The Zhongshan Bureau of Natural Resources recently announced the draft of the "Overall Urban Design of Zhongshan Center Group".

The centre group includes Zhongshan's main urban area (Shiqi District, East District, West District and South District), Gangkou Town, Shaxi Town, Dachong Town and Wuguishan District, which covers a total area of about 445 square kilometers. Torch Development Zone has its individual overall urban design.

The plan points out that, the overall framework of the center group is "water vein + city roads + bead chains". 

Specifically, the "water vein" extends along the Qijiang River and its landscape belt from old city to Torch Development Zone and Tsuihang New District, forming a pattern of "taking water as veins, expanding eastward in the center, and merging into the Greater Bay Area".

The "city roads" refers to the two north-south axes, including Xingzhong Avenue, and the "bead chains" means connecting historical sites in chains, thus demonstrating the cultural context of Xiangshan.

According to the plan, 7 municipal parks are planned to be built in the center group. Through the leisure greenway network, the center group will be built into a "park city" with city parks.

A total of 38 characteristic parks and 300 hectares of street green space will be built in the center group, in a bid to make green park visible within 300 meters and green space everywhere. A greenway network of will run 150 kilometers along rivers, mountains and roads to connect the whole center group.

In addition, popular hiking routes, 200 kilometers in total length with different themes, covering the Zhongshan Arboretum, Jinzhong Reservoir, Wuxing Camp and Tianxin Forest Park, is planned within the Wugui Mountain.

In the peripheral urban areas, 3 characteristic tourism circles featuring ecological reclamation, sightseeing and agriculture as well as water village style are planned to form a 100-square-kilometer "water village rural ring".