to a district-level government is intended to streamline decision-making, reduce coordination costs, and integrate economic development with unified urban governance within a single jurisdiction.

This institutional upgrade coincides with the State Council’s approval of a new territorial spatial plan for the Chengdu–Chongqing economic circle, which positions the region as both an inland hub of opening-up and a strategic western gateway. Taken together, these developments suggest that Liangjiang New Area is being prepared to assume a more significant role in western China’s next decade of high-quality growth.