Guiyang, capital city of Southwest China's Guizhou province, ranks first for the fifth consecutive year among China's provincial capitals in terms of annual economic growth.

Chen Yan, mayor of the city, revealed that Guiyang's GDP increased by 11.3 percent to 353.8 billion yuan ($56.02 billion) during the 2018 NPC&CPPCC Annual Legislative and Political Advisory Sessions in Beijing.

The total disposable income of people in urban and rural areas reached 32,186 yuan and 14,264 yuan, respectively, increasing by 9.2 percent and 10 percent compared with the year before. Forest coverage rose to 48.66 percent and the clean air rate reached 95.1 percent.

"These achievements would not have been possible without the development of the big data industry," said Chen.

For the past several years, the capital city of Guizhou has been making use of advantages in geography, climate and resources to develop its big data industry. It vowed to build itself into "China's data valley" in August last year in order to promote the application of big data in real economy.

The city plans to construct the National Big Data Comprehensive Pilot Zone, Big Data Industrial Development Cluster and Big Data Technology Innovative Pilot Zone before 2020.

Chen Yan, mayor of Guiyang and a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, is interviewed during the 2018 NPC&CPPCC Annual Legislative and Political Advisory Sessions in Beijing. [Photo/gygov.gov.cn]