With its growth of 8.5%, Guangdong became the first Chinese province to exceed US$1 trillion in GDP in 2013, Sohu Business reported yesterday. It was at the same time the first to exceed 6 billion RMB.

Wang Yiyang, director of the Guangdong Provincial Development Research Centre attributed the success to development in regions outside of the Pearl River Delta such as the western and northern parts of the province.

This development includes high speed rail projects and the approval of new urban development plans in some of the more remote cities. This meant that a city like Yangjiang could exceed the national average in per capita GDP growth for the first time.

In 2012, Guangdong’s gross regional product increased by 10.2 percent year-on-year to reach 5.7 trillion yuan. It leads the way again this year.