Multiple Cities Chase Trillion GDP as Shaoxing and Nanchang Jump in Rankings
China's urban economic landscape is shifting as more than ten cities set trillion-yuan GDP targets. Shaoxing and Nanchang each overtook three cities in the first half of 2026, with Shaoxing's GDP growth of 6.4% second only to Hefei's 6.8% among top 40 cities. Nanchang's GDP grew 4.6% year-on-year. The national trillion-yuan city count rose to 29 after Wenzhou and Dalian crossed the threshold. Meanwhile, Xuzhou fell short, while Shenyang and Changchun face pressure.
In the first half-year assessment of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China's urban economic landscape has shown new changes. According to the 15th Five-Year Plan outlines of various cities, more than ten cities have set trillion-yuan GDP targets. Zhuhai, with a 2025 GDP of 457.31 billion yuan, also proposed accelerating its march toward trillion-yuan status. Among the 'quasi-trillion' cities with GDP above 800 billion yuan, provincial capitals such as Kunming, Shenyang, Shijiazhuang, Nanchang, and Changchun, along with Xuzhou, Yancheng and Yangzhou in Jiangsu, Shaoxing in Zhejiang, Xiamen in Fujian, and Weifang in Shandong, form the main echelon. Compared with the same period in 2025, Shaoxing and Nanchang each surpassed three cities, while Shenyang and Changchun face growth pressure. In early 2026, Wenzhou and Dalian announced that their 2025 GDP surpassed the trillion-yuan mark, bringing the national tally of trillion-yuan cities to 29. Xuzhou's full-year 2025 GDP was 995.72 billion yuan, just short of the trillion threshold. In the first half of 2026, Shaoxing's GDP reached 450.4 billion yuan, narrowing the gap with Xuzhou to 34.29 billion yuan. Shaoxing's GDP growth of 6.4% was second only to Hefei's 6.8% among the top 40 cities by GDP. Compared with the same period in 2025, Shaoxing overtook Kunming, Shenyang, and Xiamen, rising from 36th place in 2020 to 31st. The added value of Shaoxing's industrial enterprises above designated size grew 10.9% year-on-year, with output of industrial robots and integrated circuits up 75.2% and 17.3%, respectively. Shaoxing's integrated circuit industry has developed since the SMIC project was signed in 2018, with initial investment of 5.88 billion yuan for an 8-inch production line. It now hosts nearly 100 integrated circuit and related above-scale enterprises, and the leading industry's output value exceeded 100.3 billion yuan in 2025. Shangyu District, which established chemicals and equipment as its two pillar industries two decades ago, has developed a base for embodied-intelligence new materials and motor equipment. It plans to build a 'Yangtze River Delta embodied-intelligence highland' by 2028, aiming to push embodied-intelligence industry revenue above 20 billion yuan. Xuzhou has proposed exceeding 1.3 trillion yuan in GDP by the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period. In the first half of 2026, Nanchang's GDP was 399.82 billion yuan, up 4.6% year-on-year, surpassing Yancheng, Yangzhou, and Changchun compared with the same period in 2025. In 2023, Nanchang's GDP growth was only 1.7%, and its ranking fell from 36th to 39th. That year, revenue of industrial enterprises above designated size fell to 664.004 billion yuan, before recovering to 745.5 billion yuan in 2025. In the first half of 2026, Nanchang's added value from industrial enterprises above designated size grew 6.5%, with optical fiber output surging 303.7%, communication and electronic network cables up 27.9%, optoelectronic devices up 15.1%, and the electronic information industry chain's above-scale industrial added value up 13.2%. In 2023, Jiangxi Province issued the 'Jiangxi Province Manufacturing Key Industry Chain Modernization 1269 Action Plan (2023-2026)', promoting the development of 12 key manufacturing chains. In the first half of 2026, Nanchang's new energy, aviation, new materials, and light industry and textile industries all achieved double-digit growth, all belonging to those key chains. Jiangxi also plans six future industries: future materials, future energy, future biology, future health, future display, and future aviation, with each industrial cluster including Nanchang. Kunming's GDP growth in 2021 was 3.7%, ranking last among 27 provincial capitals, with the secondary industry accounting for about 30% of the economy. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Kunming's GDP growth remained around 4%, and it failed to achieve its 2025 'double ten-thousand' target. Yunnan Province has proposed implementing a 'strong provincial capital' action and has listed 'industry highland' as the first of its 'six spring city' development strategies. Tangshan in Hebei Province exceeded 1 trillion yuan in GDP in 2024, while Shijiazhuang's national economic ranking rose from 40th in 2021 to 34th in 2025. Hebei has proposed joining the ranks of economically strong provinces by 2035, and its 15th Five-Year Plan outline, published in 2026, calls for accelerating the construction of the Shijiazhuang metropolitan area. In the first half of 2026, Shenyang was overtaken by Xiamen, and Changchun's GDP growth was 1.3%, the lowest among the top 40 cities after Foshan.