ECONOMY

China’s Top Provincial Economy Feels Heat as Jiangsu Narrows Gap

Published: Nov. 5, 2025 6:54 p.m. GMT+8

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The economic gap between China’s two most powerful provincial economies, Guangdong and Jiangsu, has narrowed to its smallest level in more than a decade, as a sharp decline in investment drags on the longtime front-runner.

In the first three quarters, Guangdong’s GDP grew 4.1% year-on-year to 10.52 trillion yuan ($1.5 trillion), while Jiangsu’s economy expanded 5.4% to 10.28 trillion yuan, according to local statistics bureaus. The resulting 236.6 billion yuan gap is the slimmest for the same period in at least 11 years.

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Guangdong’s GDP grew 4.1% to 10.52 trillion yuan, while Jiangsu’s rose 5.4% to 10.28 trillion yuan in the first three quarters, narrowing their economic gap to 236.6 billion yuan, the closest in 11 years.
Guangdong’s fixed-asset investment fell 14.1%, with manufacturing investment down 15.3%; Jiangsu’s declines were milder at 8.4% and 4.5%, respectively.
Both provinces faced steep real estate slumps, but Guangdong’s industrial hubs saw especially sharp declines.

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