In 2006 the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong Province grew 14.4 percent to make it the first mainland city to generate a per capita GDP greater than US$10,000.

China Business News has published an interview with Peng Peng, an official at the Guangzhou branch of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He said the city's GDP grew to 623.6 billion yuan in 2006, up from over 545 billion in 2005. The city has 7.0266 million permanent residents so the per-capita GDP now actually exceeds US$11,000.

Peng said per-capita GDP was generally considered a more reliable measure of economic development than GDP alone. The World Bank considers regions with a per capita GDP greater than US$10,000 to be developed.

But Peng also said the figure wasn't a completely accurate indication of economic development because it only accounts for residents with permanent homes. The city plans to lift the per capita GDP for all of the city's residents to more than US$10,000 by 2010.

Per capita GDP in Hong Kong and Taiwan surpassed US$10,000 in 1987 and 1992. The International Monetary Fund's GDP rankings for 2005 show 45 countries and regions have a per-capita GDP greater than US$10,000 dollars. Hong Kong and Taiwan ranked 23rd and 37th at $24,581 and $13,926 respectively. The mainland ranked 106th with US$1,703.

Guangzhou surpassed Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in 2005 when its per capita GDP was US$8,500 compared to US$5457, $7600 and $7300 respectively in the other cities.

In a report released at the just-concluded party conference officials said the city would maintain the per capita GDP above $10,000 until 2010. They'll also focus on improving the quality of economic growth instead of the previous growth-above-all policy. 

An insider from the local government revealed the city will focus on economic restructuring. It will introduce further reforms and work to alter the current model of growth to ease environmental pressures.

(CRI January 4, 2007)