Ankang: China's Selenium Valley & Ecological Hub of Qinba Mountains

1. City Characteristics and Development Orientation

Ankang City lies in southern Shaanxi Province, nestled at the middle and upper reaches of the Hanjiang River, within the hinterland of the Qinling and Daba Mountains. It borders Sichuan, Chongqing and Hubei. Dotted with abundant rivers and blessed with superior ecology, Ankang serves as the core water source conservation zone for the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

Covering an administrative area of 23,534.5 square kilometers, Ankang recorded a permanent resident population of 2,452,200 at the end of 2024, with an urbanization rate of 55.21%. Its regional GDP reached RMB 1190.03 billion in 2025, growing by 5.6% year-on-year.

Guided by its five national-level strategic positioning, Ankang strives to build itself into a prosperous eco-industrial city: a national ecological economic pioneer zone, national ecological civilization demonstration zone, national comprehensive transportation & logistics hub of the Qinba Mountains, national selenium-rich industrial cluster base and top-tier ecological tourism destination in China. It accelerates construction of a regional central city, national green manufacturing base and featured biological resource deep processing base, and upgrades the multi-modal transportation hub and modern logistics center covering the middle and upper Hanjiang River basin, focusing on cultivating three RMB 100-billion-level industrial clusters: selenium-rich characteristic industries, ecological tourism and green intelligent manufacturing.

2. Investment Promotion Overview and Investment Environment Features

Ankang acts as a vital transportation junction linking Northwest, Southwest and Central China. It holds 59.5% of Shaanxi's total water resources and boasts rich mineral reserves including manganese, copper, vanadium and titanium, forming unique advantages for new material industrial chains. Renowned as China's Selenium Valley, it features abundant national forest parks and nature reserves with distinctive ecological tourism resources.

The city has launched a parallel review & approval mechanism for all investment projects and built a full-cycle integrated one-stop enterprise service platform under the brand of "Ankang, the City with Top-tier Business Environment", delivering efficient administrative support and full ecological protection guarantee for settled enterprises.

In 2024, Ankang implemented precise chain-based investment attraction targeting its three core industrial clusters. It signed 323 high-quality industrial projects with total contracted investment of RMB 1520.7 billion, among which 37 individual projects exceeded RMB 1 billion in investment. Actual domestic paid-in capital reached RMB 130.2 billion, rising 18.4% year-on-year. A large number of industrial leading enterprises and listed groups have launched production bases in specialized industrial parks covering intelligent equipment, selenium-rich food, biomedicine and advanced new materials.

Supported by its "Three Ports & Four Centers" multi-modal logistics layout (inland water port, Hanjiang river port, air logistics port plus four regional distribution centers), Ankang operates regular An-EU freight trains and cross-border iron-sea intermodal routes to ASEAN and West Asia, with overseas warehouses set up to expand international trade.

3. Current Key Industrial Investment Directions

(1) Intelligent Equipment & Green Manufacturing Clusters 

Relying on core carriers including Ankang High-tech Zone, Hengkou Demonstration Zone, county-level industrial parks and modern agricultural sci-tech parks, attract leading and supporting enterprises to build full industrial chains of intelligent forging, auto parts, precision mechanical equipment and textile intelligent production lines. Prioritize low-altitude general aviation equipment and consumer electronic intelligent terminal projects to expand green manufacturing capacity.

(2) Selenium-rich Characteristic Agriculture & Biopharmaceutical Industry 

Leverage China's unique natural selenium-rich soil resources to introduce intensive agricultural product deep processing enterprises and grow the whole industrial chain of selenium-rich tea, konjac, fruits and livestock. Develop high-value biopharmaceutical projects based on abundant genuine Chinese medicinal herbs, including herbal alkaloid extraction, standardized medicinal herb sorting and processing, and build national demonstration bases for organic selenium-rich agricultural products.

(3) Ecological, Wellness & Low-Altitude Tourism 

Develop world-class ecological tourism destinations relying on unique mountain, river and forest landscapes, with Yinghu Lake Scenic Area as the core landmark. Upgrade supporting infrastructure for national forest parks, folk custom blocks, mountain waterfall hiking routes and wellness resorts; integrate low-altitude aerial sightseeing, cultural research tours and rural leisure tourism to form a complete eco-tourism industrial chain.

(4) Eco-friendly Advanced New Materials Industry 

Introduce leading mineral deep processing enterprises under strict ecological protection standards to upgrade resource utilization efficiency. Focus on developing vanadium-titanium lithium battery materials, silicon-carbon composite graphite, high-performance zinc-barium fluoride fine chemicals and magnesium alloy lightweight materials, to build a distinctive Qinba advanced new materials industrial cluster.

(5) Emerging Strategic Industries 

Foster characteristic emerging sectors including carbon sink ecological forestry, cross-border processing trade, digital economy and plush toy creative design, and support whole-industry-chain development of sericulture and silk textiles to enrich the city's modern eco-industrial system.