BEIJING, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's large enterprises have staged remarkable growth with rising revenue and profit in 2021 amid an increasingly complex international environment compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2022 list of top 500 Chinese enterprises, jointly unveiled by the China Enterprise Confederation and the China Enterprise Directors Association on Tuesday, showed the strong resilience of Chinese enterprises in 2021.

The largest 500 companies have generated combined revenue of 102.48 trillion yuan (14.83 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2021, a rise of 14.08 percent from the previous year and exceeding the 100 trillion yuan mark for the first time.

Net profit of the companies totaled 4.46 trillion yuan last year, up 9.63 percent from one year earlier. The growth accelerated from a rise of 4.59 percent registered in 2020.

Both revenue and profit more than doubled from the corresponding figures in 2012.

The State Grid Corporation of China ranked first on the list, with operating revenue of 2.97 trillion yuan in 2021, followed by the China National Petroleum Corporation and the China Petrochemical Corporation.

Research and development (R&D) has been high on the enterprises' agenda. Their R&D input amounted to 1.45 trillion yuan last year, up 10.78 percent year on year. The R&D intensity ratio reached 1.81 percent, up 0.04 percentage points from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the threshold to be included in the top 500 in terms of operating revenue continued to climb. It rose to 44.63 billion yuan this year, an increase of 5.39 billion yuan.

Among the top 500 firms, 244 saw their operating revenue reach over 100 billion yuan, 22 more than the previous ranking. The number of firms with operating revenue higher than 1 trillion yuan expanded to 12.

In the past decade, the structure of the top 500 has been improving. It is the result of more manufacturing enterprises, and the number of enterprises in traditional industries such as chemical, metallurgy, and construction has been shrinking. The number of those in emerging industries has been expanding, too.

There are 256 manufacturing firms on the latest list, seven more than last year's version. There are seven wind and solar equipment manufacturers, seven internet service companies, three power- and energy-storage battery companies, one cultural and entertainment company, and one educational service company.

The growth of the top 500 is also evident in its rising international presence. On this year's Fortune Global 500 ranking, China continued to claim more companies on the list than any other country.

Zhu Hongren, executive vice president of the China Enterprise Confederation, said the total operating revenue of China's top 500 firms has climbed with remarkable improvement in the performance of manufacturing giants, as well as rising innovation capacity and international presence.

As China boasts a super-large market, a complete industrial system, strong policy stability, an improved business environment, and massive space for industrial upgrading, the country's sound long-term economic fundamentals have not changed, said Hao Yufeng, director of the research department at the China Enterprise Confederation. Enditem

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