Local Two Sessions unfold: How China's local governments are setting the 2026 agenda

As China enters the opening year of its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) period, provinces and municipalities are rolling out their economic roadmaps with renewed confidence and strategic focus.

In recent weeks, local Two Sessions – the annual meetings of provincial-level lawmakers and political advisors – have been convened across the country, including in Zhejiang, Beijing, Guangdong and Henan. Government work reports released during these meetings outline development priorities for 2026 while mapping out broader blueprints for the next five years.

Across regions, phrases such as "unlocking the potential of service consumption," "accelerating the application of scientific and technological achievements," and "cultivating emerging pillar industries" feature prominently, signaling both continuity and innovation in China's development strategy.

Setting an economic growth target remains a key task of the local Two Sessions. To date, regions including Zhejiang, Beijing, Henan, Tianjin, Guangdong and Hebei have announced their expected GDP growth rates for 2026.

Tianjin has set a target of around 4.5 percent, Guangdong aims for 4.5 to 5 percent, Beijing and Henan target around 5 percent, Hebei above 5 percent and Zhejiang between 5 and 5.5 percent.

Despite differences in local conditions, most targets cluster around the 5 percent mark – a figure experts regard as both realistic and strategically significant.

Liu Qiao, dean of the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, explained that to meet China's goal of basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035, average economic growth over the next decade needs to be around 4.2 percent. Against this backdrop, setting a slightly higher growth rate for the 15th Five-Year Plan period is a natural choice.

"The 15th Five-Year Plan is a crucial bridge between past achievements and future goals, and 2026 is its opening year," Liu pointed out, adding, "In this context, it is reasonable for major economic provinces to shoulder greater responsibility and set relatively higher growth targets."

Boosting domestic demand, especially consumption, stands out as a central priority in local agendas.

Beijing has pledged stronger policy support for service consumption in education, healthcare, elderly care and childcare, while encouraging platform-based innovation in services such as home care. Tianjin plans to expand chain-based and large-scale service supply in elderly care, childcare, healthcare and domestic services to better meet diversified consumer demand.

Henan, meanwhile, has prioritized consumption on its 2026 task list, emphasizing improved implementation of consumer goods trade-in programs, higher subsidy efficiency, and the promotion of best practices such as the retail innovation model pioneered by Pangdonglai.

In Zhejiang, digital consumption, "self-pleasing" consumption (such as personal care), and the silver economy are being cultivated alongside cultural tourism and healthcare. The province also plans to create more "culture-plus" consumption IP brands, host high-profile sporting events and promote artificial intelligence to empower consumption.

According to Liu, consumption now plays an increasingly important role in China's economic growth, contributing 52 percent of China's economic growth in 2025. Expanding domestic demand will remain a key task in 2026.

"On the one hand, boosting residents' disposable income is essential to enhancing consumption capacity. On the other hand, creating diverse consumption scenarios is needed to stimulate spending appetite," Liu noted. "Service consumption, in particular, offers vast room for growth, and regions can leverage their unique resource endowments to unlock this potential."

Strengthening innovation-driven development and building a modern industrial system are also high on local policy agendas, with many regions highlighting the application and commercialization of scientific and technological achievements.

Supported by policies for first-of-its-kind equipment and products, Guangdong aims to build a globally influential industrial innovation hub by accelerating the application of new technologies, products and business models.

Artificial intelligence has emerged as a common focus. Zhejiang's government work report highlighted the global competitiveness of large models such as Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen (Qwen) and DeepSeek, and set a target of more than 20-percent growth in core AI industry revenue in 2026. With the sector generating around 680 billion yuan ($97.8 billion) in 2025, revenue could exceed 800 billion yuan this year.

Guangdong has also called for high-level, all-scenario AI application across industries, while strengthening the entire industrial chain spanning chips, computing power, algorithms, data and applications.

"Core technologies such as chips, operating systems, databases and foundation models are becoming decisive factors in future competition," said Fang Xingdong, a member of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. "Only through sustained, forward-looking investment can long-term development momentum be secured."

Many regions vow to accelerate efforts to cultivate emerging pillar industries as part of a modernized industrial system.

Zhejiang plans to foster clusters in new materials, new energy, integrated circuits, aerospace, low-altitude economy, biomedicine and visual health, while promoting targeted development of frontier sectors such as humanoid robotics, brain-computer interfaces, quantum information and bio-manufacturing. Guangdong has likewise pledged to strengthen emerging industries including new energy, new materials and intelligent connected vehicles.

Wei Qijia, director and researcher at the Industrial Economy Research Office of the Economic Forecasting Department under the National Information Center, noted that China's emerging industries are entering a stage that requires both scale expansion and structural optimization.

With accelerating breakthroughs in frontier technologies, deeper integration of advanced manufacturing and producer services, and the advantages of China's vast market and complete industrial chains, emerging industries are well-positioned to grow stronger and more competitive, Wei said.

As local Two Sessions continue across the country, one message is clear: China is stepping into the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan with pragmatic targets, innovation-driven strategies and growing confidence in the economy's long-term prospects.