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Beijing
Municipality is shown as the small white square surrounded by the black area,
which is Hebei Province |
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Area: 16,808 square
kilometres General information: Beijing is
situated within the northern part of the Huabei Plain （華北平原）and is the capital
of China, as well as the main cultural and international exchange centre. Average temperatures: -7 deg
C to -4 deg C in January; 25 deg C to 26 deg C in July. Physical features: The area
contained in the municipality is mountainous in the north and west with
flatlands in the southeast. Rivers: Yongding River,
which is a branch of the Hai River, flows through the municipality. Administrative divisions:
10 districts and 8 counties. Historical significance: Beijing occupies
a site that was inhabited since prehistoric times. It was the capital of a feudal kingdom as
early as the 3rd century BC and became a political seat of the empire under
the Mongols (Yuan Dynasty between 1279 and 1368
AD). Much of the city was rebuilt
during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). The
city, at that time, consisted of the walled Forbidden City (residence of the
emperors) and the Imperial City, surrounded by the rectangular Inner
City. To the south was the walled
Outer City, devoted mainly to industry and commerce. Beijing’s
influence was strengthened under the Manchus (the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911 AD),
and was chosen as the seat of government for the People’s Republic of China
in 1949. Famous scenic spots include the Forbidden City（紫禁城）, which
is the biggest palace complex in the world, Tianmamen Square（天安門）, the
Great Wall（長城）, Yihe Summer Palace（頤和園）, Lugou Bridge（蘆溝橋）, which is mentioned in Marco Polo’s Tales, Xiang Shan（香山）, Heaven Altar（天壇）, the Tombs of
13 Ming Emperors （十三陵）, Mao Zedong’s Mausoleum（毛澤東紀念館）, and People’s Conference Hall（人民大會堂）. |
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Notes:
*in real terms A report published by China Daily on 15
February 2002 stated: Beijing, the nation's capital, is planning
to achieve a 9 per cent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) this year in
spite of the world economic slowdown, Mayor Liu Qi announced recently. "Stimulating
the development of consumer spending, investment and exports may be the core
issues in achieving this," said Liu. "We
plan to push Beijingers' average income up by 5 per cent this year through
the creation of more job opportunitiest," Liu said. Sources
from the Beijing Statistics Bureau said the average salary for workers and
staff members in Beijing reached 18,640 yuan (US$2,245) last year, 2,290 yuan
(US$276) more than in the previous year. Meanwhile, the per capita GDP
exceeded US$3,000. Fixed
assets investment is expected to surge swiftly, thanks to the launching of a
group of key projects - projects for the 2008 Olympic Games, infrastructure
construction, old house renovation and traditional enterprise upgrading. "We
decided to use BOT (build, operate and transfer), project fund-raising and
operation rights transfer methods to attract more foreign and domestic
investment into such fields," Liu said. |
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Currently, the State Council is studying the
feasibility of building a magnetic levitation railway system in Beijing. A likely choice is a railway connecting the
Capital International Airport with the central business district of Beijing. Roadways － The roadway network in the Beijing region was improved in recent
years. With the completion of the
Beijing-Tianjin-Tangu Expressway（京津塘高速公路）, road freight vehicles can reach the ports in Tianjin within two
hours. Other major roadways and
expressways that are built in recent years include the Jing-Chang Expressway （京昌高速公路）, the Beijing-Harbin Highway, and the roadway
that links the central business district in with the Beijing Capital
International Airport（首都國際機場）. The
Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway（京珠高速公路）is under construction. Air Transport － The Beijing
Capital International Airport is among the busiest in the country, providing
access to more than 60 domestic cities and about 40 overseas countries and
regions. Planned expansion of the Beijing Capital
International Airport, includes an additional runway, a new passenger
terminal building and parking bays for many more aircraft. Upon completion prior to the Beijing
Olympics in 2008, the annual capacity will increase to over 50 million
passengers Telecommunications － The city has
direct-dial telephone and telegram links with all major foreign countries and
regions. The number of mobile
telephone subscribers exceeded 1.5 million at the end of 1999. Pager service, GSM network, Internet,
Smartnet, as well as other networks and Internet connections are becoming
popular. A total of RMB 180 billion has been allocated for
the continued expansion of telecommunications in Beijing over the next five
years. Environmental
Protection – The municipal
government plans to spend RMB 54 billion between 2003 and 2007 to complete 9
major environmental protection projects. |
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Beijing is keen to develop high-tech industries
such as electronic information, biological engineering and pharmaceuticals;
technology-intensive industries such a motor vehicles and electronics; and
basic industries such as metallurgy, chemicals and building materials. Rapid growth has occurred in the services
sector. During the 1991-97 period, the
tertiary sector grew at an annual rate of 13 per cent, which was higher than
that of the primary and secondary sectors.
In 1999, the added value of the tertiary sector grew by 9.4 per cent
to RMB123.8 billion. The tertiary
sector has surpassed the secondary industry to become the biggest economic
sector in Beijing, accounting for 57 per cent of the city’s GDP. Currently, Beijing is trying to build a Chinese
Silicon Valley that rivals the one in the USA. In the next 15 years, the Beijing
government will invest US$30 billion to build a “Northern Micro-Electronic
Technology Base” in Zhongguancun, a leading High and New Technology
Development Zone. The government plans
to construct 10 semiconductor chip assembly lines by 2010. To boost investments in the zone, the
Beijing government offers incentives such as no land rents for 30 years and
tax reductions. In 2000, Beijing's total external trade (imports
plus exports) rose by 37.2 per cent to US$24.2 billion. Japan was Beijing's
largest overseas market, followed by the USA, Germany and Hong Kong. The city’s exports increased by 20.6 per
cent to US$7.6 billion. Major export
goods included textiles and garments, foodstuff, carpets, colour TV sets,
steel products and hand tools. Beijing's imports increased by 37.2 per cent to
US$16.6 billion in 2000. Major import
commodities were industrial equipment, textiles, light industrial products
and chemicals. |
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Beijing New
Technology Development Zone（北京新技術產業開發試驗區） The zone has an area of 100 square kilometres
and, was set up in the north-western Haidian District（海淀區）in 1988.
The centre of the zone was situated at Zhongguancun New Technology
Development Zone（中關村新技術產業開發區）. By the end of 1999, there were 1,100
foreign-invested firms in the zone, accounting for 17.7 per cent of the total
investment of US$3.3 billion. In addition, a 3 square kilometre zone was set up
in both Haidian and Shangdi to act as the industrial and experimental
base. The Shangdi Information Industry
Base（上地信息產業基地）, covering an area of 1.8 square kilometres, is
an industrial park for mass production of high-tech electronic products. There are more than 230 technical and research
institutions with 378,000 technicians in the zone, accounting for some 60 per
cent of the technical and research institutions of Beijing. Information technology, machinery, new
materials and new energy, new medicine and bio-medical industries are the
pillar industries in the zone. A number of large enterprises were established
within this zone and some have been developed as multinationals such as
Legend（聯想）, Stone（四通）and Beida Founders（北大方正）. Over 60
per cent of 1,000 foreign-owned high-tech enterprises in the zone are in the
field of electronics such as General Electric of the USA and Matsushita,
Hitachi, Fujitsu of Japan. Beijing Economic
& Technological Development Zone（北京經濟技術開發區） This has an area of 15 square kilometres and was
built in 1991 in Daxing County（大興縣）, along the
Beijing-Tianjin Expressway to attract foreign investment. The zone was approved by the State Council
in August 1994 to be a state-level development zone. By the end of July 2000, there were more than 690
enterprises in the zone, of which 205 were foreign-funded with total
investment of US$1.9 billion. Among
with the FIEs, at least 20 are multinational enterprises from Canada, France,
Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and the USA.
Those include Coca-Cola, General Motors, ABB, SNC and Matsushita. Other municipal-level development zones include Beijing Electronics Zone （北京電子城）and Beijing Electronics Zone Airport Scientific
Area. Both of which are located adjacent to the Airport Expressway. |
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Beijing's three traditional shopping districts － Wangfujing（王府井）, Xidan（西單）and Qianmen（前門）－ are well known in the country. Major department stores which have strong
customer flows include Xidan Shopping Arcade（西單百貨商場）, Wangfujing Department Store（王府井百貨大樓）, Longfu Building（隆福大廈）, New Dong An Market（新東安巿場）and the Friendship Store（友誼商店）. A new
business complex, the Dongfang Plaza（東方廣場）, one of the biggest business complexes in Asia,
was opened in 2000. Beijing was chosen by the State Council in 1992
as one of the 11 pilot cities where Sino-foreign joint venture retail
enterprises can be established. Two
enterprises - the Beijing Lufthansa Shopping Centre（燕莎購物中心）and the New Dongan Shopping Arcade（新東安巿場）－ are now located in Beijing. In addition, two Sino-foreign JV chain
stores － Huatang Co.（華堂責任有限公司）and China Tuxu-Macro Co. （中土畜萬客隆有限公司）jointed by Netherlands Makro and Japan's Itochu － were approved by the State Council. |
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Hong Kong Trade Development Council
(http://www.hktdc.com). |
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