Guangdong Market Opportunities - Urban Economies with Various Characteristics

Shaoguan City

Shaoguan City is located in the north of Guangdong Province, bordering in the north on Hunan and Jiangxi. It is the commodity distributing center of Guangdong, Jiangxi, Hunan provinces. The city has an overall area of 1.86 million square kilometers and a population of 3.1 million. Shaoguan is endeavoring to establish itself as a central city of north Guangdong Province.

1. General Survey of Economic Development

As a heavy industry city of Guangdong Province, Shaoguan has a solid industrial foundation. Besides, its agriculture and service industry also enjoys a relatively large scale. In 2003, its GDP was RMB 26.8 billion, an increase of 12.9% compared with that of last year. Its export and utilization of foreign investment saw a steady growth. The total export value of the city in 2003 was US$ 200 million, an increase of 40.2% and its actual utilization of foreign investment was US$ 305 million, an increase of 15.1%.

2. Unique Advantages and Development Characteristics

(1) The city enjoys rich agricultural and mineral resources. With 3433 species of animals and plants, it is a forestry demonstration zone and natural biologic gene database of the country. Its crops are abundant in species and good in quality. The city has developed 30 agricultural pacemaker enterprises and 10 agricultural industrial chains. As a famous home of nonferrous metals of the country, its reserves of zinc, lead and sliver all rank the top three in the country.
(2) Its peculiar tourism resources make the city one of the four most favorite touring places in Guangdong Province. Its touring resources are characteristic of large quantity, high grade and odd scenery. It has Chinese red rock park, a four A grade scenery spot, national forestry park, national nature protection zone, underground forest and various kinds of caves and rocks. The major cultural spots include: Nanhua Temple, which is the sacred place of Buddhism; the site of Shixia Civilization; dinosaur fossils circle; Zhuji Lane in Nanxiong; Meiguang Ancient Road.
(3) The city has solid industrial foundation. Since the country was determined to build Shaoguan into an important industrial city in South China and the strategic home front of Guangdong Province, a large group of key industrial enterprises were established, laying a solid industrial foundation in the city. The city now has 25 thousand industrial enterprises, with nearly 400 of them reaching a certain large scale. An industrial system with steel, mining, non-ferrous metal smelting, electricity, textile, building materials, food, chemical industry and forestry industry as the main industrial categories.