General information on Shantou

Shantou is located in the eastern part of Guangdong Province and the southern part of Hanjiang River Plant. It has the reputation since ancient times as the “Window of the Nanling Mountain” and “Crucial Gate of South China”. It is one of the Special Economic Zones in China and famous hometown for a large number of overseas Chinese. The total area of this city reached 2,064 square kilometers with a total population of 4.8751 million. The total area of downtown area reached 1,956 square kilometers with a total population of 4.8027 million. It has the jurisdiction of Jingping, Longhu, Hangjiang, Chenghai, Chaoyang and Chaonan districts and Naoao County.

The total GDP of this city in 2004 reached 60.38 billion RMB with a growth by 11.1%. It was the first time in the past 6 years that the GDP growth rate reached over 10%. By comparison, the general income on budget reached 2.465 billion RMB with a growth by 18.65%.

The industry was in the dominant position. The gross product reached RMB 107.6 billion yuan, up 13.1%. The contributive rate to the increases of gross domestic product reached 58.4%. The industry above designated size increased by 15.1%, which occupied 50.9% of the total industry product value. About 60 key projects were constructed and put into production. The electricity used by industry improved dramatically. The industrial economic structure continued to be optimized. The proportion of the product value of eight polar industries was increased by 8.5%. The product of high-tech industry reached RMB 16 billion yuan, up 14.3%. The electronic information and mechanism equipment manufacture has become the shining point of industry growth. The upgrade of conventional industry was strengthened. There were 75 new industrial technological improvement projects. The industry park and industry cluster developed rapidly. The name brand strategy achieved great success. There were 4 new China name brands, 18 provincial name brands and 15 provincial famous products. The Xiashan town, Liangying town and Chendian town in Chaonan district were entitled as “China Clothes Town”, “China Textile Town”and “China Underwear Town”. There was one national inspection-avoided product. The value of architecture reached RMB 10.68 billion yuan, up 12.6%.

The basic function of Agriculture was strengthened. The product value reached RMB 8.06 billion yuan, up 1.1%. The crop planting area covered 1.102 million acres with total product of 534 thousand tons. The re-cultivation of the desert land was strengthened. The regional plan of agriculture development and plan of agriculture technology were made. The agricultural structure continued to be optimized. The industrialization of agriculture developed rapidly and there were 2 main new agricultural enterprises. There were 34 newly-drew local agriculture standards. And 9 standard demonstration zones were established. There were 90 national certificates for the agriculture products with no social effects of pollution and 9 certificates for the “Green Food”. Jinping and Pupian district are the provincial agricultural technological park. The construction of irrigation works is strengthened. The Niutianyang sea wall and Qiufengling reservoir were consolidated. The total length of consolidated riverbank reached 137 kilometers. The animal epidemic prevention work is strengthened. The product of breed aquatics in sea water is increased by 10%. There are 4 breed aquatics bases newly built. There are also 23,600 acres of newly added forest. The coastal everglade protection area is the first domestic international everglade demonstration zone.

The tertiary industry developed rapidly. The consumer market is flourishing. The consumable retail sale reached RMB 29.2 billion yuan, up 14.8%. The consumer structure begins to change. Some hot spots begin to grow quickly such as auto, housing, communication tool and tourism. The exhibition industry is still flourishing. The international sweater and underwear trade fair, plastic product exhibition and Chenghai international toys artwork exhibition are held one by one. The tourism developed steadily. The tourists reached 2.83 million persons. Nan’ao island is granted as the first “four A” level tourism island in China. Shantou and Chaoyang share a phone network. Finance, stock and insurance industry develop steadily. The deposit in financial organization reached RMB 88.7 billion yuan, up 11%. The transportation industry develops further. The freight reached 160.5 million tons, up 8.3%. The goods throughput in ports reached RMB 157.8 million tons, up 7.4%. And the containers reached 285 thousand standard boxes, up 27.9%.