According to a press conference held by the Shandong Provincial Government on the 23rd, Shandong's regional GDP reached 10.3197 trillion yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%. This makes Shandong the third province in China and the first in Northern China to surpass the 10 trillion yuan GDP milestone. By sector, the added value of Shandong's primary industry was 677.5 billion yuan, up 4.0% year-on-year; the secondary industry reached 4.0541 trillion yuan, growing 5.0%; and the tertiary industry hit 5.5881 trillion yuan, increasing by 6.1%.
Interpretation: Before Shandong, Guangdong and Jiangsu crossed the 10 trillion yuan threshold in 2019 and 2020, respectively. After a five-year interval, the exclusive "10 Trillion Yuan Club" has welcomed a new member. The proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan previously emphasized promoting coordinated development between the eastern, central, and western regions, as well as between the north and south. As the strongest province in Northern China, Shandong's ascension undoubtedly carries significance for fostering more balanced regional development. Delving into specific indicators, Shandong's value-added of industrial enterprises above the designated size grew 7.6% year-on-year in 2025, total retail sales of consumer goods increased 5.1%, and total foreign trade import and export value rose 4.5%, all outperforming the national average and more prominently showcasing its role as a major economic province "holding up the beam."
Taking a longer view, Shandong, being the only province in China with all 41 major industrial categories, once experienced growing pains, trapped in a dilemma where traditional industries accounted for 70% of its economy, and heavy chemical industries made up 70% of those traditional industries. Transformation became imperative. In 2018, the State Council approved the establishment of the Shandong Comprehensive Pilot Zone for the Conversion of Old and New Growth Drivers, setting Shandong on a challenging path of restructuring, focusing on both upgrading traditional industries and cultivating and introducing emerging industries. Data shows that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Shandong's industrial added value climbed from 2.3 trillion yuan to 3.3 trillion yuan, an increase of over 40%. By 2025, advanced production capacity in key sectors like steel and petrochemicals exceeded 40%, and the output value of high-tech industries reached 55.3%, demonstrating the gradual effects of its transformation.
Building on this foundation, Shandong has further proposed striving to become a crucial growth pole for the economy in Northern China. To this end, during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, Shandong aims to push Qingdao to rapidly surpass the 2 trillion yuan milestone, add Weifang as a new city with a GDP exceeding 1 trillion yuan, and support Linyi and Jining in accelerating their progress towards the trillion-yuan level. Following Shandong, Zhejiang is now just one step away from joining the "10 Trillion Yuan Club." In 2025, Zhejiang's GDP reached 9.4545 trillion yuan, also growing 5.5% year-on-year. Currently, the economic size gap between Shandong and Zhejiang is not substantial, and the competition between these two major provinces is set to reshape the landscape of the 10-trillion-yuan club.
According to the Ministry of Commerce website, the National Conference on Market Operations and Consumption Promotion was held in Beijing on January 22-23. The meeting emphasized that commercial authorities at all levels must adhere to the strategic basis of expanding domestic demand, diligently formulate the "15th Five-Year Plan" for expanding consumption, persist with the dual-drive approach of "policies + activities," deeply implement special actions to boost consumption, build the "Shop in China" brand, and advance the development of a strong domestic market. Efforts will focus on expanding and upgrading goods consumption, implementing quality and efficiency improvements in the replacement of consumer goods, and promoting bulk consumption such as automobiles and home furnishings. The ministry also aims to rapidly cultivate new growth points in service consumption and unleash its potential, foster and expand new forms of consumption, actively promote the "first launch" economy, and develop digital, green, and health consumption. It will innovate diverse consumption scenarios, deepen the construction of international consumption center cities, advance pilot projects for building an internationalized consumption environment, and vigorously develop tax refunds for overseas tourists.
According to the "Daxing Yinghai" WeChat public account, the 3rd Beijing Conference on High-Quality Development of the Commercial Aerospace Industry was held on January 23 at the Tongming Lake Convention and Exhibition Center in Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area. During the conference, six major platforms of the "Beijing Rocket Street" were launched, including the Commercial Aerospace Common Testing Platform, the Commercial Aerospace Public Service Platform, the Beijing Spatio-temporal Information Data Commercial Service Platform, the One-Stop Service Platform for Commercial Aerospace Components and Their Application Support, and the Collaborative Platform for Commercial Aerospace Telemetry, Tracking, and Control Centers and Space Situational Awareness Services. In the future, "Beijing Rocket Street" will accelerate the construction of major projects such as "two launch vehicles, two satellites, three electronic systems, and two intelligent manufacturing facilities," speeding up the formation of a full-chain capability for the "Thousand Satellites Production and Launch" initiative.
A report released on January 22 by "Changzhou Release" shows that in 2025, the scale of Changzhou's new energy industry reached 1.0479 trillion yuan. The output value of enterprises above the designated size in the new energy vehicle and auto parts cluster exceeded 500 billion yuan, with the production of complete new energy vehicles surpassing 800,000 units. The installed production capacity for power batteries in Changzhou has exceeded 212.9 GWh, ranking first in the province and among the top three nationally.
It was announced at the 2026 Guangxi Port and Shipping Work Conference held in Nanning on the 23rd that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, Guangxi will anchor the overall goal of building an "I-shaped" water transport system, promoting a shift in waterway development from being factor-driven to being driven by structural optimization, digital and intelligent empowerment, and green transformation. The Pinglu Canal has cumulatively completed 89.7% of its investment and is scheduled to achieve conditions for trial navigation this September.
The Central Rural Work Conference proposed comprehensively launching province-wide pilot programs for extending second-round land contracts by another 30 years upon expiration. At a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on January 22, Chen Bangxun, Director of the Development Planning Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, stated that the ministry has successively initiated pilot programs for the extension at the township-wide, county-wide, and province-wide levels. These pilots now cover 7 entire provinces, 221 entire counties, and 349 entire townships, with contracted land for over 25 million farming households generally extended smoothly, giving farmers a "long-term assurance." Chen Bangxun indicated that they will guide provinces in researching and formulating specific methods for the extension, refining supporting measures, and scientifically arranging the pilot progress to ensure steady advancement. In practice, three key aspects must be managed: First, adhere to the principle of extension, which means maintaining "overall stability with minor adjustments," utilizing the results of the confirmation, registration, and certification of rural contracted land to ensure the original contracted land of the vast majority of households remains stable and is smoothly extended. Any individual adjustments must be strictly controlled according to laws and regulations. Second, standardize the extension procedures. Pilot work should be carried out according to the established regulations to ensure the process is legal and compliant, particularly requiring that the extension plan be submitted to the members' assembly of the rural collective economic organization for deliberation and implemented only after being approved by more than two-thirds of all members. Third, properly resolve prominent conflicts. It is essential to appropriately handle the scale of issues concerning "special groups," "special circumstances," and "historical problems." Reasonable demands can be addressed using reserve land, newly added cultivated land, etc., and solutions outside of land allocation, such as through collective profit distribution, employment services, or placement in public welfare positions, are also encouraged.
The "China Exhibition Economic Development Report 2025," released by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade on January 23 at the 2026 China Conference on International Cooperation in the Exhibition Economy held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, shows that in 2025, the scale of economic and trade exhibitions in China reached a new high. A total of 4,095 exhibitions were held, with a total exhibition area of 159 million square meters, representing year-on-year increases of 6.53% and 2.5%, respectively, with both core indicators setting new historical records. While the number of exhibitions grew steadily, the international competitiveness of Chinese exhibitions also continued to rise. According to data from the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI), 28 Chinese exhibitions were listed among the world's top 100 trade fairs in 2025, ranking second globally after Germany (44). Shanghai led nationally with 16 exhibitions, followed by Beijing (5), Shenzhen (3), Guangzhou (2), Nanning (1), and Hong Kong (1). Furthermore, as an important indicator of internationalization, the number of UFI-certified member entities in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) continued to increase in 2025. According to the "UFI World Membership Report," as of December 2025, the total number of members in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan) was 258, an increase of 5 from 2024. Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen remained the top three cities with the most UFI member units.
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