The latest statistics show that the city of Dongguan, dubbed the "factory of the world," in south China's Guangdong Province, reported a GDP of over 1 trillion yuan (157.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2021, up 8.2 percent year on year.

This marks that Dongguan becomes the 24th Chinese city whose GDP has surpassed 1 trillion yuan so far.

As the vane of Chinese foreign trade, the city's foreign trade has been gravely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years. However, in January 2021, the growth rate of Dongguan's foreign trade stopped falling and started to pick up. The total import and export volume of the year reached 1.52 trillion yuan, up 14.6 percent year on year.

In 2021, the industrial added value of major enterprises in Dongguan reached about 500.9 billion yuan, up 10.2 percent year on year, and its industrial investment increased by 25.3 percent year on year, showing entrepreneurs' confidence in future.

Nowadays, the traditional best-sellers in Dongguan's foreign trade, including clothing, shoes and hats, have been replaced by high value-added products such as smartphones. Mechanical and electrical products now account for more than 70 percent of Dongguan's total export value.

In 2021, Dongguan's high-end manufacturing industry grew rapidly. For instance, the output value of industrial robot products increased by 66.8 percent, integrated circuits increased by 22.5 percent, and new energy vehicles increased by 62.5 percent.

Overseas investment also continues to favor the city. In the first three quarters of 2021, there were 76 projects with investments of over 10 million U.S. dollars in Dongguan, involving foreign investment of nearly 3.75 billion U.S. dollars, up 111.5 percent year on year.