On January 19, China's 2025 economic report card was released—the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) surpassed the 140 trillion yuan mark for the first time, growing by 5.0% over the previous year. With its economic scale firmly holding as the world's second largest, its growth rate ranking among the top of major global economies, and its average annual growth during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period far exceeding the world average, a series of indicators clearly outline the solid trajectory of this super-large economy steadily advancing, laying a robust foundation for the commencement of the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.
The foundation of "stability" continues to be reinforced, demonstrating the powerful resilience of development. When observing the Chinese economy, one must look not only at the "size" of the total scale but also at the "steadiness" of its operational trend. In 2025, facing a turbulent external environment, the 5.0% economic growth rate was achieved after a high start of 5.4% in the first quarter, navigating through minor quarterly fluctuations to ultimately meet the annual target; this represents a stable growth curve, showcasing strong risk resistance and effective macroeconomic regulation. More notably, alongside reasonable "quantitative" growth, the effective enhancement of "quality" is even more significant. The value-added of large-scale high-tech manufacturing as a proportion of total output rose to 17.1%, indicating a strengthening role for innovation-driven growth; the contribution of final consumption expenditure to economic growth exceeded 50%, consolidating the role of domestic demand as the "main engine"; real per capita disposable income of residents grew by 5.0%, basically keeping pace with economic growth, highlighting the role of people's livelihoods as the "ballast"... endogenous economic momentum is accumulating, and positive factors for steady improvement are increasing, signaling that the Chinese economy has entered a track of trend-based development.
The momentum of "progress" is accelerating its accumulation, surging with vitality oriented towards innovation and quality. Economic development is never a linear ascent but rather a wave-like advance and spiral-shaped rise through the transformation of old and new growth drivers. Currently, while China's traditional industries are undergoing transformation and upgrading, new growth drivers representing the future direction are also rapidly developing and gaining substantial momentum. In 2025, the value-added of large-scale digital product manufacturing increased by 9.3% year-on-year, daily production of new energy vehicles reached 45,000 units, daily processing volume of express delivery services exceeded 500 million parcels, artificial intelligence large models accelerated their iteration, and humanoid robots rapidly moved from laboratories and exhibition halls to production lines and application scenarios... these vivid data points and cases sketch a dynamic picture of the vigorous development of new quality productive forces.
Simultaneously, reforms continue to deepen, unleashing continuous dividends. A series of measures, including vigorously advancing the construction of a national unified market, enacting the Private Economy Promotion Law, and comprehensively addressing "involution-style" competition, directly target pain points and difficulties, aiming to reduce social costs and stimulate market vitality. The rise of new drivers alongside the transformation of old ones is a profound reflection of the Chinese economy's structural improvement and shift towards new development modes, injecting a continuous stream of endogenous momentum for high-quality development.
The prospects for "good" development are more promising, consolidating the collective force for a strong start. Assessing the economy requires a dialectical and long-term perspective. Currently, old problems and new challenges are interwoven in economic development, but overall, opportunities outweigh challenges, and favorable conditions are stronger than unfavorable factors. In terms of developmental support, China possesses unique institutional advantages, the advantage of a super-large market, the supply advantage of a complete industrial system, and the talent advantage of a large number of high-quality workers; the powerful synergy formed by the systematic integration of these advantages constitutes the "fundamental base" for the long-term positive trend of the economy. From the perspective of development trends, the core CPI stabilized above 1% for four consecutive months by the end of 2025, the Manufacturing PMI returned to the expansion zone in December, and the flows of people, goods, and information remained active, indicating an accumulation of positive factors. Regarding policy expectations, the central government has made it clear that for 2026, the principles of seeking progress while maintaining stability, improving quality and efficiency will be upheld, with enhanced counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical adjustments; macroeconomic policies will be more proactive and effective, and key projects will be accelerated, forming a powerful force for driving development. Recently, major international organizations have successively raised their growth forecasts for China, also indicating international confidence in the prospects of China's economic development.
The new milestone of 140 trillion yuan is the fruitful outcome of the successful conclusion of the "14th Five-Year Plan" and, more importantly, a new starting point for striving towards even more ambitious goals. On the new journey, as long as we adhere to the principles of seeking progress while maintaining stability, using progress to promote stability, and establishing new before abolishing the old, firmly grasp the primary task of high-quality development, and diligently implement all policy decisions to achieve tangible results, we will certainly be able to pool a powerful force for driving development, ensure a strong start for the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, and propel the giant ship of China to forge ahead courageously through the waves of the times.
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