Nanjing:
 

 
Into the first half of the twentieth century, Nanjing gradually shifted from a production hub into a heavy consumption city, mainly because of the rapid expansion of the wealthy population after Nanjing once again regained the political spotlight of China. A number of huge department stores such as Zhongyang Shangchang sprouted up, attracting merchants from all over China to sell their products in Nanjing. In 1933, the revenue generated by the food and entertainment industry in the city exceeded the sum of the output of the manufacturing and agriculture industry. One third of the city population worked in the service industry, while prostitution, drugs and gambling also thrived.
 
In the 1950s, the CPC invested heavily in Nanjing to build a series of state-owned heavy industries, as part of the national plan of rapid industrialization. Electrical, mechanical, chemical and steel factories were established successively, converting Nanjing into a heavy industry production centre of East China. Overenthusiastic in building a “world-class” industrial city, leaders of Nanjing also made many disastrous mistakes during the development, such as spending hundreds of millions of yuan to mine for non-existent coal, resulting in the negative economic growth in the late 1960s.
 
Today
 
The current industry of the city basically inherited the characteristics of the 1960s, with electronics, cars, petrochemical, iron and steel, and power as the "Five Pillar Industries". Some representative big state-owned firms are Panda Electronics, Jincheng Motors and Nanjing Steel. The tertiary industry also regained prominence, accounting for 44 percent of the GDP of the city. The city is also vying for foreign investment against neighboring cities in the Yangtze River Delta, and so far a number of famous multinational firms, such as Volkswagen Group, Iveco, A.O. Smith, and Sharp, have established their lines there. Since China's entry into the WTO, Nanjing has received increasing attention from foreign investors, and on average two new foreign firms establish offices in the city every day.
 
The city government is further improving the desirability of the city to investors by building large industrial parks, which now total four: Gaoxin, Xingang, Huagong and Jiangning. Despite the effort, Nanjing's Gross Domestic Product is still falling behind that of other neighbouring cities such as Suzhou, Wuxi and Hangzhou, which have an edge in attracting foreign investment and local innovation. In addition, the traditional state-owned enterprises find themselves incapable of competing with efficient multinational firms, and hence are either mired in heavy debt or forced into bankruptcy or privatization. This has resulted in large numbers of layoff workers who are technically not unemployed but effectively jobless.
 
In recent years, Nanjing has been developing its economy, commerce, industry, as well as city construction. In 2010 the city's GDP was RMB 501 billion (3rd in Jiangsu), and GDP per capita was RMB 65,490, a 13 percent increase from 2009. The average urban resident's disposable income was RMB 28,312, while the average rural resident's net income was RMB 11,050. The registered urban unemployment rate was 3.02 percent, lower than the national average (4.3 percent). Nanjing's Gross Domestic Product ranked 14th in 2010 in China, and its overall competence ranked 5th in mainland and 7th including Taiwan and Hong Kong.
 
Industrial zones

 Nanjing Baixia Hi-Tech Industrial Zone
 
Nanjing Baixia Hi-Tech Industrial Zone is a national hi-tech industrial zone with 16.5 square kilometres planned area. The zone is only 13.5 km away from Nanjing downtown and 50 km away from Nanjing Lukou Airport. Several expressways pass through here. It is well equipped with comprehensive facilities, and it provides a good investment environment for high-tech industries. Electronic industry, automobile, chemical, machinery, instruments and building materials are the encouraged industries in the zone.

The Ganjiaxiang area of Qixia District, a center of oil refining and chemical industry Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone
 
Established in 1992, Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone is a national level zone surrounded by convenient transportation network. Nanjing is the capital of Jiangsu Province. Situated in the downstream of Yangtze River Drainage Basin and Yangtze River Delta economic zone, Nanjing has always been a national centre of commerce, education, research, transportation and tourism in the East China region, preceded only by Shanghai. It is only 20 km away from Nanjing Port and 40 km away from Nanjing Lukou Airport. It is well equipped with basic facilities like electricity, water, communication, gas, steam and so on. It has formed four specialized industries, which are electronic information, bio-pharmaceutical, machinery and new materials industry.

 Nanjing Export Processing Zone
 
On March 10, 2003 the State Council approved the establishment of this Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in Nanjing's Southern District. This EPZ is free from import/export duty area and provides 24-hour customs-bonded conditions. It has a planned area of 3 square km. The Central Government has given the special economic region preferential policies to attract more enterprises engaged in processing trade investment in the region. It is only 20 km from Nanjing Port and several expressways pass through here.

 Nanjing New & High-Tech Industry Development Zone
 
Nanjing New & High-Tech Industry Development Zone was jointly founded by Jiangsu Provincial People's Government and Nanjing Municipal People's Government, and started to break ground of construction on September 1 1988. It was established as a national new and high-tech industry development zone by the State Council on March 6 1991. The zone is next to National Highway 104 and 312. Its pillar industries include electronic information, bio-engineering and pharmaceutical industry.[24]
 of the city's financial expenditure. Revenue has also been used in the building of infrastructures such as new roads, new bridges and commercial houses. One of the development objectives in the 11th Five year Plan is to have financial revenue growing at the rate of 16% annually.