Born in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, Zhang Chuanyin has been engaged in agricultural cultivation for over 40 years.

With accumulated farming experience and cash, he decided to enlarge his own business by planting garlic and ginger, but had to find a better place to do it.

Zhang turned his eyes to Liuzhi special district in Guizhou province in Southwest China, which boasts superior natural conditions featuring a subtropical monsoon climate — with neither extreme heat in summer nor severe cold in winter.

While enjoying abundant rainfall and a frost-free period of 294 days, Liuzhi is good for growing garlic and ginger, and Zhang's products can sell at higher prices as his produce can be harvested one month earlier than in traditional places.

He rented 153 mu (10.2 hectares) of land for trial planting in 2024, and with a good profit, he expanded it to 471 mu this year in Mugang town, and is confident of a bumper harvest this year.

As more than 100 farmers helped him plant and pick the fresh ginger, he said: "Since Oct 1, I have hired 2,000 locals to help during harvest season."

Zhang said he is expecting total sales of 6 million yuan ($858,200) this season, with ginger exported to Indonesia, Thailand and Dubai. But enhanced convenient transport is a must.

Local transport is very convenient. Air transport is accessible at Anshun Huangguoshu Airport (40 kilometers away), Liupanshui Yuezhao Airport and Guiyang Longdongbao International Airport (150 km away), in addition to accessible expressway and railway lines.

For his business, Zhang said he is betting big on the Shanghai-Kunming Expressway, which runs through Liuzhi and serves as a crucial transport artery connecting western Guizhou with Yunnan province and Southeast Asia.

Liuzhi's agricultural produce is varied and bountiful, with vegetable cultivation occupying 250,000 mu and output likely to exceed 455,000 metric tons in 2025, with an expected output value surpassing 2 billion yuan.

The 2,730-km Shanghai-Kunming Expressway, which was fully linked on Sept 8, 2011, is a great boon for local traffic, and amid rapid economic growth, traffic congestion on an existing four-lane road section in Guizhou has been considerable.

To alleviate jams and adapt to regional economic development, Guizhou decided to expand the Anshun-Panzhou section of the expressway, with the expansion commencing in March 2023, said Yin Shigang, Party secretary of the project department of China Railway No 4 Engineering Group, which is building the section.

With diverse resources, Liuzhi netted a regional GDP of 18.5 billion yuan in 2024, an annual hike of 5.9 percent, said Liu Qiang, head of the Liuzhi district government.

Besides agricultural output, Liuzhi is rich in over 20 types of mineral resources, including coal, iron, sulfur and limestone, with confirmed coal reserves reaching 3.3 billion tons, as well as abundant coalbed methane deposits hitting some 65 billion cubic meters.

In 2024, its coal production increased by 18.85 percent year-on-year, with eight coal mines successfully revitalized, and as raw coal production in Liupanshui is expected to climb to 72 million tons in 2025, Liuzhi will retain its growth trend this year, Liu said.

Back in 2024, Liuzhi opened some major projects in mineral resources, with over 5 billion yuan added into the sector, showing its strong growth momentum and potential, he said. That is why people in Liuzhi are hoping to see the expansion of local traffic networks.

In nearby Anshun, in Guizhou, Huangguoshu Scenic Area is a nationally renowned attraction, with Huangguoshu Waterfall — 77.8-meter high and 101-meter wide — impressing visitors with natural beauty.

Together, the falls form a vast system, recognized by the Guinness World Records headquarters as the largest waterfall cluster in the world. Its source, the Baishui River, is located in Liuzhi, home to 750,300 residents from 32 ethnic groups.

Liuzhi, administered by Liupanshui — a prefecture-level city in Guizhou — enjoys such titles as "China's most beautiful leisure resort" and "China's ecological charm city" with its beautiful mountains and rivers.

Liu has called for efforts to better promote the unique tourism resources in Liuzhi special district, which was set up in the 1960s.

With the opening of the Nayong-Qinglong Expressway on Sept 26 and the Liuzhi-Anlong Expressway on Sept 28 — and the expected opening of the Anshun-Panzhou section of Shanghai-Kunming Expressway in 2026 — the development of Liuzhi's tourism industry will usher in unprecedented opportunities, he said.

The fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a communique in Beijing on Oct 23, urging the enhancement of the country's transportation network.

During the first 10 months of this year, the country invested some 2.01 trillion yuan in building roads, said the Ministry of Transport, adding that the nation's roadways transported 35.6 billion tons of goods, a year-on-year rise of 3.6 percent, and ensured 9.57 billion trips for people during the period.

Invested by Guizhou Transportation Investment Group, the Anshun-Panzhou section of the Shanghai-Kunming Expressway cost some 32.31 billion yuan, with 97 km running through Liupanshui, Yin said.

The section starts at the county seat of Puding in Anshun and ends at Panguan town in Panzhou, a county-level city in Guizhou.

With a total area of more than 1,790 square km, Liuzhi is the core area of the ancient Yelang Kingdom — a tribal emirate composed of many tribes during the Warring States Period (475–221 BC).

Like a pearl sitting between the Wumeng and Miaoling mountains, Liuzhi links the majesty of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau on one side and the mystery of the ancient Yelang Kingdom on the other.

Liuzhi is a unique tourist area that integrates ethnic cultural customs, natural scenery and famous historical sites. Scenic spots there can generally be divided into three groups — natural beauty, cultural attractions and hot springs, said Liu.

Xiao Jinfeng, a primary school teacher from Mianyang in neighboring Sichuan province, took her daughter, Li Yiwen, on a high-speed train during summer vacation to Liuzhi for a visit. Lured by the beautiful scenery there, she drove to Liuzhi for a revisit during the National Day holiday.

In Liuzhi, they visited the Zangke River pier, Laowang Mountain and Yanjiao ancient town.

"There are beautiful views everywhere in Liuzhi. The air is fresh, and the reflections of verdant mountains in the river create a poetic and picturesque scene," she said, noting that the district offers her an authentic and unspoiled ethnic charm, and can instantly put her mind at ease.

Liu said Liuzhi should improve the quality of tourism services and reception capacity in an all-around way, and highlight its distinctive cultural and tourism products, so as to amplify its brand effect.

Yin said Liuzhi is located at the watershed between the Yangtze River basin and the Pearl River basin. Sitting between the Yangtze and Pearl water systems, it is a picturesque place with more than 40 rivers and streams, and high mountains.

He said that while constructing the expressway, protecting the local environment became a priority.

On entering Yongfeng village on the banks of the Sancha River, the terraced fields are lush green, and the main piers of Xujiawan Bridge stand on both banks, forming a beautiful ecological picture in Longhe.

"During our construction work, we tried our best to maintain the original natural terrain, minimizing the impact of construction on the environment. As we are building an expressway, we need to set up a prefabrication yard to precast beams, which may occupy some seven hectares of land," Yin recalled.

"By following the principle that 'lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets', we finally decided to build our smart beam yard in the mountains," he said, noting that this not only helped reduce land use by half, but also minimized damage to the ecological environment.

He worked with over 2,400 staffers, including 142 local ethnic minority workers, who are very appreciative of the new expressway.