SHENZHEN residents spent an average of 28,185 yuan (US$4,474) each using Alipay this year, ranking first in Guangdong Province and 9th in China, according to data released by the leading Chinese third-party online payment tool Monday, the 10th anniversary of its establishment. The figure is 34.4 times the amount Shenzheners paid 10 years ago.

    In Guangdong, Shenzhen was followed by Guangzhou, which saw its per capita expenditure on Alipay reach 25,606 yuan in 2014.

    Guangdong ranked fourth in the country, with per capita expenditure at 21,224 yuan this year, followed by Shanghai, Beijing and Zhejiang Province.

    In the past 10 years, Guangdong contributed to 15.5 percent of the country’s total 4.23 billion transactions recorded by Alipay, the most in the country, followed by Zhejiang, Shanghai, Beijing and Jiangsu.

    Alipay was originally designed for online payment on Taobao, China’s largest online shopping site. Now it offers a variety of online services including payment for utilities, credit card debts and money transfers. About 6 billion payments were made for these services in the past 10 years.(Zhang Yang)