Engineering a change of fortunes in Northeast China

CHANGCHUN, the capital of Northeast China's Jilin province, registered zero GDP growth in the first three quarters of this year. While the GDP of Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province, increased by 4.5 percent and Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province, by 4.2 percent over the first three quarters, also remarkably lower than the national average GDP growth rate. However, Northeast China's economic decline is an unavoidable pain of economic transformation and upgrading. China Daily writer Wang Yiqing comments:

Many factors have contributed to the sharp decline of Northeast China's GDP growth. In recent years there were some bubbles in local GDP statistics due to non-uniform GDP calculation methods and local officials' blind pursuit of GDP growth for political performance. Many regions, including the three northeast provinces, voluntarily "squeezed the water out" of their GDP statistics because of the requirement for high quality development and national unified GDP calculations, which has produced a sharp decline in their GDP growth figures.

Meanwhile, population outflow, a serious aging problem and an unsatisfactory business environment in Northeast China have also worsened the local economic situation.