An aerial view shows expressways running through mountains, farmland, and villages in Baita town, Xianju county, Taizhou, Zhejiang province, on Sept 3, 2026. [Photo/IC]

Zhejiang province is stepping up efforts to narrow regional, urban-rural, and income gaps, with its mountainous and island counties a key focus.

By the end of 2025, the ratio of urban to rural per capita disposable income had narrowed to 1.81, the lowest among China's major provincial economies.

Since last year, Zhejiang has made the high-quality development of mountainous and island counties a priority. In the first half of 2026, their combined GDP reached 477.30 billion yuan ($71.14 billion), up 6.3 percent year-on-year, while per capita disposable income rose 5.4 percent to 30,073 yuan.

In Jianggen township, Qingyuan county, Lishui, a bamboo processing and trading center near the Zhejiang-Fujian border is set to begin operations. The second phase of the bamboo industry project in Jianggen township is expected to tap more than 50,000 hectares of moso bamboo across 12 mountainous towns and townships in Qingyuan, Taishun, and Shouning counties, helping bamboo-growing households increase their income by more than 20,000 yuan on average.

Qujiang district in Quzhou is grouping villages to pool resources and develop new opportunities. Across Zhejiang, 138 provincial-level key village clusters have been developed, supporting coordinated development in 887 surrounding villages.

All of Zhejiang's mountainous and island counties now have GDP exceeding 10 billion yuan. Their per capita disposable income as a share of the provincial average rose from 73.2 percent in 2021 to 75.6 percent in 2025.