China's Jiangsu reports 7.2% growth in 2017

Wuxi, located in east China's Jiangsu province, is the newcomer with a GDP above 1 trillion yuan.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

East China's Jiangsu, the country's largest manufacturing province, reported annual GDP growth of 7.2 percent in 2017, local authorities said Friday.

The province's GDP surpassed 8.5 trillion yuan ($1.33 trillion) last year, provincial governor Wu Zhenglong announced at the 13th Provincial People's Congress.

Jiangsu is the country's second-largest contributor to the GDP, only behind the province of Guangdong.

Jiangsu has also become China's only province to have three cities -- Suzhou, Nanjing, and newcomer Wuxi -- with a GDP above 1 trillion yuan.

After years of industrial upgrading and structural reform, high-tech companies like Huawei and Alibaba are making considerable investment in Wuxi, and the city has become home to projects related to integrated circuits and the Internet of Things.

"From a traditional manufacturing city that relies on labor and resources to a smart city focusing on intelligent manufacturing, Wuxi's progress demonstrates the transformation of the manufacturing sector in Jiangsu, and even in China," said Huang Qin, executive vice mayor of Wuxi.