The Oriental Pearl Tower and the Bund of Shanghai. [File photo]

The Yangtze River Delta is truly a miracle. Although representing only 2 percent of China's land mass and 11 percent of its population, the region generates about 21 percent of the country's total economic output and represents nearly half of its imports and exports. The GDP of the Yangtze River Delta in 2009 was more than 1 trillion US dollars. If the delta was its own country, its GDP would rank 11th in the world, before South Korea and after Russia.

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Experts say that the Yangtze River Delta possesses Shanghai's efficiency, order and international mind; Jiangsu's humanism and accumulation; and Zhejiang's flexible operation and market awareness. These qualities have all helped create the economic miracle of this region.

The delta has maintained economic prosperity for hundreds of years. Zhang Haohan, vice director of the Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, said the economic cooperation in the Yangtze River Delta Region is based on the longstanding historical and cultural integration of the region.

The Yangtze River Delta is home to the Wu and Yue cultures. The customs and practices of the people living in the delta mainly derive from these two cultures. Although there is some regional "competition" and development of other subcultures, the delta region as a whole has a fairly uniform cultural history.

Inheriting thousands of years of culture and combining it with the incredible power of China's modern industry, the Yangtze River Delta is one of the most economically impressive regions of China.