Welcome to China's $1 Trillion Club. Now for the Hard Part

The low-cost make-for-export model that turned Shandong into China’s third $1 trillion provincial economy after Guangdong and Jiangsu is faltering, adding urgency to the push for quality own-name products with fatter margins.

Shandong got a boost in the past from its proximity to Japan and South Korea, the source of much of its early investment. Now, it’s trying to maintain the high growth rate needed to make the same leap they did: from middle- to high-income status, a jump only five economies have managed, including Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, according to Nobel laureate Michael Spence.
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Unlike other parts of China that have struggled to establish top brands, Shandong has a solid foundation with three of the nation’s best-known names: household electrical appliances makers Haier and Hisense Electric Co., and Tsingtao beer.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-08/welcome-to-china-s-1-trillion-club-now-for-the-hard-part