Guangdong Province, one of China's economic powerhouses, ranked first in the country for export of hi-tech commodities last year.

Latest statistics from the provincial statistical bureau show the province exported 83.58 billion U.S. dollars worth of hi-tech commodities in 2005, accounting for 35 percent of the province's total export or the national total hi-tech export.

In the meantime, hi-tech manufacturing businesses of scale -- referring to a business with annual sales over 5 million yuan (about 616,523 U.S.dollars) -- in the province fulfilled 1.05 trillion yuan in output value last year, a rise of 24.7 percent from 2004.

Guangdong, which was chosen to pilot the country's reform and opening-up drive in the late 1970s, has benefited the most by the market-oriented campaign. It has grown into a global base for processing trade and one of China's leading foreign trade players.

Source: Xinhua