hktdc.com - Zhaoqing ( Guangdong ) City Information
  About HKTDC | Contact HKTDC | My Basket My Basket (0) | My HKTDC | |
Within this section Within hktdc.com
 
Home > Market Intelligence > Profiles of China Provinces, Cities and Industrial Parks

Profiles of China Provinces, Cities and Industrial Parks



 Print  Email Facebook Twitter Share
Content provided by :  China Knowledge
   
29 Aug 2011
Zhaoqing ( Guangdong ) City Information

Major Economic Indicators (2010)

Land Area (km2) 15,056
Population (million) 3.9
GDP (RMB billion) 106.59
GDP Composition
Primary Industry 17%
Secondary Industry
(Industry & Contruction)		 42.6%
Tertiary Industry (Service) 40.4%
GDP Per Capita (RMB) 27,325
Unemployment Rate 2.39%
Fixed Asset Investment (RMB billion) 62.5
Utilized FDI (USD million) 934
Total Import & Export (USD million) 4,390
Export (USD million) 2,590
Import (USD million) 1,790
Sales of Consumer Goods (RMB billion) 33.29
Source Source: Zhaoqing Economic and Social Development Report 2010

 

 
Introduction
 

Lying in central-western Guangdong Province, Zhaoqing is adjacent to Foshan to the east, Jiangmen to the southeast, Yunfo to southwest, Qingyuan to the north and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to the west. It covers an area of 15,056 sq km and has a population of 3.9 million.

Seated in the west Pearl River Delta, Zhaoqing is about 110 km from the provincial capital Guangzhou, 180 km from Macau and 270 km from Hong Kong. Direct trains and buses link the city with Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and other cities in Guangdong. State Highway 321, State Highway 324 and the Guangzhou-Zhaoqing Highway run through the city.

Enjoying a subtropical monsoon climate with an average temperature of 22.1° C, Zhaoqing is rich in freshwater, herbal and forest resources. It also has plentiful mineral resources, such as iron, gold, copper and tin. The proven reserves of iron ore in the city exceed 40.5 million tons. The city is also an electric power supplier for western Guangdong Province.
 
Economic Features
 
Zhaoqing's GDP rose 17.1% from a year earlier to RMB 106.59 billion in 2010. The industry and service sector, as main contributors, contributed 42.6% and 40.4% to the city's economy respectively.

The city has a diversified industrial structure. The city has three new emerging pillars, which are electronic information, machinery, oil refining and petrochemicals, three traditional pillars, which are textiles and garments, food and beverage, and three potential pillars, which are construction materials, paper making, pharmaceuticals, auto and auto parts.

In 2010, the three emerging pillars increased 39.7% year on year, three traditional pillars up 38.9% year on year, and the three potential pillars rose 24.5% year on year.

Guangdong Zhaoqing Blue Ribbon Group, Star Lake Bioscience, Guangdong Hongtu Technology Holdings, Four Gardener and Zhaoqing Perfumery are the major industrial enterprises in Zhaoqing. Blue Ribbon Group, a major beer brewer in China, is headquartered in Zhaoqing. It also produces other beverages, such as pure water and wine.

Guangdong Zhaoqing Star Lake Bioscience was set up in 1964. Its main products include monosodium glutamate (MSG), pharmaceuticals, intermediates, food additives, feed additives and seasoning. It went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 1994. The sales revenue of the company amounted to RMB 1.37 billion while the net profit reached RMB 220 million in 2009. 

Guangzhou Hongtu Technology Holding, a listed company on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, was set up in 2000 with registered capital of RMB 50 million. It has a national auto and auto parts export base. Its businesses also cover motorcycles, home electric appliances and equipment manufacturing.

As a national historical and cultural city, Zhaoqing attracted over 1.1 million foreign tourists and 7.28 million domestic travelers in 2009. The tourism revenue surpassed RMB 8 billion in the same period, with an increment of 20.8% year on year.

The foreign trade value in the city increased 34.5% to US$4.39 billion in 2010. The exports value reached US$2.59 billion, up 27.9% year on year, while the import value hit US$1.79 billion, up 45.4% year on year. Mechanical and electronic products are the main export products from Zhaoqing with export value of US$836 million in 2009. In 2010,  Hong Kong , The U.S. and EU are the top three export destinations.

The city attracted contractual foreign investments of US$1.94 billion in 2010. The utilized FDI in the city stood at US$934 million, representing an increase of 5.2% from the previous year.
 
Cultural Highlights
 

Zhaoqing is one of the origin places for ancient Lingnan aboriginal culture. The archeologists discovered that the earliest human activities there took place as early as 140,000 years ago.  The Lingnan aboriginal culture can be traced through bronze artifacts made during the Spring-and-Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (770BC-221BC). The region of present-day Zhaoqing was called Duanzhou during the Sui Dynasty (AD518-618) and was an important administrative region and military base.

During the Song Dynasty (AD960-1279), it was changed into Zhaoqing. The Italian priest Matteo Ricci traveled to the city in 1583 and stayed there from 1583 to 1589. He drew the first map of the world in Chinese in 1584 in the city.
 
Tourist Attraction
 

Star Lake Scenic Area is the most famous tourist resort in Zhaoqing. It consists of Wixingyan (Seven Star Crags), Ding Hu Mountain Scenic Area, the Xiannv Lake (Fairy Lake), Butterfly Valley and Qingyun Temple. Other popular scenic spots include the Ancient City Wall, Panlong Gorge in Deqing Couty, Longshan in Fengkai County, Yanyan Crag (Swallow Crag) in Huaji County and Bamboo Forest in Guangning County. The Ancient City Wall is a part of the city wall from the Song Dynasty.

The most characteristic local snack is the Zhaoqing Guo Zeng, a kind of pyramid-shaped mass of glutinous rice wrapped in leaves. The main ingredients of the Guo Zeng are glutinous rice, green beans and fat pork. Other delicious local dishes are Fengkai Apricot Flower Chicken, Dawan Maixi Carp, Guangning Bamboo Shoot Banquet and Wen Carp.
 
Honors
 

National Garden City (2002)
-Ministry of Construction of P.R. China

Best Tourism City in China (1999)
-National Tourism Administration of P.R. China

National Historical and Cultural City (1994)
-State Council of P.R. China

 Print  Email Facebook Twitter Share