A worker operates an intelligent production line in Suqian, East China's Jiangsu Province, on November 18, 2025. In recent years, the city has focused on strengthening enterprises' capacity for technological innovation, advancing intelligent manufacturing, and promoting the high-quality development of high-tech firms. VCG
On Sunday, the first working day of 2026, several Chinese provinces and cities convened high-profile conferences signaling an early push to improve the business environment, boost high-level opening-up, and address issues such as rat race competition.
Analysts pointed out that the major focuses of the localities' meetings on the first work day of 2026 aimed to signal the push to boost enterprises' confidence, guide industrial upgrading, foster new business models and advance technological innovation.
In Shanghai, the 2026 conference on optimizing the business environment was held on Sunday, accompanied by the release of an action plan for accelerating the creation of a world-class business environment in Shanghai, according to a release by the Shanghai Municipal government on Sunday.
This marks the ninth consecutive year that Shanghai has hosted such a city-wide event and issued an annual action plan, according to another release by the Shanghai government.
Notably, the conference was advanced from its traditional post-Spring Festival slot to the first working day after New Year's Day, which analysts said was intended to accelerate improvements and provide strong momentum for the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30).
The new action plan refines phased measures for key tasks while emphasizing greater regulatory transparency and faster approvals for emerging businesses such as micro-dramas and the ACG (animation, comic and game) industry.
It specifically targets new concerns such as support for companies expanding overseas, and curbing "rat race competition."
The optimized business environment will also serve foreign-funded enterprises in China, supporting their re-investment in the country, according to the action plan.
"Sustained progress in China's high-level opening-up is inseparable from ongoing improvements to its business environment. A more transparent, predictable, and efficient regulatory landscape has significantly strengthened foreign investors' confidence in the Chinese market," Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Northeast China's Liaoning Province also held a conference for business environment optimization on Sunday, its first meeting of 2026, to make a good start for the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
On Saturday, Wenzhou in East China's Zhejiang Province convened its municipal economic work conference and conference on advancing innovative Wenzhou construction - the city's first meeting of 2026 and the fifth consecutive year dedicating this opening session to talent and innovation, according to Wenzhou Fabu, the official WeChat account of the Wenzhou municipal government.
The city will fully implement its "Innovative Wenzhou" strategy, seeking breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI), enterprise innovation, high-level innovation platforms, technology commercialization, and talent attraction,according to a release on Wenzhou Fabu on Saturday.
In addition to improving the business environment, Central China's Hubei Province held an event on Sunday, its first in 2026, on technological innovation. According to media reports, over the past seven years, Hubei has consistently prioritized scientific and technological innovation.
On every first working day of the past seven years, a provincial-level scientific and technological innovation conference has been held.
"China's economy is transitioning from export- and investment-led growth to a model driven primarily by consumption and technology," Yang Delong, chief economist at Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Against this backdrop, raising household incomes and boosting consumption are crucial, while empowering traditional industries through technological innovation remains a key path to high-quality development, said Yang.
As the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan, 2026 presents significant opportunities for these frontier industries, which have already emerged as some of the most dynamic sectors in China's capital markets in recent years, said Yang.
