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County-level economies prosper in Zhejiang

ezhejiang.gov.cn| Updated: February 4, 2021 L M S

Numerous county-level regions in East China's Zhejiang province recently saw their gross domestic product (GDP) surpass the threshold of 100 billion yuan ($15.5 billion), 200 billion yuan or 300 billion yuan for the first time, as local authorities released the latest economic statistics for the year 2020.

The GDP for Tongxiang, a county-level city administered by Jiaxing, was 100.3 billion yuan in 2020, exceeding 100 billion yuan for the first time, the Tongxiang bureau of statistics revealed on Jan 26.

Shaoxing's Yuecheng district and Shangyu district respectively generated 100.9 billion yuan and 104.4 billion yuan in GDP in 2020, both reaching 100 billion yuan for the first time, Shaoxing authorities announced on Jan 30.

Hangzhou's Jianggan district reached 102.65 billion yuan in its GDP for 2020, unprecedentedly topping 100 billion yuan for the first time, local media outlets revealed on Feb 2.

Ningbo's county-level city Cixi and Beilun district became new entrants to the 200-billion-yuan-GDP club, with their GDP figures for 2020 standing at 200.83 billion yuan and 202.05 billion yuan respectively, according to the Ningbo bureau of statistics.

Zhejiang is currently home to five county-level regions boasting a GDP above 200 billion yuan. They are Hangzhou's Yuhang district and Xiaoshan district, as well as Ningbo's Yizhou district, Beilun district, and Cixi city.

The latest statistics show that Hangzhou's Yuhang district, where the Chinese internet giant Alibaba is headquartered, generated 305.16 billion yuan in GDP in 2020, making it the province's first-ever 300-billion-yuan economy at the county level.

What it means for a county-level region to join the 100-billion-yuan-GDP club

The 100-billion-yuan GDP mark, as seen in some prosperous districts and counties in Zhejiang, is usually what is created by a prefecture-level city in central and western China, said Wang Meifu, chief statistician at the Zhejiang Bureau of Statistics, in a recent media interview.

"More importantly, a 100-billion-yuan GDP means that the locale has at least thousands of enterprises, hundreds of thousands of residents, as well as frequent interactions between primary, secondary, and tertiary industries, which makes possible an endogenous economic growth," Wang said.

 "Sustainable economic development relies on home-grown driving forces, which can only take shape in a sizable economy."

Lyu Miao, vice-director of the new economy development center at the Yangtze Delta Region Institute of Tsinghua University, said that a region reaching the 100 billion yuan GDP mark would feature strong economic resilience and industry agglomeration, which helps create jobs and attract residents.

It also means that the region has sufficient funding to improve public services, Lyu added.