An aerial view of Xiamen in East China's Fujian province. [Photo/Xiamen Daily]

In 2023, Xiamen's economy showed strong growth, while the society remained stable. The city achieved new successes in high-quality development and made breakthroughs in technological innovation.

The recovery of industrial development accelerated. Industrial investment grew by 7.2 percent throughout the year, with a particularly notable increase of 9.2 percent in manufacturing investment, laying a solid foundation for future industrial development.

There was also gradual improvement in enterprise profitability, with the decline in operating income and total profits of large-scale industrial enterprises in the city narrowing by 2.7 and 7.7 percentage points, respectively, compared to the previous three quarters.

Progress was made on a number of projects, with 507 key projects at the provincial and municipal levels exceeding the scheduled timeline for annual investment plans. A total investment of approximately 225.6 billion yuan ($31.4 billion) was spent throughout the year.

Xiamen's comprehensive deepening of reform and opening up was fully implemented. Pilot comprehensive reforms were rolled out on a large scale, the business environment continued to improve, and high-level external opening-up continued to expand.

The social security system was also improved. Urban employment increased by 164,700 people and the employment rate of fresh graduates from universities reached 94 percent. Public services became more balanced, and the quality of the ecological environment continued to improve.