The above infographic from CEIC and Nomura Global Economics is a stark reminder that China still has millions of its own citizens to tend to, in light of the recent talk that the People's Republic should become Europe's sugar daddy. more ›

Today's infographics come from The Economist, and they provide a fascinating visual comparison of Chinese provinces with countries. This chart below gives you a good idea of how each province stacks up globally in terms of GDP. Economic powerhouse Guangdong is approximately equivalent to an Indonesia, while Jiangsu and Shandong are both not too far behind, each with a GDP exceeding Switzerland's. Shanghai's GDP is a tad bigger than Finland's, and on the far west, Xinjiang's economy is as big as Libya's, and Tibet has a GDP the size of Malta's.
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Shanghai made it to the top of China's list of fastest developing cities in 2009, beating out Beijing and Tianjin by a pretty wide margin both in terms of population and GDP per capita. According to China.org.cn, the cities were evaluated on a "comprehensive assessment basis" that took into acount the size of the economy, number of employed, and location and infrastructure, as well as financial things we don't quite understand - like fixed assets investment, gross output of industrial enterprises, etc. But don't pat yourself on the back just yet - we haven't gotten top spot in everything. Says Shanghai Daily, we're only third in China for efficiency of public services, despite spending the most out of anyone on that sector. Better get to fixing that, Shanghai - there's no place like first place! more ›