A view of Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/IC]

Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province was recently ranked 14th among 22 cities nationwide with a gross domestic product (GDP) exceeding 1 trillion yuan ($153.85 billion) in terms of the per capita retail sales of social consumer goods, according to a report recently released by the 21st Century Economic Research Institute.

There are a total of 23 cites in China that have joined the "1 trillion" club. Since Tianjin didn't release the relevant statistics, it wasn't included in the report.

Nanjing topped the ranking, followed by Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Quanzhou, Qingdao, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Wuhan, and Guangzhou.

Expanding domestic demand and continuously stimulating residents' consumption potential will play a pivotal role in bolstering China's economic development in the future, according the report.

Official data shows that the total retail sales of social consumer goods in Ningbo amounted to 423.83 billion yuan, ranking 18th in the nation.

In October 2019, Ningbo unveiled its plan to become an international consumption city.

According to the plan, the city is positioned to be a national import consumer goods distribution hub, a shopping center in the Yangtze River Delta, and a provincial consumption facilitation demonstration city. By 2021, it aims to increase the total retail sales of consumer goods in the city to 530 billion yuan.

Local authorities have also recently released an action plan to accelerate the development of new types of consumption, in which they pledged that more efforts will be made to upgrade commercial blocks, boost the nighttime economy, as well as attract globally renowned brands to establish their first domestic stores in the city.