The service trade has become a vital factor behind economic growth in South China's Guangdong Province, one of the country's economic powerhouses.

Latest statistics from the Guangdong Provincial Statistical Bureau show in the past year, 36.9 percent of the rise in the gross domestic product (GDP) of the province, or 4.6 percentage points of the province's economic growth, was made by the service trade.

The real estate sector alone completed 122.86 billion yuan (about 15.15 billion U.S. dollars) in added value in 2005, accounting for 12.8 percent of the total added value done by the entire service trade.

Source: Xinhua