The three large city clusters in Shandong, namely the provincial capital economic circle, the Jiaodong Economic Circle and the southern Shandong economic circle, showed strong economic performance last year, local media reported.

In 2020, the total GDP of the Jiaodong Economic Circle, which consists of Qingdao, Yantai, Weihai, Weifang and Rizhao, stood at 3.11 trillion yuan ($483.19 billion), ranking first in the three urban agglomerations in Shandong.

If it were ranked among the domestic cities, it would rank third behind Beijing (3.61 trillion yuan) and ahead of Shenzhen (2.76 trillion yuan), according to a local media report.

The provincial capital economic circle, which includes the provincial capital Jinan and six neighboring cities – Zibo, Tai'an, Liaocheng, Dezhou, Binzhou and Dongying - reached a total GDP of 2.75 trillion yuan, ranking fourth among domestic cities, behind Shenzhen and ahead of Guangzhou (2.5 trillion yuan).

The GDP of the southern Shandong economic circle, which includes Linyi, Zaozhuang, Jining and Heze, reached 1.45 trillion yuan last year. It would rank 11th domestically, behind Nanjing (1.48 trillion yuan) and ahead of Tianjin (1.41 trillion yuan).

In recent years, Shandong has been ramping up efforts to facilitate the development of larger city clusters.

"Domestic economic configuration is undergoing profound change, and leading cities and city clusters are becoming the main repositories of development resources," said a local official, adding that Shandong will continue to adapt to this new situation and develop new ideas for coordinated development.