A bird's-eye view of the downtown area in Wuxi. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]
Wuxi in Jiangsu province saw its GDP increase 6 percent year-on-year to nearly 1.55 trillion yuan ($217 billion) in 2023, 0.2 percentage points higher than the provincial average.
GDP portrays the development of a city. Following the three-year pandemic, Wuxi's fluctuating GDP last year epitomized the recovery of the Chinese economy.
An intelligent workshop in Wuxi. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]
The city kicked off the year with a sluggish 4.9 percent GDP growth in the first quarter. Its GDP then rose to 6.6 percent increase in the first half year, declined to 5.8 percent over the first three quarters, and finally ended the year at 6 percent.
Wuxi's foreign trade also struggled to develop through much of last year before welcoming positive growth in October. Possessing the most potential commercial activity in foreign trade, the cross-border e-commerce industry in the city completed $10.45 billion of imports and exports, a surge of 135.9 percent year-on-year.
A view of the juxtaposition of development and nature in Wuxi. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]
Despite lagging foreign trade, the actual foreign direct investment in Wuxi witnessed a 30.7 percent year-on-year increase in the first quarter and, throughout the year, the city's actual FDI totaled $4.12 billion.
A modern industrial system has laid a strong foundation for Wuxi's development. Last year, Wuxi cultivated six industrial clusters with an annual operating revenue exceeding 200 billion yuan. Furthermore, Wuxi's IoT, biological medicine, and high-end textile industrial clusters all thrived, receiving national recognition.
