As can be seen, Beijing has a massive lead on Shanghai and Guangzhou in terms of IP case volume; while Guangzhou awards the lowest average damages and has the longest average proceedings of all three. However, the China Daily report states that Guangdong does have more courts competent to hear IP cases (55, including the High People's Court, and 21 intermediate people's courts) than any other provincial-level division. Furthermore, a quarter of the 88,286 IP civil lawsuits concluded in Chinese courts during 2013 were heard in Guangdong. That would suggest that judges in the province have a fair amount of experience in handling IP cases, and that it would therefore be an obvious choice to pilot the proposed court. That Guangdong is the country’s largest province by GDP, hosts the headquarters of many major global companies – both domestic and foreign – and borders the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau are also factors in its favour.