The explosive growth of 8 'miracle' Chinese cities - in one chart
Chinese New Year decoration is seen at Yuyuan Garden in downtown Shanghai January 28, 2014. Image: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
The economic miracle that is China’s rapid GDP expansion is most apparent in the explosive growth of its cities – in terms of population, but also in terms of GDP per city, as our graphic shows [link in Chinese].
Shanghai and Beijing, Southern cities Shenzhen and Guangzhou, Central Chinese stronghold Chongqing and its neighbor Chengdu as well as Shanghai satellite cities Suzhou and Hangzhou were some of the biggest cities in China in 2018 by GDP.
Their growth exemplifies the meteoric ascent of the Chinese economy. While in 1978 Shanghai’s GDP was a mere 27.3 billion yuan Renminbi, the city posted a GDP of CN¥3.3. trillion in 2018, a 12,000 percent increase. The biggest Cinderella story is Shenzhen, though. The Southern Chinese city that lies wedged between two other megacities, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, had a GDP of under 200 million in 1978, which increased to CN¥2.4 trillion by 2018 thanks to an economic free-trade zone set up there. On its way to become the third largest city in China in 2018, Shenzhen grew its GDP by a staggering 1.2 million percent.
Don't miss any update on this topic
Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Stay up to date:
Inclusive Growth Framework
Related topics:
The Agenda Weekly
A weekly update of the most important issues driving the global agenda
You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. For more details, review our privacy policy.
More on Geographies in DepthSee all
Kimberley Botwright
November 4, 2024