Speech by the Governor
Shaanxi is the important cradle of Chinese civilization. It was the seat of capitals of 13 ancient dynasties including Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang dynasty and also was China's political, economic and cultural center for a long term. Known as Chang'an in ancient times, Xi'an is the fi rst metropolis in the world with one million populations. It also is the starting point of the famous Silk Road.
With rich mineral resources, Shaanxi is becoming the important China's energy continuous place and supporting point this century.
Shaanxi enjoys advantageous tourism resources, including Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses, the 8th largest wonder in the world, Famen Temple, the only temple treasuring up Buddhist relics, Huangdi mausoleum, Huashan Mountain and Hukou waterfall.
Shaanxi has powerful education of science strength, with high-quality and practical talents.
Shaanxi agriculture has particular comparative advantage.
Fruit industry develops rapidly, fruit juice output has accounted for one third of total output in the world, exporting to Russia, EU, Southeast Asia and North America and etc. Animal husbandry has broad development prospects.
Shaanxi has sound industrial base, forming industrial system centered on equipment manufacturing, energy and chemical engineering, electronic, textile and medicine. It has the only Xi'an Yanliang National Aviation Hi-tech Industrial Base.
Since China's reform and opening up, especially carrying out west China development, Shaanxi infrastructure construction developed extremely. Highway network centered on Xi'an runs through highway trunk line connecting with neighboring capital cities and striking towards outside Shaanxi.
Xi'an is one of six largest hinges of railway passenger transport in China. Xi'an Xianyang International Airport is the important aviation hinge in the western China. It has more than 120 domestic and international fl ight lines. Power supply in Shaanxi could not only meet itself requirements, but also transmit to eastern and middle region. Capital Xi'an is the fi nancial center in northwest region which could meet investment requirements.
During the" Eleventh Five-Year Period", Shaanxi will leverage its strength in speeding up the process of industrialization and urbanization, building advanced manufacturing industry base in Guanzhong, energy and chemical engineering base in Shanbei, the green industry base in Shannan and the fruit base in Weibei, strengthening three pillar industries of equipment manufacturing, high technology and energy and chemical engineering to further change economic growth mode and promote industrial structure, facilitating better development.
Open Shaanxi is full of business opportunities! Welcome friends from home and abroad to Shaanxi for visiting and sightseeing, investment, economic and trade cooperation and communication, realizing common development.
I . Survey
i. Geographic Location and Major Cities
Shaanxi Province lies in the middle reaches of Yellow River, east of northwest region of China. It stretches from 10529′east to 11115′east of longitude and 3142′north to 3935′north of latitude. It is bounded on the east by Shanxi through Yellow river, on the west by Gansu, Ningxia, on the north by Inner Mongolia, on the south by Sichuan, Chongqing and on the southeast by Henan and Hubei. Shaanxi connects east with west and links up south and north.
Shaanxi Province has a land area of 205,800 km2. It stretches 880 km from south to north and 160-490km from east to west.
The north and the south was higher than that of the middle area, the west was higher than the east. Shaanxi has an extremely varied topography. The north is Loess Plateau, the middle is Guanzhong Plain, and the south is Qinba mountainous area. It governs 10 provincial cities including Xi'an, Baoji, Xianyang, Tongchuan, Weinan, Yan'an, Yulin, Hanzhong, 3 county-level cities, 80 counties, 23 municipal districts.
Rivers bordered by Qinling Mountain were divided into south and north river systems which belong to Changjiang river system and Yellow river system respectively, including Weihe River, Jinghe River, Luohe River, Wuding River, Hanjiang River, Danjiang River and Jialing River.
Shaanxi covers a land area of 205,800 km2, accounting for 2.1% of that of China.
Of which, cultivated area is 4.154 million ha., gardern area is 681,000 ha., forestry area is 10.203 million ha., grassland area is 3.134 million ha., agricultural area is 303,000 ha and unused area is 1.308 million ha.
Shaanxi has mountainous area of 7.41 million ha, plateau area of 9.26 million ha, and plain area of 3.91 million ha., accounting for 36.0%, 45.0% and 19.0% of total area respectively.
Geodetic origin of the People's Republic of China is situated in Yongle Town, Jingyang County, Shaanxi Province.
ii. Climate
Shaanxi expands three climate zones of temperate zone, warm temperate zone and northern subtropical zone and two river systems of Yellow River and Changjiang River. It has continental monsoon climate.
The mean annual temperature range from 9°C to 16°C and annual rainfall is from 396 to 802 mm.
iii. Population and Ethnic Groups
By the end of 2005, Shaanxi had a permanent population of 37.2 million, of which, urban population is 13.85 million, accounting for 37.23% and rural population is 23.35 million, accounting for 62.77%.
Shaanxi has Han, Manchu, Hui, Mongolian, Tibetan and other ethnic groups.
iv. Infrastructure and Transportation
Transportation
Shaanxi has a convenient and safety integrated transportation system. I n 2005, turnover of passenger and freight traffic with varied transportation means is 172.3688 billion ton-km. Of which, railway finished 145.983 billion ton-km, highway finished 25.446billion ton-km and civil aviation finished 0.904 billion ton-km.
Railway Construction
In 2005, total mileage of railway in Shaanxi was more than 4,300 km, freight volume was 201 million tons and passenger traffic was 37.3696 million peron-times.
Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi, is one of six largest hinges of railway passenger transport in China. Through developing sea-railway combined transportation with Shanghai, Qingdao, Tianjing and other harbors, outbound goods of Shaanxi could be directly exported after one-off customs clearance and commodities inspection in Xi'an.
Highway
Shaanxi construction Traffic mileage was over 50,000 km and mile age of expressway was 1,300 km in 2005. At present, expressway runs through Shaanxi and expressway Xi'an-Baotou was open to traffic. Centered on Xi'an, expressway network of Shaanxi, taking national main trunk line and great path of west China as framework, connecting with 10 cities in Shaanxi and striking towards outside Shaanxi, has taken shape. In 2005, freight volume was 235 million tons and passenger traffic was 336 million person-times.
Airport Construction
Xi'an Xianyang International Airport is the important aviation hinge in the western China. It has more than 120 domestic and international flight lines. It has contacted with near 30 airline companies including New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Seoul, Frankfurt, Vancouver, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. In 2005, freight volume was 39,000 tons and passenger traffic was 3.8953 million person-times.
Telecom
Equipment and technical level of Shaanxi communication network have reached the world level. Centered on optical fiber cable and supported by digital microwave and satellite communication, communication transmission network with large capacity and high speed has been formed. Integrated communication network has been covering the whole province. Relay bandwidth of internet in Shaanxi is 155M and bandwidth outside Shaanxi is 50G.
Shaanxi has become the communication center in western China. By the end of 2005, total capacity of public exchange had reached 12.3258 million. Telephone subscriber across the whole Shaanxi reached 17.9742 million, including 8.5932 millions of fixed telephone subscribers and 9.381 millions of mobile telephone subscribers.
Fixed and mobile telephone diffusion rate arrived at 23.1 telephones/hundred persons and 25.22 telephones/hundred persons respectively.
Natural Gas
Natural gas transmission pipeline between Xi'an and Weinan, Xianyang and Baoji has been built.
Water Conservancy
10 projects include second-phase engineering of pumping water from Yellow river in Donglei and Erlangba engineering of introducing Jialingjiang into Hanjiang River have been built. The completion of Xi'an Heihe River Jinpen Hydro Project, Addition Project of Dam and Gate in Baojixia Dam and Western Suburb of Sanyuan Hydro Project mitigates the urban water shortage and increases the ability to fight flood. Xi'an Heihe River Project makes Xi'an won't worry water utilization within 20 years.
Electric Power
330kv electric network system has covered the whole province. Xi'an urban electric power network and rural power network guarantee the plenteous industrial electricity, agricultural electricity and residential electricity. Because of rich energy resources, power supply in Shaanxi could not only meet itself requirements, but also transmit to eastern and middle region.
Finance
Shananxi has complete finance services institutes which spread all cities and communities. By the end of 2005, all outstanding of deposits in RMB in Shaanxi financial institutes was 644.648 billion Yuan and all balance of loans was 398.319 billion Yuan.
Insurance
In 2005, management body in insurance market arrived at 13, various insurance companies reached 1,492 and the employed was 48,000. The premium income was RMB 9.74 billion Yuan, including RMB 2.39 billion Yuan of property insurance and RMB 7.35 billion Yuan of life insurance.
v. Ecological Environment
The temperate climate, warm temperate climate and northern subtropical climate and Yellow River and Changjiang River System can be found in Shaanxi Province. Featuring in complicate landform, distinct climate, Shaanxi Province boasts of various biological resources. Especially Qinba Mountainous area in located in the joint belt of south and north climate, therefore, the biodiversity is very distinctive. It was called the natural bank of China Plant resources. It has over 3,700 wild seed plants, 37 rare plants and nearly 800 medical use plants. It also has 80 rare animals such as Giant Panda, golden monkey and crested ibis. A part from this, Shaanxi is an important ecological barrier of middle and east part of China. The ecological environment protection has important significance for soil erosion of Yellow river, south water diversion and water quality.
In 2005, the whole province has 45 natural protection zones with total protection area of 995,000 Ha. Among them, there are 7 national natural protection zones. In order to improve the ecological environment, Shaanxi Province launched a series project such as natural forest protection, returning infield to forest and grass and water conservancy and etc. by the end of 2005, over 30 million mu had realized returning infield to forestry, standing the first in China.
vi. Foreign Communication
Friendly Provinces and Cities
By 2005, Shaanxi had 44 friendly provinces and cities in total. Through visiting, economic and trade negotiation, talent communication, technical training and other activities, it not only deepens understanding and friendship between Shaanxi and its friendly cities, but promotes their economic cooperation and trade contacts, helping to the culture, education, technology and cooperation.
List of Friendly Provinces and Cities between Shaanxi and Its Friendly Countries
Foreign-related Exhibition
The Investment & Trade Forum for Cooperation between East & West China (the" Forum" for short) is an international economic and trade forum, aiming to strengthen the cooperation between east, mi d d l e a n d w e s t C h i n a a n d p r omo t e harmonious development of regional economy. It has been successfully held for 9 consecutive years. Each year, there are more than 2,000 exhibition booths on average. In addition, delegations from 30 provinces/areas/cities and 100,000 domestic and international traders attend the forum every year. During the exhibition, there are generally over 350,000 audiences. In the principle of handling concrete matters and serving enterprises, the Forum focuses upon field demonstration and negotiation, Taiwan businessmen going-west campaign, briefing of" Silk Road" international tourism projects, inter-provincial key projects recommendation, as well as special meetings on assets recombination, science and technology, medicine, and culture, etc.
Euro-Asia Economic Forum is an important conference, sponsored by Shanghai Cooperation Organization, State Development Bank and United Nations Economic and Social Commission, cosponsored by Boao Forum for Asia, and undertaken by Xi'an Municipal People's Government and Beijing Contemporary World Development Research Institute. The 1st Euro-Asia Economic Forum was held in Xi'an from November 10 - 11 of 2005.
It is a grand meeting for strengthening the friendly visit and exchange between China and Central Asian and European nations, for advancing the economic & trade cooperation and economic development between nations and regions, for re-displaying the "Silk Road" brilliance, and for promoting common prosperity and rejuvenation of Eurasia. In addition, the Forum has not only promoted foreign economic cooperation and exchange, but also accelerated the in-depth implementation of West Development Strategy and internationalized process.
vii. Higher education and science & technology
Higher education
Shaanxi Province has 72 colleges and universities, such as Xi'an Jiaotong University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xidian University, Chang'an University, Northwest University, Northwest University of Politics and Law, etc., inside which there are 95 first-class disciplines for accrediting Ph.D (561 Ph.D workstations), 132 first-class disciplines for accrediting Master's Degree (1,415 master workstations). Shaanxi Province has already become the important graduates training base in China. In 2005, there were 208,900 enrolled undergraduates and junior undergraduates, 666,900 in-school students; 20,700 enrolled postgraduates, 58,400 in-school postgraduates.
Science and technology
Shaanxi is the important scientific research and production base in China's aviation, spaceflight, electronics, and agriculture, etc. There are 1.08 million professional technicians, 51 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, 1,076 research institutes. In 2005, There were 110 projects altogether, of which there were 10 key projects, and the annual sales income was RMB 3.891 billion Yuan. Among the key research results, there were 16 internationally leading projects, and 93 internationally advanced ones, 141 domestically leading ones, 58 domestically advanced ones. There were 4,166 cases of patent applications, and 1,894 cases were authorized, of which there were 445 patents for invention, 1,131 patents for practical and new techniques, and 318 patents for appearance design. In the whole year, 3,392 technological contracts altogether were signed, including 2,222 contracts for technological development, 183 for technological transfer, 275 for technological consultation, and 712 for technological services. Total turnover of technological contracts was RMB 1.89 billion Yuan.
viii. Tourism
Shaanxi is the important cradle of Chinese civilization and culture.
Xi'an, Athens, Rome and Cairo have been called the four major civilized ancient capitals in the world. Since the 11th century B.C., 13 dynasties had successively established their capitals here, such as Zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties, lasting 1,180 years. 5,000-year Chinese history left the abundant historic sites here and accumulated profound culture. There are site of Lantian Ape Man dating back to more than 800,000 years, the Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses of Emperor Qin which is known as the 8th major miracle in the world, the History Museum showing China' s historical epitome, and the ancient city wall which is the largest and best preserved wall in the world so far ...Here, Lao Tzu composed scriptures, Li Bai wrote poems, King Zhouyou doted his concubines, and Tang Minghuang met his wife... The abundant historic sites and cultural accumulation have made Xi'an become an international famous tourism city. At present, there are 89 national key cultural relics protection units (113 locations) in the whole province, accounting for 1/10 that of China. In addition, Shaanxi is rich in natural landscapes, in which Mt. Huashan is located.
There are 44 approved natural reserves (scenic spots) throughout the province, covering an area of 995,000 ha. In 2005, around 59.879 million domestic tourists and 928,400 overseas tourists came here, and domestic tourism income and foreign exchange income were respectively RMB 31.63 billion Yuan and US$ 446 million.
ix. Local specialty
Shaanxi has abundant products, with local specialty as follows: Lantian Jade, Shanbei Red Date, Shannan Tea, dense wine, walnut in Shangluo, strawberry, prickly ash, Chinese kiwi fruit, xiang jujube, fire persimmon, Lintong pomegranate, apple, peach, grape, Chinese chestnut, Chinese lacquer, Fructus Schisandrae Chinensis and Auricularia auricular, etc.
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Doing Business in Shaanxi Province of China: II. Economy
Doing Business in Shaanxi Province of China: III. Investment
Doing Business in Shaanxi Province of China: IV. Development Zones
