Guangdong raises its game

Transactions in the booming e-commerce sector in Guangdong increased by 33 percent from a year earlier to surpass 2 trillion yuan. Information consumption grew by 22 percent year-on-year to 640 billion yuan in 2013, Zhu says.

Guangdong realized a year-on-year increase of 18.3 percent to 2.28 trillion yuan in fixed assets investment in 2013, with private investment increasing by 25.8 percent.

"Investment in modern services, modern manufacturing and strategically emerging industries grew rapidly last year," Zhu says.

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Guangdong's import and export value grew by 10.9 percent from year-on-year to $1.09 trillion in 2013, making the province the nation's first powerhouse, surpassing $1 trillion yuan both in regional economy and trade.

"Guangdong is still in the tough process of upgrading its economy. Like climbing a mountain, we are at a turning point but the outlook ahead is promising," Zhu says.

According to the governor, the local authorities will continue to expand domestic consumption by promoting Guangdong-made products in the rest of China this year.

The province will arrange some 285 key projects, with investment worth 450 billion yuan, to revitalize investment from private companies this year.

"We will strive to maintain stable trade growth this year by encouraging more companies to tap emerging global markets, simplify trade procedures for exporters and develop cross-border e-commerce services," Zhu says.

Industrial upgrading

Along with the innovation drive, Cheng Siwei, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, says Guangdong still faces a tough challenge to upgrade its industries.

"Following increased labor costs in recent years, labor-intensive and lower value-added industries, on which Guangdong relied heavily in the past few decades, will find no space to grow," Cheng says.