Strategic emerging industries powering development of Shanghai's Qingpu district

The accelerated development of strategic emerging industries, boosted by a clearer industrial mapping, has helped Qingpu district in southwestern Shanghai see its GDP grow by 1.5 times during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) from the previous monitored period, local officials said during a press conference on Wednesday.

Wang Ping, Qingpu's Party secretary, said that, in addition to the creation of 20,000 new job opportunities over the past five years, the district's GDP reached 182.5 billion yuan ($25.8 billion) in 2024.

Strategic emerging industries now account for about 37.2 percent of Qingpu's GDP, which is up by 12.5 percentage points from the previous five years. The district is now home to three 100-billion-yuan industrial clusters, including high-end equipment manufacturing, new-generation information technology, and modern logistics.

Under closer scrutiny, the output of high-end equipment manufacturing grew by 11.5 percent year-on-year during the first 10 months of the year, with the whole-year figure expected to top 85 billion yuan.

The annual output of new-generation information technology is expected to exceed 100 billion yuan by the end of this year — doubling the number collected at the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period.

The combined annual output of modern logistics service providers in Qingpu is estimated to stand above 400 billion yuan this year, with the annual growth rate reaching 10.3 percent during the first 10 months of the year — leading express couriers such as STO Express and Yunda Express to set up their regional headquarters in Qingpu.

Thanks to the presence of the industry's big names, Qingpu has seen the number of modern logistics companies with a minimum annual sales revenue of 20 million yuan each surge by 90 percent during the last five years, according to Jin Xiaoming, the district's head.

The improving entrepreneurial ecosystem has helped drive the development of emerging industries. The district now accommodates three national-level technology centers, three national incubators, and another 16 municipal-level incubators. The research and development expenses topped 6.5 billion yuan in 2024, with the average annual growth rate estimated at 19.2 percent during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.

As the permanent venue for China International Import Expo, Qingpu's foreign trade has benefited from the annual pageant, with its import and export value growing by at around 5.9 percent over the last five years, eclipsing the city's average, Zhang Jun, head of Qingpu's commission of commerce, said.

Meanwhile, Qingpu has seen over 1,600 newly registered foreign-invested companies in the recent five years, while the value of actually utilized foreign capital exceeded $3 billion. Up to 16 multinational companies have set up their regional headquarters in Qingpu, while another 22 MNCs have built their R&D centers here, Zhang said.

The deeper integration of agricultural, cultural, tourism, commerce, sports, and exhibition in Qingpu has helped the social retail value rise 11.3 percent year-on-year during the first 10 months of this year. It should be noted that its tourism income spiked 23.3 percent from the previous year, with Zhujiajiao water town in Qingpu receiving 1.58 million foreign visitors over the past 10 months, according to Wang.