Guangzhou's Tianhe district was formally established on May 24, 1985 under the approval of the State Council. After 37 years of development, it has ranked first among the happiest districts in China and ranked first in the nation in terms of investment competitiveness.

The district's GDP has ranked first among Guangzhou's 11 districts for 15 consecutive years, and reached 601.22 billion yuan ($94.62 billion) in 2021, accounting for 21.3 percent of the city's total. It also ranked second in the top 100 urban areas in 2021 in terms of high-quality development.