A beautiful view of Chongzuo, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. [Photo/VCG]

According to the press conference celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, as well as on the economic and social development of Chongzuo, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, the city has achieved rapid growth since it was established in 2003.

In the past 16 years, Chongzuo has achieved a huge breakthrough in its economy. The city's regional GDP increased from 10.42 billion yuan ($1.47 billion) in 2003 to 101.65 billion yuan in 2018, an increase of 9.8 times. Its per capita GDP grew from 4,587 yuan to 48,564 yuan in 2018, an increase of 10.6 times, and its fiscal revenue grew from 1.3 billion yuan to 5.76 billion yuan in 2018, an increase of 4.4 times.

Chongzuo has also become a big market in foreign trade, as the total amount of import and export of Pingxiang Integrated Free Trade Zone ranks first among the 10 FTZs along the border in China. In 2018, the city's foreign trade totaled $22.36 billion, 6.4 times more than that in 2003, ranking first in Guangxi for 10 consecutive years. Chongzuo's small-scale border trade accounts for nearly 80 percent of Guangxi's border trade market and nearly 30 percent in the country, which is the largest in China.

Chongzuo had no pillar industry in 2003 except for the traditional sugar industry, but now it has set up four industry clusters, including those for the food industry, home industry, building materials industry, as well as the industry of copper, manganese, rare earth, and new materials. The city has also developed its tourism in the past 16 years. In 2018, Chongzuo received a total of 36,554,800 tourists, achieving a total tourism expenditure of 35.47 billion yuan, an increase of 19.5 times and 60.1 times respectively compared with 2003.

In addition, Chongzuo has done an exemplary job in infrastructure construction, government processing capacity, environment protection, poverty alleviation, and livelihood improvement.