Deep within the Taihang Mountains, at the Shibanyan Township post office, a drone lifts off carrying parcels destined for Shangping Village, perched at an elevation of 1,100 meters. Seven minutes later, the packages land at a designated low-altitude logistics station beside the village committee office. Just a year ago, this same delivery route required a five-hour trek on foot.

This is Anyang, Henan Province. Long known to outsiders primarily as the home of the Yinxu Ruins, the ancient capital of the Shang Dynasty, this city has now branded itself with a new title: the City of Low-Altitude Economy. The city's aviation heritage stretches back over 70 years, beginning when the General Administration of Sport established an aviation sports school here in 1955. But the transformation of that heritage into a tangible industrial force has unfolded over the past decade, through the development of a complete chain encompassing manufacturing, application scenarios, scientific innovation, and talent cultivation.

In 2025, the output value of Anyang's low-altitude economy-related industries is approaching 2 billion yuan, with over 200 registered business entities operating in the sector. So, how has a third- or fourth-tier inland city managed to take flight? And more importantly, what has it gained from soaring?

A Rare 'City Capable of Flight'

Everything in the low-altitude economy begins with the sky. Anyang, located in the northernmost part of Henan at the junction of Henan, Shanxi, and Hebei provinces, enjoys a unique advantage. Its low-altitude airspace is less affected by civil aviation and military flight activities, offering vast, unobstructed flying conditions. This makes it one of the most ideal regions for low-altitude flights in China. With favorable weather, Anyang boasts more than 300 flyable days each year, a condition that provides a crucial guarantee for routine testing and large-scale operations of drones.

This geographical advantage was recognized over half a century ago. In 1956, the National Sports Administration's Anyang Aviation Sports School relocated to the city, bringing with it fixed training airspace and a standard runway. This laid the foundation for the city's aviation culture. Anyang has since hosted seventeen consecutive editions of the Aviation Sports Culture and Tourism Festival, cementing its reputation as 'a city that can fly.'

The first tangible benefit of this airspace advantage was attracting the establishment of a national drone 'pilot testing base.' Harbin Aircraft Industry Group, a major Chinese aviation manufacturer, was drawn to Anyang by its superior airspace and selected it as a flight testing site. According to local government officials, Harbin Aircraft has continued to use Anyang as its primary testing ground after initial successful trials.

While airspace is the foundation, manufacturing capability is what truly defines the quality of Anyang's low-altitude economy. A complete drone industry chain has begun to take shape here: upstream suppliers include Haoke Aviation producing rotors and propellers, and Hongan Aviation manufacturing semi-solid-state batteries for drones; midstream players include Quanfeng Agricultural Aviation with its crop protection drones, Falcon Firefighting with its firefighting drones, Maijie Aviation with its tandem twin-rotor unmanned helicopters, and Kunyu UAV with its heavy-fuel long-endurance models; downstream services are provided by Yunhuan Internet of Things with its control platforms, the Taihang Low-Altitude Space Application Vocational Training School for pilot training, and the Henan Provincial Drone Quality Inspection Center for testing and certification.

From initial design requirements to component manufacturing and assembly, and further to final debugging, system application, and after-sales support, Anyang can manage the entire process locally, as an official from the Anyang Low-Altitude Economy Investment Group explained. According to official data, over 90% of the components for a fully assembled drone made in Anyang come from local suppliers.

The starting point of this closed loop was a pesticide factory. Quanfeng Pesticide Factory was established in Anyang in 1997 and officially entered the drone industry in 2012. A local official familiar with Quanfeng's history recalls that at the time, there were only three crop protection drone companies in China, and Quanfeng was the one that coined the very term 'crop protection.' This company later spurred the growth of the entire Beiguan District Drone Industrial Park, where many of the current 185 enterprises initially started as Quanfeng's suppliers before expanding into their own right. Quanfeng reports that its aerial prevention service network now covers 65 operational stations nationwide, has completed over 50 million mu of unified pest control operations, and has trained over 50,000 professional drone pilots.

While Quanfeng pioneered the era of agricultural drones, Falcon Firefighting proved that Anyang drones could fly into fires. Founded by veterans of the fire service, this company developed a drone-integrated fire truck that was among the first batch announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and it is also the first officially certified drone fire truck globally. Before us, fire truck product names didn't include the term 'drone'; we are the first in the country to obtain this specific vehicle classification, said Fan Rongxuan, Deputy General Manager of Falcon Firefighting. This integrated 'drone + fire truck' system sells for less than a quarter of the price of imported high-altitude fire trucks that can reach 100 meters, yet it can project firefighting foam to a height of 200 meters and dry powder over 300 meters.

Maijie Aviation and Kunyu UAV address two other critical needs: heavy payloads and extended endurance. Maijie's tandem twin-rotor unmanned helicopter has an effective payload ranging from 300 to 600 kilograms, which is 20% more than single-rotor helicopters at the same power level. Kunyu focuses on heavy-fuel single-rotor technology, achieving an extendable endurance of up to 10 hours, and can operate effectively even in harsh environments like plateaus and extreme cold.

From Village Air Routes to Digital Urban Skies

The true measure of an industry's progress lies in its practical applications. On the large visualization screen of Anyang's Low-Altitude Government Command and Dispatch Platform, 21 automated drone docks are shown covering the main urban area and several counties. Drones can complete fully automated operations, from automatic takeoff from the docks and task execution to autonomous return to the hangar. Under the 'One Network for All Flights' operating model, the business needs of various government departments, including environmental monitoring, cultural relic inspection, traffic enforcement, water management, and scenic spot patrols, are integrated into a unified dispatch framework. This allows a single flight to simultaneously gather data for multiple departments. To date, over 20,000 government-related flights have been completed.

The platform's operation is supported by Yunhuan Internet of Things, which provides technical support in low-altitude infrastructure construction, flight management system optimization, and operational assurance, enabling data interconnectivity across departments within a single dispatch framework. In the logistics sector, Anyang has established a model for routine operations. The town of Shibanyan in Linzhou City sits deep in the Taihang Mountains, with its 17 administrative villages scattered across the mountain range. Anyang Post has set up a main station at the Shibanyan post office, with receiving stations built in each village, creating 12 drone postal routes with 1 to 2 scheduled flights daily, serving over 4,000 villagers. For a village at an altitude of over 1,100 meters, a journey that previously took 50 minutes by car from the town center can now be completed in just 7 minutes by drone.

Medical delivery is another validated use case. The Anyang Central Blood Station now uses a dedicated blood delivery route connecting major hospitals in the city, such as the new People's Hospital and the Tumor Hospital. This has reduced the transportation time from 35 minutes to just 9 minutes, allowing blood to be delivered directly from the station to hospital operating rooms. Police aviation is also a prominent application of Anyang's low-altitude airspace. The city has deployed 20 automated police drone docks in the main urban area, creating a low-altitude patrol system that enables 'fly on alert, full coverage.' Drones are now used in live policing scenarios such as event security, the eradication of illegally planted crops like poppies, and traffic management.

In a notable example, Anyang, in collaboration with the Blue Sky Laboratory, has developed a 'UAV multispectral poppy monitoring camera and AI intelligent identification system.' This system has already been deployed within police departments across several provinces, upgrading the traditional manual inspection model for poppy eradication to an intelligent aerial identification method. Furthermore, Yunhuan Internet of Things has built a comprehensive police drone combat platform that strengthens the integrated air-ground security network. It can rapidly perform tasks such as aerial reconnaissance, dynamic tracking, and on-site broadcasting for emergency incidents, large event security, and key area patrols, significantly boosting police response efficiency and emergency handling capabilities while also providing a new technological path for reducing costs and increasing efficiency in grassroots policing.

Building the Foundation on Innovation and Talent

The long-term prospects of an industry hinge on the depth of its technological innovation. In February 2024, the Blue Sky Laboratory, the only provincial laboratory in Henan dedicated to key technologies for general aviation and the drone industry, was officially inaugurated in Anyang. The lab is headed by Xiang Jinwu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. It has established six research centers focusing on three main areas: low-altitude airspace management systems, drone systems and key technologies, and drone inspection, testing, and airworthiness certification. The lab has brought together a team of 13 academicians and over 300 experts.

The Blue Sky Laboratory's operating principle is not to conduct isolated research but to follow a model where 'enterprises pose the questions and research provides the answers.' The poppy monitoring camera and AI identification system, developed in collaboration with the public security department, has already been deployed in regions like Chongqing, Hebei, and Shandong, successfully transitioning research outcomes into practical applications. In 2025, the lab produced 9 patents, 10 industry group standards, and 19 computer software copyrights. It also supports the incubation of several partner enterprises through a 'research project + industrialization company' model.

Complementing the lab is the Henan Provincial Drone Quality Inspection Center. As the first provincial-level drone quality inspection center in China, it has built 15 professional laboratories and a 50,000-square-meter outdoor flight test field. Its testing parameters have expanded from an initial 47 to 308, covering nearly all categories and scenarios for civilian drones. The center has completed over 500 drone inspections, serving 19 provinces and municipalities, including Beijing, Jiangsu, and Fujian. Standards equate to influence; the center has participated in drafting local standards such as the 'Technical Conditions for Agricultural Rotor Crop Protection Drones,' which filled a gap in local standards for agricultural drones in China.

In Anyang, talent cultivation is not an isolated activity but is integrated into the industry itself. The Taihang Low-Altitude Space Application Vocational Training School, founded in 2013, is the third professional drone pilot training base in China. It has since obtained key qualifications, including those for a Civil Aviation Administration licensed training institution, the first police drone training base in Henan, and a Civil Aviation Administration license examination center. To date, it has trained over 5,000 professional pilots with civil aviation licenses. Quanfeng's own training system has cultivated over 50,000 professional pilots, supplying a large number of new skilled workers proficient in drone operation to the frontlines of production.

Anyang's talent strategy for the low-altitude economy extends beyond a single school or enterprise. Local institutions like Anyang Institute of Technology, Anyang University, Anyang Vocational and Technical College, and Anyang Preschool Education College offer more than 20 aviation-related specializations, continuously providing technical and managerial talent for the local low-altitude industry. The city is now exploring even closer ties between vocational education and industry. According to local plans, it will integrate resources to establish a specialized low-altitude economy vocational and technical school. This school would implement a 'recruitment equals hiring' targeted training model, aiming to supply no fewer than 3,000 skilled personnel, such as pilots and mechanics, annually. For Anyang's expanding low-altitude sector, this represents a predictable and stable supply of talent.

This talent ecosystem gives Anyang a significant advantage in attracting businesses: when companies come, they won't face shortages of pilots, mechanics, or maintenance staff. The narrative of Anyang's low-altitude economy, however, is not without its challenges. The local government is open about these issues: there's a lack of large, leading enterprises with national influence, and application scenarios are still primarily in small-scale pilot phases. Furthermore, the financial pressure associated with building low-altitude infrastructure is a practical challenge that must be confronted during development. These hurdles, however, have not halted Anyang's progress. It has chosen a more pragmatic path: first, set up the 5G private network, build the drone dock infrastructure, and successfully operate the various flight routes, using real operational data to validate the feasibility of the scenarios. Rather than waiting, Anyang prefers to act.

The drone postal routes deep within the Taihang Mountains have become part of daily life. The 150-meter foam sprays from firefighting drones above fire scenes, the young trainees practicing takeoffs and landings in training rooms, and the steady, rhythmic beacons of light on the command center's large screen all point down the same path: Anyang is treating its sky as a valuable resource to be developed over the long term, putting it to use, piece by piece.