On April 1, the National Bureau of Statistics of China released the latest GDP rankings for the country’s various provinces and municipalities. The data showed consistent growth across major metropolises, but also revealed a significant geographic shift in the Chinese economy.

The data ranked Jiangsu and Zhejiang first and third, respectively, among Chinese provinces by GDP per capita, while Guangdong ranked fourth. Yet 20 years ago, Guangdong held an undisputed first place, with Zhejiang and Jiangsu a distant third and fourth.

The shift is even more apparent at the city level. In 2005, nine cities from Guangdong appeared in the top 25 by GDP per capita, compared with five from Jiangsu and two from Zhejiang.

Twenty years later, only three Guangdong cities remain in that group, while Jiangsu and Zhejiang have grown to seven and four, respectively.

To be sure, all three provinces remain among the most developed regions in China. Since the late 1970s, China’s economic reforms have relied heavily on manufacturing and export-led growth, fueling a regional inequality that persists today and favors its eastern seaboard.

Guangdong pioneered this model, with Shenzhen (ranked No. 1 in 2005, No. 6 in 2025) and Zhuhai (No. 3 in 2005, No. 16 in 2025) leveraging their proximity to Hong Kong and Macao, respectively, to become successful special economic zones.

Guangzhou (No. 8 in 2005, No. 22 in 2025) also used its status as the province’s capital and largest city to establish itself as a major manufacturing and trading hub.

That manufacturing success spurred the formation of innovative local firms, including Huawei in telecommunications, DJI in drones, Tencent in digital services and BYD in batteries and electric vehicles.

While these firms continue to make their mark in China and abroad, the country’s cutting-edge startup scene has shifted further north. China’s latest five-year plan, released March 12, makes the new centers of gravity clear.

In artificial intelligence and robotics, Zhejiang’s capital Hangzhou leads with local champions DeepSeek and Unitree, backed by hometown tech giant Alibaba.

In biomanufacturing, national champion WuXi Biologics has facilities in Hangzhou, Jiangsu’s Suzhou (No. 25 in 2005, No. 7 in 2025), and neighboring Wuxi (No. 11 in 2005, No. 5 in 2025).

The divergence in high-tech entrepreneurship may partly be explained by the presence of top educational institutions.

Last March, The Economist profiled Zhejiang University, concluding that its presence is instrumental in turning Hangzhou into a startup hub — much as Stanford has done for Silicon Valley.

Indeed, various university rankings consistently place both Zhejiang University and Nanjing University — located in Jiangsu’s capital Nanjing (No. 31 in 2005, No. 11 in 2025) — alongside several universities in nearby Shanghai and Anhui province, in the top 10, while Guangdong has no entries.

The educational advantage Jiangsu and Zhejiang hold over Guangdong has centuries-old roots. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, Jiangnan — the region encompassing the southern bank of the Yangtze River, spanning parts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang — has been China’s premier cultural and economic hub, parlaying strength in agricultural productivity and trade into artistic and intellectual achievement.

In contrast, Lingnan, which encompasses modern-day Guangdong, was historically open to seaborne trade but remained culturally distant from the rest of the country due to its geographic isolation.

Both regions have strong commercial traditions, but Jiangnan’s intellectual heritage may give it an edge in producing the talent needed to push the technological frontier.

As Jiangsu and Zhejiang forge ahead economically, they may once again become China’s cultural center as well. In the 1980s and ’90s, Cantonese pop culture spread across China, buoyed by Hong Kong’s prosperity, giving the province’s native tongue unprecedented cachet.

But that prestige has declined markedly as Hong Kong’s economic standing has diminished. Meanwhile, Shanghai’s rise as an economic powerhouse has elevated the profile of Jiangnan’s local vernacular as a countercultural force — the formerly marginalized language is reasserting itself in the public sphere against the nationwide push for Mandarin.

Of course, it is not a foregone conclusion that the broader economic and cultural shift from Guangdong to Jiangsu and Zhejiang will continue. Much will depend on the success of individual entrepreneurs and their firms, wherever they may be located.

And global demand for Chinese goods and services can shift quickly, shaped by ongoing restrictions on Chinese imports worldwide. But in any case, examining regional differences serves as a reminder that China is far from monolithic in its future economic trajectory.