Beijing, sprinting towards 5 trillion

Beijing's economic aggregate is expected to reach a new level again.

At the press conference on the achievements of Beijing's economic and social development during the 14th Five - Year Plan period held recently, Yang Xiuling, Director of the Beijing Development and Reform Commission, introduced that over the past five years, Beijing's economic strength has achieved a significant leap. By the end of the 14th Five - Year Plan, Beijing's GDP is expected to exceed 5 trillion yuan.

This means that Beijing's economic increment in these five years is about 1.4 trillion yuan, equivalent to the total economic volume of a new Haidian District.

Beijing will become the second city after Shanghai with an economic aggregate exceeding 5 trillion yuan.

Against the background of development with reduced volume, how can Beijing achieve stable economic growth?

Lin Jianhua, Deputy Director of the Beijing Development and Reform Commission, said at the press conference: "As a city of innovation, Beijing focuses on creating a better innovation ecosystem, continuously exploring new technologies, spawning new industries, and generating new driving forces, and always takes the lead in developing new - quality productivity."

Breaking through the 5 - trillion - yuan mark

What does an economic aggregate of 5 trillion yuan mean?

As of the end of 2024, there were 27 members in China's "Trillion - yuan Club". Among them, the GDP of Suzhou, Chengdu, Hangzhou, and Wuhan exceeded 2 trillion yuan, and that of Shenzhen, Chongqing, and Guangzhou exceeded 3 trillion yuan. For now, only Shanghai has a GDP exceeding 5 trillion yuan.

Among provincial - level administrative regions, only 11 have broken through the 5 - trillion - yuan mark. In other words, an economic aggregate of 5 trillion yuan surpasses that of most provinces.

In fact, Beijing and Shanghai have been in a "race" in economic development in recent years.

Shanghai and Beijing both exceeded the 4 - trillion - yuan mark in 2020 and 2021 respectively. In 2022, Beijing's economic aggregate once exceeded that of Shanghai in the first half of the year but was overtaken by Shanghai again at the end of the year.

In 2023, after the data revision of the Fifth National Economic Census, Shanghai's GDP reached 5140.447 billion yuan, widening the gap with Beijing again. In 2024, Shanghai's GDP reached 5392.671 billion yuan, followed by Beijing with a GDP of 4984.31 billion yuan. The two cities advanced side by side with growth rates of 5.2% and 5% respectively.

GDP of Beijing and Shanghai in recent years (Data source: National Bureau of Statistics; Charting: Shi Hang, reporter of Time Weekly)

"When comparing Beijing's economic data with that of other regions, we need to take into account Beijing's urban positioning and the background of development with reduced volume," Ye Tanglin, Executive Dean of the Institute of Economic and Social Development of Megacities at the Capital University of Economics and Business, said in an interview with a reporter from Time Weekly. "While other cities are pursuing incremental development, Beijing is'reducing the stock'. On the basis of a decrease in population and construction land, it has achieved stable GDP growth."

Yang Xiuling said at the press conference that during the 14th Five - Year Plan period, Beijing's cumulative reduction of urban and rural construction land reached 150 square kilometers, and more than 3000 general manufacturing enterprises were phased out. By doing the "subtraction" of relocation, it has achieved the "addition" of optimizing the economic structure and spatial layout.

"Against the background of development with reduced volume, Beijing can still maintain stable growth, and its GDP is expected to exceed 5 trillion yuan. This shows that Beijing has achieved good results in industrial upgrading and economic structure optimization, and there is expected to be broader development space in the future," Ye Tanglin said.

Seeking GDP through scientific and technological innovation

What has enabled Beijing to achieve such stable growth against the background of development with reduced volume?

Data shows that the information service industry, the financial industry, and the manufacturing industry are currently the top three pillars of Beijing's national economy.

Supported by new technologies such as artificial intelligence, the information service industry has become Beijing's largest pillar industry, ranking first in the country in terms of scale. In 2024, the added value of Beijing's information service industry reached 1106.88 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 11%, driving GDP growth by 2.2 percentage points. During the 14th Five - Year Plan period, the information service industry has maintained a growth rate of crossing at least one 100 - billion - yuan mark per year.

Ye Tanglin believes that the rapid development of the information service industry benefits from Beijing's early layout of new - quality productivity such as artificial intelligence and its strong scientific research and technological advantages. "For example, Haidian District proposed to build the 'first city fully empowered by artificial intelligence'. Relying on its strong scientific research ability and the technological capabilities of high - tech enterprises in Zhongguancun, it has achieved in - depth integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation."

Currently, there are more than 2400 artificial intelligence enterprises in Beijing, accounting for about half of the country, with a core industrial scale of nearly 350 billion yuan.

In addition, the transformation of digital cities has promoted the rapid development of the information service industry.

In 2021, Beijing proposed to accelerate the construction of a global digital economy benchmark city and build "six high - grounds", including the "demonstration high - ground for urban digital and intelligent transformation", the "leading high - ground for incubating emerging digital industries", and the "global high - ground for digital technology innovation".

According to data from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology, in 2024, the added value of Beijing's digital economy exceeded 2.2 trillion yuan, a year - on - year increase of about 7.7%, strongly supporting the high - quality development of the capital's economy.

In terms of the manufacturing industry, Beijing's manufacturing industry also shows a trend of high - end and innovation.

Data shows that in the manufacturing industry, 165 major industrial projects such as integrated circuits and new - energy vehicles have been implemented effectively. In 2024, the output of integrated circuits increased by 51.2% compared with 2020, and the new - energy penetration rate in the incremental part of the automobile market exceeded 50%.

Ye Tanglin believes that in recent years, the goal of coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei and Beijing's demand for development with reduced volume have prompted Beijing to accelerate the layout of industrial transformation. "The current development needs require Beijing to seek GDP through scientific and technological innovation, focus on high - end, precise, and cutting - edge industries, undertake innovation tasks in the industrial connection with Tianjin and Hebei, and follow a development path of high - efficiency and intensive use. Judging from the results, the transformation is very successful, providing a good reference for industrial transformation in other regions."

Data shows that the combined proportion of Beijing's information service industry, science and technology service industry, and advanced manufacturing industry in GDP increased from 32.7% in 2020 to 38.8% in 2024, indicating a significant improvement in industrial innovation.

Not only innovation but also transformation

Being only one step away from the 5 - trillion - yuan mark, where will Beijing's next - step growth momentum come from?

Ye Tanglin believes that in the next - step development, Beijing should firmly grasp future industries, especially the artificial intelligence industry and the health industry, continue to leverage its scientific research advantages, aim at the international forefront, and seize the opportunities in future changes.

Lin Jianhua revealed at the press conference that in terms of basic innovation, the main layout of the national laboratory system has basically been completed. It has in - depth cooperation with 92 universities, more than 1000 scientific research institutions, and more than 10 new - type R & D institutions in Beijing, creating a globally influential scientific research ecosystem. The Huairou Comprehensive National Science Center has deployed 37 scientific and technological facilities, and 4 large - scale facilities have been newly built and put into use, providing extreme research conditions for breakthroughs in fields such as matter, energy, space, and life.

In terms of technological innovation, more than 300 technology companies are born in Beijing every day, with a density exceeding that of Silicon Valley. As of the end of 2024, the city has 115 unicorn enterprises and 1035 specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative "little giant" enterprises, both ranking first among Chinese cities.

Beijing's strong scientific research and technological capabilities may provide impetus for its economic growth again.

In addition, Ye Tanglin believes that the transformation of scientific research achievements is also an important growth point for Beijing's economic development.

"Beijing has irreplaceable scientific research and technological advantages. However, since most scientific research achievements are at the forefront, the surrounding regions previously lacked the transformation capabilities, and many scientific research achievements chose to be transformed in the southern regions under the influence of market factors. Currently, the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei promotes the industrial transformation and upgrading of Tianjin and Hebei, facilitating the transformation of scientific research achievements in the Beijing - Tianjin - Hebei region, and the benefits of this are very considerable," he said.

Previously, Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei focused on key industries and determined the key points of industrial cooperation in the "six chains and five clusters". The "six chains" refer to six key industrial chains, namely, hydrogen energy, biomedicine, network security and industrial Internet, high - end instrumentation and machine tools, new energy and intelligent connected vehicles, and robots. The "five clusters" refer to five competitive advanced manufacturing clusters, namely, integrated circuits, innovation in the application of new - generation information technology, biomedicine, power equipment, and safety and emergency equipment.

Since the 14th Five - Year Plan, the turnover of technology contracts transferred from Beijing to Tianjin and Hebei has reached 230.87 billion yuan, nearly twice the total during the 13th Five - Year Plan period, reversing the "leap - frog" phenomenon of Beijing's scientific research achievements. Now, the total economic volume of the three regions has reached a new level, reaching 11.5 trillion yuan, with a stronger momentum of high - quality development.

"Currently, the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei has achieved good results. The three regions complement each other and gradually improve the industrial division of labor and layout, laying a solid foundation for the next - step coordinated development. Now that the foundation is laid, what we need to do is to fully build the industrial chains and clusters to achieve more comprehensive transformation and upgrading," Ye Tanglin said.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Reading the City Studio". The author is Shi Hang, and it is published by 36Kr with authorization.