Yangling: Agriculture Science City of China

1. City Characteristics and Development Orientation

Nestled in the heart of the Guanzhong Plain in Shaanxi Province, Yangling is an important birthplace of Chinese agricultural civilization. It is China's sole national agricultural high-tech industrial demonstration zone, honored as China's Agri-Science City, and home to the SCO Demonstration Base for Agricultural Technology Exchange and Training.

Covering an administrative area of 135 square kilometers, Yangling recorded a permanent resident population of 250,000 at the end of 2025. Its regional GDP hit RMB 165.05 billion in 2025, growing by 1.4% year-on-year.

Guided by the national strategic positioning of "Three Core Zones & Three Highland plus One SCO Base", Yangling targets building a globally influential source of new agricultural productive forces for arid regions and China's Silicon Valley for dryland seed industry. Centered on constructing an international modern agricultural cooperation hub along the Belt and Road, it focuses on fostering three 100-billion-yuan core industrial clusters: high-quality seed industry, biomanufacturing & biomedicine, and deep processing of characteristic agricultural products, striving to build a provincial strategic highland for the whole agricultural industrial chain and a world-leading agricultural innovation city with global influence. Located within Xi'an's 30-minute metropolitan commuter circle, it also serves as the sub-central city of the Guanzhong-Tianshui Economic Zone.

2. Investment Promotion Overview and Investment Environment Features

Located within Xi'an's 30-minute metropolitan commuter circle, Yangling functions as the International Modern Agricultural Cooperation Center of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the sub-central city of the Guanzhong-Tianshui Economic Zone.

As one of the five national high-tech industrial demonstration zones supported by central government policies, Yangling has built six national core public service centers: the National (Yangling) Plant Variety Rights Trading Center, National Agricultural Technology Transfer Center, Vocational Farmer Training Center, Agricultural Product Inspection & Testing Center, Agricultural Product Certification Center and National Agricultural Big Data Center. Supported by the Yangling Branch of China (Shaanxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone, Yangling Comprehensive Bonded Zone and the SCO Agricultural Base, it enjoys superposed policy advantages of four national platforms, with more than 100 agricultural institutional innovation achievements replicated nationwide. The Yangling brand represents the leading level and development direction of China's modern agriculture.

Relying on its unique agricultural opening-up platforms, Yangling comprehensively expands international exchange and cooperation in seed industry, biomedicine, agricultural equipment and agricultural trade, and strives to build a world-class international cooperation hub for modern agriculture among all BRI participating countries and regions. A full-cycle integrated one-stop service system has been launched for all investors, with customized facilitation policies covering germplasm import, cross-border testing and biopharmaceutical raw material customs clearance.

At the 31st China Yangling Agricultural Hi-tech Fair held in 2024, Yangling signed 53 high-quality industrial chain projects with total contracted investment reaching RMB 91.91 billion. A large number of leading industrial enterprises including Sinochem, Buchang Pharmaceutical, Haisifu Biology and Lihua Pharmaceutical have settled in specialized industrial parks, forming complete industrial chains covering seed R&D, biomanufacturing, functional food processing and intelligent agricultural equipment.

3. Current Key Industrial Investment Directions

(1) Intensive Agricultural Product Processing & Cross-border Trade Demonstration Zone

Focus on whole-industry-chain deep processing projects for leisure prepared food, frozen pre-cooked dishes, kiwi fruit, chili, garlic, edible fungi and functional plant extracts, as well as green food packaging material manufacturing projects. Develop cross-border e-commerce, bonded display and overseas warehouse supporting facilities to expand export channels for Shaanxi characteristic agricultural products.

(2) Yangling Biomanufacturing & Biomedicine Industrial Park

Build clustered production bases for modern Chinese patent medicine, biopharmaceuticals, genetic engineering drugs, medical intermediates and food-medicine homologous health products. Accelerate construction of landmark projects including Buchang Pharmaceutical Industrial Park, Jinhai Biotechnology Foot-and-Mouth Disease Vaccine Production Base, Wanlong Pharmaceutical Park and Lihua Pharmaceutical Chinese herbal formula granule production base. Develop synthetic biology, functional lipid microcapsule and probiotic raw material industrial chains to build a provincial pilot zone for future biomanufacturing industry.

(3) Yangling Seed Industry Silicon Valley Industrial Park

Construct integrated platforms covering new variety exhibition & trading, seed industry technology service, agricultural seed information exchange and seed enterprise incubation bases. Speed up construction of landmark carriers including Yangling Seed Building and the national intelligent seed processing base of Shaanxi Grain & Agriculture Group, and operate a RMB 1 billion dryland seed industry development fund to attract integrated seed enterprises with breeding, propagation and sales capacity.

(4) Emerging Strategic Agricultural Industries

Introduce intelligent agricultural robot, precision agricultural equipment, digital agricultural big data and facility agriculture whole-set equipment projects; develop agricultural cultural tourism, rural leisure health care and agricultural science popularization experience projects; support the research and industrialization of drought-resistant crop germplasm, carbon sink agriculture and green low-carbon agricultural technology.