A bird's-eye view of Qidong, a county-level city in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/WeChat account: qidongfabu] 

Over the last decade, Qidong in Nantong, Jiangsu province has seen rapid economic development. With concerted efforts to build a stronger real economy, Qidong's industrial economy has enjoyed a rise in quantity and quality.

Qidong's GDP totaled 59.82 billion yuan ($8.42 billion) in 2012 and 134.59 billion yuan in 2021, with an annual growth rate of 8.6 percent over the past decade. Its per capita GDP exceeded 139,500 yuan by the end of 2021, reaching the level of high-income countries or regions.

In 2021, there were 592 industrial enterprises above designated size in Qidong, up 15.2 percent from that in 2012. The industrial output value above designated size was 112.06 billion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 8.4 percent over the past 10 years.

The number of high-tech enterprises in Qidong reached 245 in 2021, an increase of 193 from that in 2012. The output value of high-tech industries accounted for 57.4 percent of the total output value of industries above designated size, 18 percentage points higher than that in 2012.

From January to September this year, the output value of high-tech industries in Qidong amounted to 50.93 billion yuan, an increase of 9.3 percent year-on-year, and accounted for 56.8 percent of the total value of local large-scale industries, placing it second inNantong.

Qidong rose from 43rd place in 2011 to 17th in 2021 on the list of the top 100 counties in terms of comprehensive strength in China.