Editor's note: China has seen tremendous changes nationwide, from economic growth to environmental protection, from social improvement to cultural progress. In this series, China Daily maps the changes and tells the stories of the people who lived through them.

Province sheds agricultural image to become national manufacturing powerhouse

From a once largely agricultural province, Anhui has risen in the recent decade to become a manufacturing powerhouse, according to provincial leaders and entrepreneurs.

Ranked 11th among the 31 provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland, Anhui's annual gross domestic product last year climbed to nearly 4.3 trillion yuan ($636.8 billion)－higher than that of Sweden－from 1.83 trillion yuan in 2012.

Over the course of the decade, Anhui has reversed the old stereotype that it is an agricultural region or inland hinterland, Zheng Shanjie, Anhui's Party chief, said at a news conference on July 20 in the provincial capital, Hefei.

Wang Qingxian, the provincial governor, has witnessed the change firsthand.

Starting out as a journalist, he remained in media until 2004, when he entered politics. He became Anhui governor early last year.

"I used to come to Anhui to cover agriculture as a reporter, but when I came back 20 years later, I discovered that the province had become a powerhouse of industrial development," Wang recently said during a program on China Central Television.

In recent years, provincial authorities have emphasized the manufacturing sector more than ever.

Wang cited three factors to explain the sector's success: technological strength, the rapid growth of the gross volume of leading high-tech companies and the consolidation of the scientific base.