国内英语新闻:New economic zones to be built to enrich W China

BEIJING, March 22 -- The cities of Chengdu and Chongqing are famous for their different kinds of hot pots and there are endless arguments about which one is more delicious or spicier. It will only take 56 minutes by train for people from Chengdu to eat hot pot in Chongqing when the high-speed railway linking the two cities is completed in a few years. Construction is slated to start this year.

The "one hour circle" is part of the plan for the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone, and the overall development project will be approved by the central government this year, according to this year's sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The two cities will generate more synergies in the future.

Migrant workers from Qinghai province pick cotton in a field in Hami, in neighboring Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Xinjiang is the country's biggest cotton producing center.

The State Council, China's cabinet, has sparked a new wave of regional development by laying out a dozen regional development plans with policy or financial support since last year.

The Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta have acted as leading engines in the development of China's prosperous coastal areas. China is keen on fostering more driving forces to boost central and western regions to catch up.

In January, the Wanjiang River Urban Belt in Anhui province was positioned as a national-level industrial transfer demonstration zone, and Hainan province was targeted to be transformed into an international tourist destination last December.

Other western regions such as the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Tibet autonomous region have also become recent hot subjects for investment. Similarly, development plans for the two regions are being formulated and are very likely to be released this year or next.