Since bargain hunters splurged by spending a record 168.2 billion yuan ($25.3 billion) during this year's Singles Day on Nov 11, the world's biggest online shopping gala, they have propelled China's new financial industry into a flourishing period. 

At the birthplace of this spawning online discount event – East China's Zhejiang province, where e-commerce giant Alibaba is also headquartered – the province is enjoying an ever-thriving business environment, proved by its winning the crown of a national new financial index on Nov 19. 

This is the second consecutive year the province has retained its strong momentum on the list, with Beijing, Guangdong, Shanghai and Jiangsu ranking second to fifth. 

The index was developed by a team led by Jin Xuejun, a professor of economics at the prestigious Zhejiang University. The team took into account the numbers and scales of organizations settled in various Chinese provinces and municipalities, covering such areas as third-party payment platforms, e-commerce, crowd funding, quantitative investment, hedge funds, cloud computing, block chains and artificial intelligence. 

Although Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong had evident advantages in the numbers of these new financial organizations, Zhejiang found its superiority in scale and finally ranked first. 

Zhejiang had high aspirations for its placement on the list. 

Its capital city of Hangzhou ranked fourth in a Fintech Hub Index released earlier this year, earning the title of a national hub of financial technologies with Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. 

Moreover, since Alibaba founder Jack Ma put forward the idea of a new financial industry last year, Zhejiang has been endeavoring to develop an integrated industry chain connecting online and offline stores, e-commerce platforms, new financial service organizations, logistics companies and customers. 

Aside from Alibaba taking the industrial lead, small and medium-sized financial institutions such as Wacai, Hundsun, Weidai, and LianLian Pay are also prospering in the region. 

"Zhejiang's success lies in the wide recognition of residents, and the promotion and regulation set by local government," said Yu Shengfa, vice-president of Ant Financial, Alibaba's finance arm. 

That is true. Hangzhou established China's first internet court in August, providing integrated handling to economic disputes that were formerly worked out by district-level courts in Hangzhou.