Alright, I think most people have heard of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. And you probably guessed they are major economic powerhouses. Well, pretty much all the other major cities in China you never heard of are also economic powerhouses that have outputs compared to entire countries.
| Rank | 城市 | Chinese City | City GDP (2015, PPP) | Comparable Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 上海 | Shanghai | $810 billion | Philippines |
| #2 | 北京 | Beijing | $664 billion | U.A.E. |
| #3 | 廣州 | Guangzhou | $524 billion | Switzerland |
| #4 | 深圳 | Shenzhen | $491 billion | Sweden |
| #5 | 天津 | Tianjin | $478 billion | Romania |
| #6 | 蘇州 | Suzhou | $440 billion | Austria |
| #7 | 重慶 | Chongqing | $425 billion | Chile |
| #8 | 香港 | Hong Kong | $414 billion | Peru |
| #9 | 武漢 | Wuhan | $324 billion | Israel |
| #10 | 成都 | Chengdu | $306 billion | Norway |
| #11 | 杭州 | Hangzhou | $275 billion | Greece |
| #12 | 南京 | Nanjing | $272 billion | Denmark |
| #13 | 無錫 | Wuxi | $270 billion | Morocco |
| #14 | 青島 | Qingdao | $266 billion | Hungary |
| #15 | 長沙 | Changsha | $246 billion | Sri Lanka |
| #16 | 大連 | Dalian | $245 billion | Finland |
| #17 | 佛山 | Foshan | $235 billion | Uzbekistan |
| #18 | 寧波 | Ningbo | $233 billion | Angola |
| #19 | 瀋陽 | Shenyang | $230 billion | Sudan |
| #20 | 鄭州 | Zhengzhou | $210 billion | Ecuador |
| #21 | 唐山 | Tangshan | $191 billion | New Zealand |
| #22 | 東莞 | Dongguan | $186 billion | Ethiopia |
| #23 | 煙臺 | Yantai | $184 billion | Belarus |
| #24 | 濟南 | Jinan | $174 billion | Azerbaijan |
| #25 | 南通 | Nantong | $170 billion | Slovakia |
| #26 | 長春 | Changchun | $163 billion | Dominican Republic |
| #27 | 西安 | Xi'an | $161 billion | Kenya |
| #28 | 福州 | Fuzhou | $160 billion | Tanzania |
| #29 | 哈爾濱 | Harbin | $159 billion | Bulgaria |
| #30 | 合肥 | Hefei | $157 billion | Tunisia |
| #31 | 石家莊 | Shijiazhuang | $156 billion | Guatemala |
| #32 | 徐州 | Xuzhou | $150 billion | Ghana |
| #33 | 常州 | Changzhou | $147 billion | Serbia |
| #34 | 溫州 | Wenzhou | $131 billion | Croatia |
| #35 | 淄博 | Zibo | $123 billion | Panama |
What is even more amazing is that these cities don’t exist in isolation. As per urban-planning doctrine in China, cities are interconnected in larger metropolis regions. The three main metropolis regions of China correspond with the Chinese cities you've heard of:
Yangtze River Delta (長江三角洲)
With a combined GDP of $2.17 trillion, which is comparable to Italy, the Yangtze River Delta contains cities like Shanghai (上海), Suzhou (蘇州), Hangzhou (杭州), Wuxi (無錫), Ningbo (寧波), and Changzhou (常州).
Pearl River Delta (珠江三角洲)
With a combined GDP of $1.89 trillion, which is comparable to South Korea, the Pearl River Delta has cities like Hong Kong (香港), Guangzhou (廣州), Shenzhen (深圳), Foshan (佛山), Dongguan (東莞), and Macao (澳門).
Jing-Jin-Ji (京津冀城市群)
With a combined GDP of $1.14 trillion, which is comparable to Australia, Jing-Jin-Ji holds the two largest cities in northern China, Beijing (北京) and Tianjin (天津), as well as Baoding (保定), Shijiazhuang (石家莊), Tangshan (唐山), Cangzhou (滄州), Langfang (廊坊), Zhangjiakou (張家口), Chengde (承德), Qinhuangdao (秦皇島), and the planned Xiong'an New Area (雄安新區). The name is derived from the second characters of Beijing and Tianjin and the single-character representation of Hebei Province, named for the historic Ji Province (冀州)
