Speech by the Governor
Doing Business in Henan Provinces of China introduces comprehensive condition of Henan Province. Henan, located in the hinterland of China, has a long history, abundant resources, complete infrastructure and enormous market potential. Current Henan is not only a province with the largest population, important in agriculture, and an important newly rising province in industry and economy. Guided by national strategy for promoting Central China's rising, Henan is trying hard to construct the important cereals production center, energy raw material center, modern facility manufacturing center, high-tech industrial center and comprehensive transportation hub, and creating an important logistics center relying on city group of the Central Plains with Zhengzhou as core and Luoyang as auxiliary core.
The ancients said, the conqueror of the Central Plains is the conqueror of the whole country. Now we say, the conqueror of the whole country is the conqueror of the Central Plains. With more preferential policies, advantageous environment and excellent quality, open Henan welcomes cordially domestic and international friends to visit and tour Henan, make investment and establish undertakings, expand trade exchanges, enhance cooperation and make joint development.
I. Survey
(i) Geographic Location and Major Cities
Henan Province, lying in Middle Eastern China and along with middle lower reaches of Yellow River, has a total area of 167,000 square kilometers. The landforms of Henan Province is that the surface of western land is higher than that of eastern land; the area of plain, mountainous region and hills accounts for 56%, 26%, and 18% of the total area of Henan Province respectively. Henan
Province, lying in an area between north latitude 31 º 23' to 36 º 22' and east longitude 110 º 21' to 116 º 39', connects Anhui Province and Shandong Province to the east, Hebei Province and Shanxi Province to the north, Shaanxi province to the west, Hubei Province to the south; thus connecting the eastern area with the western area and southern area with northern area. In ancient time, Henan Province is the only way a postman must take to deliver a mail, and an inevitable watercourse by which to transport grains to the capital; it is also a place crowded with merchants and businessmen. Today, as Henan Province links the central and western area together with the opening coastal area, its regional advantage is extraordinary as economic development in China is progressing from eastern area to western area step by step.
There are 18 cities that is under direct jurisdiction of Henan Province, namely, Zhengzhou, Kaifeng, Luoyang, Pingdingshan, Anyang, Hebi, Xinxiang, Jiaozuo, Puyang, Xuchang, Luohe, Sanmenxia, Nayang, Shangqiu, Xinyang, Zhoukou, Zhumadian, and Jiyuan. Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan Province.
(ii) Climate
The climate of Henan Province is continental monsoon climate that extends from subtropical zone in the northern area to temperate zone in the southern area, and also extends from plain climate in eastern area to hilly climate in western area. The four seasons are clearly distinct and the periods of rain and heat are overlapping, thus making the climate in Henan Province complicated and various. The average temperature in Henan Province is 15.7 ºC to 9.5 ºC from southern area to northern area, while the annual average rainfall 1,380 to 533 mm, the amount of rain between June to August accounts for 45% to 67% of the overall rainfall in a year, the annual average sunshine hour is between 1,140 to 2,526 hours, and the annual frost-free period is between 189 to 240 days.
(iii)Population and Nationalities
Henan Province boasts the largest population in China. By the end of 2005, the gross population of Henan Province is 97,680,000, with 30.65% urban residents and 69.35% rural residents. There are many nationalities in Henan Province. Beside Han nationality, there are 55 minorities, including Hui nationality, Meng nationality, Zang nationality, etc, with the population of 1,280,000 that accounts for 1.3% of the gross population of Henan Province.
(iv) Infrastructure and Transportation
The infrastructure of Henan Province has become more and more completed. It has played a more and more significant role in economic development. The electricity installation capacity ranks 5th in the county. The transportation system of highway, railway, and aviation has already come into existence.
Henan Province, which is to the east of Shanghai, south of Wuhan, north of Beijing and Tianjin, and west of Xi'an, is situated in the central area of China. Its convenient and superior transport condition plays an important role in its economic development as Henan Province links up east, west, south, and north area together.
Highway
Sketch Map of Highway System in Henan Province
The high way network in Henan Province extends in all directions, and the Lianhuo Expressway meets Jingzhu Expressway in Zhengzhou. By the end of 2005, the total mileage of highway in Henan Province had already reached 79,500 km, among which 2,678 km is expressway. The Yellow River highway bridges in Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Kaifeng and Sanmenxia link up the transportation between the southern and northern area of Yellow River. The highway passenger transportation network that links capital city Zhengzhou with other cities, cities with counties, and counties with villages has already come into existence. There are also 4 international container transportation courses passing through Zhengzhou. In 2005, provincial road transportation run successfully, among which, passenger transportation reached 1 billion person-times, circular passenger flow volume 50.1 billion person-kms, goods transportation 0.7 billion tons and circular freight flow volume 51 billion ton-kms.
Railway
Sketch Map of Railway System of Henan Province
Henan Province is an important railway hub in China. A complicated railway network, including 10 railways like Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, Long-Hai Railway, Jiao-ZhiRailway, Beijing-Kowloon Railway, Tai-Jiao Railway, and Hou-Yue Railway, is formed here that leads to all directions. The two mainlines of Beijing-Kowloon Railway and Long-Hai Railway meets in capital city Zhengzhou, which is one of the biggest railway hub in China, as well as the biggest passenger and goods transfer railway station on the eastern end of the inter-continental railway between Lianyungang and Netherlands. Zhengzhou Northern Railway Station is the biggest marshalling station of goods train. Every day, around 500 trains arrive and leave the station. The transfer and operation capacity of the station has already ranked world-class level. Goods exported through railway system can be checked and examined in Zhengzhou, as well as formalities of customs clearance and exchange settlement. Zhengzhou Eastern Railway Station, the biggest part-load transfer station in China, opens 5 international container transportation courses which link Zhengzhou with ports in Shanghai, Kowloon, Lianyungang, Tianjin, and Qingdao. Zhengzhou Railway Station is also one of the biggest passenger transfer station in China. By the end of 2005, the total state-owned railway mileage in Henan Province reached 2,093.2 km, with an extended railway mileage 3,897.8 km. In 2005, the passenger transportation capacity of railway system was 51,072,000 person-times and circular passenger flow volume 46,221.6 million person-kilometers; the goods carrying capacity of railway system was 99,370,000 tons and circular freight flow volume 147,560.9 million ton-kilometers. The mileage of local railway in Henan Province is 1,212 km, which amounts to one fourth of the total mileage of local railway in China.
Aviation
There are 3 airports in Henan Province, including Zhengzhou Airport, Luoyang Airport, and Nanyang Airport. Almost 70 flight courses and more than 800 flights each week link up 50 medium and big cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi'an, Hong Kong, Macao, etc. There are direct flight to Hong Kong, Macao, and Taipei via Macao. Zhengzhou International Airport, a 4E class airport, is a Class-one airport in China that has scheduled and non-scheduled passenger and cargo charter flight courses to Moscow, Hong Kong, Macao, Bangkok, Munich, Frankfurt, and Los angles. In 2005, 2,968,200 passengers traveled by plane and 45,000 tons of cargo were transported by airplane.
Finance
The capital city Zhengzhou has already become a regional financial center, where all banks in China have established branches. Most of the financial institutions here provide international settlement service, international financing service and foreign banking services, including foreign exchange deposit service, foreign currency conversion service, issuing L/C, collection for importation, remittance, foreign exchange sale and purchase business, buying and selling foreign exchange for clients, bank loans under the credit insurance, business invoice financing, package loans, account settlement in other countries for clients, shipping guarantee and endorsement of bill of lading, guarantee service for bank loan, issuing of foreign exchange credit card.
Major Banks in Henan Province
Insurance
At present, Henan Province, owns 2,760 insurance institutions of various classes, is one of the provinces where most of the insurance institutions carry out their business. These insurance companies and their branches, in accordance with their own characteristics and market position, offer a series of featured services, including motor vehicle insurance, insurance on hull, business property insurance, household property insurance, cargo transportation insurance, liability insurance, construction insurance, agricultural insurance, comprehensive insurance, life insurance, accidental injury insurance, health insurance.
Major Insurance Companies in Henan Province
Telecommunication
The telecommunication network in Henan Province is a key telecommunication hub in China. There are three east-to-west mainlines and three south-to-north main lines passing through Henan
Province, which belong to the national main telecommunication network of "eight vertical and eight horizontal", together with two main aerial fiber cable which pass through Henan Province, a basic telecommunication network of "four vertical and four horizontal" has been established. By the end of 2005, the total length of fiber cable for public interests had reached 212,000 km, which ranks 6th in China; the length of long-distance fiber cable was 33,100 km, which ranks 8th in China; the number of fixed telephone users was 18,635,000 household, which ranks 5th in China; the number of mobile phone users was 18,150,000, which ranks 7th in China.
(v) Foreign Exchanges
Provinces and Cities of Friendship
By the end of 2005, Henan Province has established friend relationship with 59 cities of 29 countries, including the US, French, Russia, Japan, Korea, Germany and Singapore, etc.
Well-known Exhibition——China Henan International Conference on Trade & Investment
The conference is jointly sponsored by the People's Government of Henan Province and China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and undertook by Bureau of Commerce of Henan Province. The conference is a large-scale international economic and trade-related activity, which is held in Zhengzhou International Exhibition Center in April biennially. The theme of the conference is communication, cooperation and development, and its main topic is investment invitation, commodity & trade, and summit forum. The conference has built a bridge for exchange and cooperation between enterprises from home and abroad by the combination of investment, trade, discussion, exhibition, investigation, and forum. The 4th China Henan International Conference on Trade & Investment, held in 2006, attracted enterprises, business associations, government institutions, and envoys coming from more than 60 countries and regions, with 4,168 businessmen attending the conference.
(vi) Higher Education and Scientific Research
Higher Education
Enrolling Number of Student in Colleges and Universities, 2000-2005
With the continual expansion higher education, Henan Province now boasts 11 First-class Subjects of Doctor and 106 doctor s pots. In 2005, there are 28 universities and colleges that are qualified to offer a bachelor's degree, 61 postdoctoral stations, and 1,450,000 students in universities and colleges in Henan Province. Among that, Zhengzhou University and Henan University, etc are some of the key comprehensive universities in China.
Scientific Research
There are more than 1,300 scientific research and R&D institutions of various categories in Henan Province. In the year 2005, there are 8,981 patents applied to be ratified and 3,748 of them got ratified; more than 350 scientific research achievements got province-level award and 12 got state-level award. More than 35% of the achievements got popularized and amounted to 43% of the economic development in Henan Province.
(vii) Tourism
History and Culture
Henan is one of the birthplaces of Chinese people. Since Xia Dynasty to Northern Song Dynasty, more than 20 imperial families established their capitals in Henan Province or moved their capitals here. Henan Province, having long been a politic, economic and cultural center of China in history, boasts four of the eight famous China ancient capitals, namely, Luoyang, an ancient capital for nine dynasties; Kaifeng, an ancient capital for seven dynasties; Anyang, an ancient capital for Yinshang Dynasty; Zhengzhou, an ancient capital for Shang Dynasty. Three inventions of the Four Great Inventions in ancient China, namely compass, gunpowder, and papermaking technology were all invented in Henan Province.
Henan Province is regarded as a history museum of China for its long history and possessions of valuable cultural relics and historical sites. The amount of its underground cultural relics ranks first in China and the amount of over-ground cultural relics ranks second in China. More than a million pieces of cultural relics are treasured in the museum, which accounts for one eighth of the total amount in China, and ranks the third place in China.
Scenic Spots
Henan Province is rich in tourism resources with its deep culture deposits and beautiful scenic spots. In 2005, the number of tourists visited Henan Province exceeds 0.1 billion person-times, among which 0.61 million are foreign tourists. The most representative scenic spots are: Longmen
Grotto in Luoyang and Yinxu in An'yang, Songshan Shaolin Temple, Yuntai Mountain and Qingming Riverside Landscape Garden.
Agricultural Specialties in Henan Province
Thereare many famous specialties produced in Henan Province, such as Yuanyang rice, Xinzheng Chinese Date, Kaifeng watermelon, Qixian and Zhongmou Garlic, Xinyang pale colored tips and chestnut, Xixia Chinese gooseberry, Lingbao apple, Jiaozuo yam and Luoyang peony. Among these specialties, peony in Luoyang is well known both at home and abroad.
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