Yangtze River Delta a powerhouse of China's economic growth

The Shanghai Hongqiao International Central Business District is the hub of the Yangtze River Delta region, an important economic growth engine in Shanghai, and a highland for opening up in China. [Photo provided to en.shhqcbd.gov.cn]

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region becoming a national strategy.

Since 2018, the combined regional gross domestic product of Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces has continued to account for about 24 percent of China's total GDP.

In 2022, the city and provinces' GDP totaled 29 trillion yuan ($4.06 trillion), with a year-on-year growth of 2.5 percent, despite the headwinds brought by the epidemic and global geopolitical tensions.

As a distinct region for the export-oriented economy, the YRD region's foreign trade volume set a record high of 15.1 trillion yuan in 2022, up 7 percent year-on-year and accounting for 35.8 percent of the country's total imports and exports.

The Hongqiao International Open Hub, a significant driver of the YRD region's integrated development and opening-up, has gathered more than 500 companies headquarters, and its GDP increased from 2.3 trillion yuan in 2020 to 2.69 trillion yuan in 2022.

The five editions of the China International Import Expo, held in Hongqiao, attracted over 15,000 exhibitors worldwide to take part and generated a combined turnover of $345.78 billion.

In addition, the YRD region has developed advantageous industrial clusters featuring integrated circuits, bio-medicine, artificial intelligence, new energy vehicles, and more.

The total operating revenue of the IC industry in the region accounts for more than 60 percent of the country's total, nearly half of China's over 3,000 bio-medical and pharmaceutical, and 30 percent of the AI companies are based in the YRD region.

In the NEV industry, one of every three domestically made NEVs is produced in the YRD region. And as the new energy industry booms, the region's energy storage companies also account for up to 40 percent of the country's total.