A Brief Introduction of Zhejiangprovince

A Brief Introduction of ZhejiangProvince

Situated on Southeast China and on the southern wing of the Yangtze River Delta, Zhejiang borders the Pacific Ocean on the east and neighbors Shanghai, the largest metropolis in China, on the north.Zhejiangwas named after QiantangRiver, the biggest of its kind in the province, meaning ‘a zigzag river’ in Chinese. Hangzhou is the capital city of the province. Zhejiang enjoys warm weather, plentiful rainfall, fertile land, rich natural resources and is the original place of Wuyue Culture. Zhejiang has long been known as “a land of fish and rice, home to silk and tea, a place of rich cultural heritage and a paradise for tourists”.In recent years, Zhejiang has explored its own way of development during the process of building a socialist market economy. The province has achieved rapid progress in its economic development and is one of the provinces in China that have witnessed the fastest and most dynamic economic growth.

In 2005, the GDP of the province totaled US$ 1,66 billion, an increase of 12.4% over the previous year, 2.5% higher than the national average growth. The per capita GDP reached US$3,498. The per capita income of urban residents and farmers reached US$ 2,024 and US$ 827 respectively, up by11.3% and 7.4% over the previous year.

The economic structure of ZhejiangProvince is uniquely featured by thewell developed non-state economic sector. In 2005, the added value of the non-state economic sector accounted for 65% of the province’s total economic added value. Among the top 500 non-state enterprises in Mainland China, 183 ones are from Zhejiang, while 3 ones among the top 10 enterprises are in Zhejiang.

Zhejiang maintains a rapid growth in foreign trade. In 2005, the export and import volumes of the province totaled US$107.4 billion. Export and import contributed US$76.8 billion and US$30.6 billion respectively.

The province has developed a regional economic pattern and is featured by regional industry clusters, covering over 100 industries and 30 agricultural processing industries. The low-voltage electric apparatus of YueqingCity, the leather clothing of HainingCity, the hardware of YongkangCity and the crystal productions of PujiangCounty enjoy good fame in China.

The special markets of Zhejiang are thriving with abundant products , covering nearly all the fields of life and industries. The trade volumes of YiwuSmallCommodityCity and ShaoxingLightTextileCity rank first of the same kind of markets of China.

Zhejiang boasts a picturesque landscape with a large number of scenic spots of various types, making it one of the most popular tourist destinations in China. The province has 14 state-level scenic areas, the largest number in China, including the WestLake, MountYandang, MountMogan, MountPutuo and etc. Besides, there are 42 scenic spots at the provincial level, for instance,the DongqianLake, the BigBuddhaTemple, the Fangyan Rock and so on. Hangzhou is one of the seven ancient capitals in the Chinese historyas well as a tourist city renowned for its natural beauty and the charming WestLake.In 2005, the province received 106 million domestic tourists, earning a revenue of RMB￥90.25 billion. Moreover, 2.767 million foreignvisitors traveled to Zhejiang, contributing revenueof US$ 1.3 billion.

Zhejiang has a long tradition of interacting with foreign countries. Since Hangzhou City made a sister city relation with Gifu City of Japan in the February of 1979, the province, together with cities under its direct jurisdiction, has established friendly relations with 148 provinces, cities, counties in 40 countries such as the U.S., Germany, France, Britain, Brazil, Australia, South Africa and so on. Now the province has 33 sister provinces in the world. Zhejiang Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and other non-governmental associations have carried out friendly exchange with more than 50 countries and regions in the world.