As Beijing increasingly sees the country as a chessboard, the central government is no longer simply asking every province to grow faster; it wants them to grow differently.

Reporting on the end of the 14th five-year plan and preparation for the 15th five-year plan frames provinces and cities as specialised implementation units, reflecting a territorial division of labour.

The central government wants provinces to find their rightful place in national development and act in accordance with their local conditions. In the official vocabulary, each locality should “leverage its strengths”, utilise its comparative advantage and contribute to the national economy from a differentiated position.

The examples are carefully chosen. Qinghai province is not being told to become another manufacturing base. Rather, its ecological constraint is intended to be its competitive advantage. Its cold climate and high-altitude environment are reframed as assets for green computing.

Ningxia Hui autonomous region’s renewable energy base could attract capital. Since installed renewable capacity already exceeds 60 per cent and is planned to exceed 65 per cent, Ningxia similarly offers a support system for green computing and the digital economy.

Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, has been assigned a different role. Its task is not to provide cheap land but to build a system that moves scientific results from the laboratory to the production line. The city is praised for its pilot test platforms, technology services and an 8.4 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) support system for biomedicine technology transfer. In other words, Nanjing cadres are presented as brokers between universities, firms, laboratories, hospitals and capital.