Well, it was. They prohibited Guangdong provincial funds from being used in Zhongshan–Shenzhen bridge, that's why the city has to use its own money.

Lingdingyang being declared a national nature reserve was also all about sinking the previous Lingdingyang tunnel project.

Best to say, central planners and "upstart localities" are in "passive aggressive" relationships

Your responses give me the most interesting glimpse behind the curtain on how's the real life working in China I've ever had; super interesting, thanks a lot for this! :) I'll have to try to ask my parents in what ways it was similar or different in "communist" Poland. Though I think the situation may have been much more loose there then, from what I understand I think nobody really took the communism seriously in their hearts in there; at least after some point in history. But I may be totally wrong on this full well.