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| Home > Investment Guide > Anhui Profile |
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■Origin The province of Anhui was set up in the sixth year of Kangxi Reign of Qing Dynasty (A.D.1667) and the name of the province is originated from the combination of the first characters of names of the two cities at that time: Anqing and Huizhou. As there was a Mountain called "Wan Shan" and an ancient kingdom called "Wan" in spring and Autumn Period, Anhui is named "Wan" for short.
■Administrative Divisions and Population The Province, whose population reached 65 million, covers an area of 139,600 square km, composed of 17 cities (Hefei, Huaibei, Suzhou, Bozhou, Bengbu, Fuyang, Huainan, Chuzhou, Lu'an, Ma'anshan, Chaohu, Wuhu, Xuancheng, Tongling, Chizhou, Anqing, Huangshan), 5 county-level cities and 56 counties.
■Topography There are various landforms in Anhui. The Yangtze River and the Huaihe River flow through the province and divide the whole province into three main natural areas: the north area to the Huaihe River, the area between the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, and the south area to the Yangtze River. Some major mountains, such as Dabie Mountain, Yellow Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain and Tianzhu Mountain lie in Anhui, and the highest peak of Yellow Mountain "Lotus Peak" is 1,860 meters above the sea level. There are many rivers and lakes in Anhui, among which is Chaohu Lake, one of the five biggest freshwater lakes in China.
■Climate Anhui locates in the transitional area between temperate zone and subtropical zone with warm and moist air and four distinct seasons. The annual average temperature of the province is 140C-170C, the average sunny time lasts for 1800-2500 hours, the average frost-free period reaches 200-250 days and the average precipitation remains 800-1800mm per year.
■Local Specialty Products Anhui cuisine, vegetable dishes of Jiuhua Mountain, Rice Paper of Xuancheng, Ink stones of She County, Prepared Chinese Ink of Huizhou, the four treasures of the study, (i.e. writing brush, ink stick, ink stone and paper), iron pictures in Wuhu, lacquer wares in Huizhou, the peculiar stones in Lingbi, summer sleeping mats in Shucheng, folding fans in Qingyang, bronze handicrafts in Tongling, etc. all of them are very famous both home and abroad. She County is entitled "Home of Loquats", Ningguo, "Home of Hickory Nuts", Dangshan, "Home of Crisp Pears", Fu'nan, "Home of Qi Willows", Guangde, "Home of Bamboo", Qimen, "Home of Black Tea", and Jinzhai, "Home of Chinese Chestnuts". |
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With a long history and a deep-rooted culture, Anhui is a large province in terms of cultural resources, and it is also one of the important cradles of China's prehistoric civilization. The human ruined site about 2,500,000 years ago was found in Renzi Cave in Fanchang County. The ruined site of "He County ape-man" found in the "Longtan" Cave of He County dated back to the Old Stone Age about 300,000 to 400,000 years ago. Laozhuang School of Taoism, which originated in Huaihe drainage areas, is one of the two major pillars of Chinese traditional culture, and the other is Confucianism. The Huizhou Culture is the most influential cultural school during the period of Ming and Qing dynasties. Hui Study, together with Tibetology, and study of Dunhuang caves, constitutes the three biggest local studies in contemporary China. Hui Opera is one of the main sources of Beijing Opera. Huangmei Opera is classified as one of China's four major operas and the Huagu Opera popular on both sides of the Huaihe River is reputed as the "Oriental Ballet".
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Anhui is full of abundant tourism resources. There are not only beautiful natural scenes, but also spectacular man-made cultural legacy with Chinese characteristics like Buddhism, Taoism and Hui culture which are time-honored. Yellow Mountain and the ancient villages of Xidi and Hongcun in Yi County are inscribed as the World Heritage sites by UNESCO. Anhui’s possession of the relics on the list wins the third place in the whole country. Moreover, Yellow Mountain is the world cultural heritage, the world natural relic, as well as the world geological park. Anhui’s possession of 9 national level key scenic spots, including Yellow Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain, Tianzhu Mountain, Langya Mountain, Qiyun Mountain, Caishi, Chaohu, Huashan Mysterious Cave-Jian River, Taiji Cave and Huating Lake. There are five historic and cultural cities of national level in Anhui, namely She county, Shou county, Bozhou, Anqing and Jixi. 6 nature preservation zones of national level, 28 state forest parks and 56 key cultural relics under state protection are located in Anhui. And the tourism zone-“One Lake and Two Mountains” (Yellow Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain, Taiping Lake) has become world-famous.
The tourist products of Anhui province are well distributed. In southern Anhui are Yellow Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain, Qiyun Mountain, Taiping Lake together with ancient memorial archways, ancient villages, ancient ancestral halls and ancient mysterious caves; In eastern Anhui are Langya Mountain, Caishi Cliff and Fengyang, the hometown of the peasant emperor Zhu Yuanzhang; In the mid Anhui are the historic sites of the Three Kingdoms, the famous scientific and technological city-Hefei, Which was the hometown of Bao Zheng, and Chaohu Lake; In southwestern Anhui are Tianzhu Mountain, Sikong Mountain, Miaodao Mountain and the famous historical cultural city-Anqing, which was the cradle of Huangmei Opera; In western Anhui are Paradise Village, Wanfo Lake and the famous historical cultural city-Shou County; And northern Anhui is well-known for the Laozhuang Culture and Bozhou-the hometown of Cao Cao and Hua Tuo.
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Since adoption of the reform and opening-up policy, Anhui Province has achieved tremendous success in economic development. 2006, Anhui GDP reached 614.2 billion RMB, increased by 12.9%.
In Anhui Province, an industrial structure with complete lines of industries and fairly strong supporting capacity has taken shape. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan, Anhui was one of the top 8 producers of raw coal, automobile, color TV sets, refrigerators and washing machines. Some industries such as power, metallurgy, chemicals, building materials are substantially weighted in the nation. In 2006, Anhui Province realized an industrial added value of RMB 220.1 billion yuan, increased by 19.1% over the previous year.
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Anhui is one of the important production bases in agriculture, forestry and animal husbandry. The grain crops mainly include paddy rice, wheat, peas, maize, sorghum and sweet potatoes etc. The cash crops mainly consist of cotton, oil seeds, flue-cued tobacco, tea leaves, cocoons and jute etc. The animal by-products are mainly meat of various kinds and animal leather and hide etc.
Along with the fast development of industry and agriculture, Anhui Province has also made substantial headway in service industries. In 2006, the added value of the tertiary sector accounts for 40% of the aggregate economic volume.
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So far, Anhui has established trade relations with more than 200 countries and regions in the world. In the period of the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" the total import & export value of the province amounted to USD 30.07 billion, of which the export rose to USD 16.93 billion, indicating an annual growth rate of 22.2% and 19% on average.
In 2006, Anhui realized a total foreign trade of USD 12.25 billion, increased by 34.3% over the previous year, of which the export amounted to USD 6.84 billion, showing a 31.7% increase; import amounted to USD 5.41 billion, increased by 37.7%. |
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Anhui Province has been consistent in the enforcement of the policies encouraging foreign investment. Intensified efforts have been made to foster up a favorable environment that enables the improvement of goodwill, fortune and reassurance of investors. By the end of 2006, Anhui Province has received a total actual utilized investment of USD 13.94 billion, with investors from more than 80 countries and regions including HK, USA, Taiwan, Singapore, Virgin Islands, Japan, Germany, Canada, South Korea, UK and so on. Foreign capitals were invested in more than 30 industries including communications, power, energy, electro-mechanics, chemical engineering, medicines, light industry, textiles, construction, real estate and comprehensive services etc. What's more, Anhui has successfully attracted investment of quite a few of internationally renowned TNCs such as Unilever, Hitachi, Siemens, ABB, Saint Gobain, Microsoft and Wal-Mart etc.
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