{"id":634616,"date":"2026-04-27T18:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T18:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/634616\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T18:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T18:48:14","slug":"guangdongs-rule-as-chinas-gdp-king-faces-an-unprecedented-threat-to-the-crown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/634616\/","title":{"rendered":"Guangdong\u2019s rule as China\u2019s GDP king faces an unprecedented threat to the crown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The long-standing rivalry between China\u2019s two largest economic heavyweights \u2013 with each boasting a gross domestic product comparable to Group of Seven members Italy and Canada \u2013 reflects the regional dynamism and shifting economic gravity within the world\u2019s second-biggest economy.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Jiangsu has been threatening to end Guangdong\u2019s uninterrupted reign as China\u2019s largest provincial economy since the late 1980s, and the latest economic data reveals the gap between the two narrowed further in the first quarter of this year.<\/p>\n<p>Jiangsu, bordering Shanghai in eastern China, saw its GDP grow by 5.4 per cent from January to March, year on year, to 3.45 trillion yuan, outpacing the <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/economy\/economic-indicators\/article\/3350237\/china-records-5-gdp-growth-first-quarter-track-annual-target?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">national rate of 5 per cent<\/a>. Guangdong, bordering Hong Kong in southern China, witnessed a 4.6 per cent GDP rise to 3.49 trillion yuan.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The quarterly disparity between the provinces has shrunk to just 40 billion yuan (US$5.85 billion).<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Observers point to how tech and frontier industries are turbocharging Jiangsu\u2019s rise, while a protracted property sector slump and weak consumption drag on Guangdong. The race is expected to lift China\u2019s overall growth, as the two provinces combine to account for more than 20 per cent of national economic output.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cTo put the competition between the two Chinese provinces into context, it\u2019s like California, the largest economy among the 50 American states, is one day being surpassed by [second-largest] Texas, as the latter, quite like Jiangsu, has a big manufacturing sector,\u201d said Zhu Lisheng, an analyst with the Jiangsu-based Langchao Finance and Industry Institute, a private consultancy.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cIn both China and the US, the shift of economic gravity will affect business decisions about where to invest, and young people\u2019s choice of where to pursue opportunities,\u201d said Zhu, who expects that businesses and talent may be drawn to Jiangsu as it overtakes Guangdong in the coming years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The long-standing rivalry between China\u2019s two largest economic heavyweights \u2013 with each boasting a gross domestic product comparable&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634617,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,27308,2065,512,82314,164,307282,39380,10340,7029,15324,2328,31158,307284,4933,307283,46505,42975],"class_list":{"0":"post-634616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-byd","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-china","14":"tag-china-evergrande","15":"tag-economy","16":"tag-group-of-seven","17":"tag-guangdong","18":"tag-hong-kong","19":"tag-huawei-technologies","20":"tag-international-monetary-fund","21":"tag-italy","22":"tag-jiangsu","23":"tag-peking-university-hsbc-business-school","24":"tag-shanghai","25":"tag-singapore-industrial-park","26":"tag-tencent","27":"tag-world-bank"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}