The main stadium of the 19th Asian Games on opening ceremony day, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, September 23, 2023. /CFP

How much did it cost Hangzhou to host the 19th Asian Games and help the city take this big leap onto the world stage?

Expenditures of the Asian Games consist mainly of three items: venue construction, operating funds and other special funds.

The event resulted in the construction of 56 competition venues, 31 training venues, one Asian Games village and four sub-villages, reaching a total investment of 10.19 billion yuan ($1.4 billion), according to ChinaNews.com.

As a large-scale comprehensive competitive event, the Asian Games not only require construction work, but also call for supporting transportation, water conservancy, power supply and other basic facilities.

According to the Zhejiang Provincial Bureau of Statistics, Hangzhou completed a total of 224.8 billion yuan worth of investment in infrastructures including urban rail transit, railway stations and airports between 2016 and 2020.

The bureau estimated that the Asian Games will boost Hangzhou's GDP by nearly 414.1 billion yuan, accounting for 7.6 percent of the GDP over the same period.

It will also boost fiscal revenue by nearly 103.3 billion yuan, accounting for 8.2 percent of the fiscal revenue during the same time. 

The event will also create 670,000 jobs, it said.

Specifically, venue construction and post-games businesses have promoted the development of the construction industry, new materials industry, tourism, catering, cultural and sports industry, greatly upgrading Hangzhou's industrial structure.

In addition, Hangzhou, together with Ningbo, Wenzhou and other cities in Zhejiang Province, jointly hosted 40 competition events and 61 sub-events during the Asian Games, effectively promoting coordinated regional development.

In the era of globalization, the development of sports globalization and the international community's attention to sports have made hosting major events a catalyst for boosting a city's image and enhancing its competitiveness. 

For Hangzhou, it may have just made its first step.