The value of industrial output of medium to large companies in Qidong, a county-level city in Nantong, eastern China’s Jiangsu province, reached 180 billion yuan ($26.14 million) in 2018, according to statistics recently released by the local authority.

Gross industrial output value of enterprises above a designated size – companies with annual revenue of 20 million yuan ($2.9 million) or more -- is a statistical term generally used by the national authorities to calculate total industrial output in a certain region or in the country.

Over the past 70 years since the establishment of the New China -- particularly over the past 40 years since the implementation of China’s reform and opening-up policy -- Qidong has made remarkable progress. 

In 2003, the gross industrial output value of the enterprises above a designated size in Qidong reached 10 billion yuan. 

By contrast, the total industrial output value of the city in 1952 was only 28.07 million yuan.