Yulin: Golden Energy Triangle Hub on the Loess Plateau

1. City Characteristics and Development Orientation

Yulin sits at the northernmost tip of Shaanxi Province, the core hub of the Yellow River Energy Golden Triangle spanning Shaanxi, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. It is one of the world's rare regions simultaneously endowed with abundant coal, crude oil, natural gas and rock salt resources. Its vast deserts, grasslands and lakes form distinctive picturesque Loess Plateau landscapes with unique natural charm.

Covering an administrative area of 42,921 square kilometers, Yulin recorded a permanent resident population of 3,612,000 at the end of 2025. Its regional GDP hit RMB 7501.06 billion in 2025, growing by 5.3% year-on-year, ranking first among all non-provincial-capital cities in central and western China.

As one of the two core growth poles under Shaanxi's "Dual-pillar Development Strategy" alongside Xi'an, Yulin adheres to three top-tier development positioning: building a world-class high-end energy & chemical base, a national ecological demonstration zone on the Loess Plateau, and a regional central city at the junction of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia and Shanxi. It accelerates construction of a national comprehensive energy hub, advanced modern manufacturing cluster and characteristic high-value agricultural industrial base, advancing comprehensive industrial transformation and high-quality coordinated urban-rural development.

2. Investment Promotion Overview and Investment Environment Features

Located at the five-province junction of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia and Shanxi, Yulin has built a comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network: a "3 horizontal & 5 vertical" railway framework with 1,369 km operating mileage, high-density expressway network, and Yulin Yuyang Airport — Shaanxi's second-largest air hub. The airport was officially approved as a national open-air port in January 2026, handling over 3 million passengers in 2025 and operating 12 international routes. Jingbian International Inland Port is fully operational, and the YU-EU freight train service has exceeded 500 trips to date.

Endowed with unparalleled mineral resources and unique Great Wall & Yellow River cultural heritage, Yulin holds a pivotal status in multiple national regional development plans with stacked supportive industrial policies. To continuously optimize its business environment, the city has launched a full-cycle project tracking assessment system, innovative red-blue parallel approval mechanism and a third-party business environment supervisor program, fostering a credible, mutually respectful win-win atmosphere for all investors.

In 2024, Yulin implemented chain-based targeted investment attraction. It signed 149 industrial chain projects with total contracted investment reaching RMB 1419.2 billion, with actual domestic paid-in capital of RMB 662.74 billion. A RMB 1 billion special industrial investment fund was set up to boost new energy, advanced new materials and low-altitude economy sectors. Cross-border e-commerce platforms and overseas warehouse systems are under construction to expand foreign trade scale.

3. Current Key Industrial Investment Directions

(1) High-end Modern Energy & Chemical Industry

Accelerate clean comprehensive utilization and deep processing of coal, oil and natural gas. Leverage low electricity & gas cost advantages to introduce high-end coal-to-olefin, aromatics, glycol, ethanol and coal-to-liquid projects centered on the Shenghua CTC demonstration base. Extend industrial chains to high-end downstream new materials including synthetic fiber, special resin and rubber; develop carbon dioxide coupling green chemical projects to build world-leading ten-billion-yuan modern coal chemical clusters.

(2) High-value Salt Chemical Industry

Develop five complete salt chemical industrial chains, focusing on high value-added fine chemical products such as chlorinated polyvinyl chloride, chlorinated polyethylene and eco-friendly refrigerants, and support integration with new energy battery material production.

(3) Advanced New Materials Industry

Scale up magnesium, aluminum and aluminum-magnesium alloy lightweight manufacturing for new energy vehicles; boost production of electronic-grade polysilicon, gallium nitride, silicon carbide, graphene and sapphire substrates to form a complete semiconductor new material industrial cluster. Develop carbon fiber composite materials for aerospace and new energy equipment.

(4) Strategic Emerging Industries

Carry out targeted investment attraction for energy conservation & environmental protection, intelligent mining equipment, new energy heavy trucks, biomedicine and additive manufacturing. Prioritize hydrogen energy, energy storage and low-altitude general aviation manufacturing to cultivate emerging growth drivers.

(5) Characteristic Modern Agriculture

Deep-process featured agricultural products including potatoes, minor grains, facility vegetables and jujubes. Build a full industrial chain for Tan sheep breeding, mutton deep processing and high-end wool textile manufacturing, forming a 100-billion-yuan characteristic agricultural cluster.

(6) Cultural, Ecological & Low-Altitude Tourism

Introduce leading cultural tourism operators to upgrade core scenic spots along the Great Wall and the Yellow River. Improve tourism infrastructure, complete supporting service systems and central tourist distribution hubs. Integrate red cultural tours, Loess folk custom experiences, low-altitude aerial sightseeing and ecological leisure tourism to build a nationally renowned cultural tourism destination in the Yellow River Bay area.