An Overview

Geographically Huzhou is between 119¡ã14¡¯ to 120¡ã29¡¯ east longitude and 30¡ã22¡¯ to 31¡ã11¡¯ north latitude. Situated in the north of Zhejiang Province in the eastern coast of China, Huzhou is 148km from Shanghai to the east, 88km from Hangzhou to the south, 240km from Nanjing to the west and 90km from Suzhou and Wuxi to the north. It is right in the center of the Yangtze River Delta and Shanghai Economic Circle.

Under the jurisdiction of Huzhou Municipality are three counties¡ªDeqing, Changxing and Anji and two districts¡ªWuxing and Nanxun, covering a total area of 5,818 km² and with a population of 2,570,000. Huzhou is a famous historical city with a history of more than 2,300 years. There are a number of beautiful natural attractions and historical and cultural sites in Huzhou. Huzhou is historically known as the "Home to Silk, Town of Abundance and State of Cultural Relics".

Huzhou roughly features a terrain that slants from the southwest to the northeast with many hills in the west, of which the highest peak of Longwang Mountain has an altitude of 1,587m. Its eastern part is a plain networked with many rivers and lakes including Dongshao Stream and Xishao Stream, with an average altitude of only 3m or so. Huzhou has a subtropical humid monsoon climate and an average annual temperature of 12.2-16.1¡ãC. The average annual rainfall is 1,300 mm and the frost-free period is 224-240 days.

Huzhou enjoys a well-established water-land transportation network. There are the Hangzhou-Huzhou-Nanjing Expressway, the No. 104 National Highway which crosses the country from north to south and the No. 318 National Highway which crosses the country from east to west. Also crossing Huzhou are three railways: Anhui-Huzhou-Hangzhou, Xinyi (Jiangsu)-Changxing(Huzhou) and Zhapu-Huzhou Railways, which are connected with the state trunk railways¡ªLonghai Railway and Huhang Railway. The waterway route from Changxing to Shanghai gives Huzhou convenient access to water transport. The Shanghai-Jiangsu-Huzhou-Anhui Expressway and Shanghai-Jiaxing-Huzhou Expressway which are under construction also intersect in Huzhou. Huzhou boasts a first-class inland railway-highway-waterway transit port and an international container through-transit base.

Huzhou enjoys well-established infrastructures which include power plants, irrigation works, sewage treatment plants, urban gas pipeline network and tap water supply facilities. The city has Tianhuangping Pumped Storage Power Station with a total installed capacity of 1,800 thousand KW¡ªthe biggest in Asia and the second biggest in the world, and the approximately 1,500 thousand KW Huaneng Changxing Fuel Electric Power Plant. To support the national West-East Gas Pipeline Project, Huzhou has been vigorously developing its natural gas pipeline network. The clean and safe natural gases from western China will be available to various users in Huzhou this year.

Huzhou is one of the 14 key cities that are designated by the Chinese Government to integrate with Shanghai Pudong's opening up and development¡ª"Planning in Advance and Developing in Advance". Huzhou has been promoting foreign economic exchanges. By the end of 2005, Huzhou had attracted investments from 60-plus countries and regions from all over the world. The 2,415 foreign invested projects brought total contractual foreign investments of USD 7.4 billion, with USD 2.87 billion of foreign investment in actual use.

The major economic indicators in 2005 were:

Total GDP: RMB 64.005 billion yuan

GDP per capita: RMB 24,866 yuan

Total fiscal revenue: RMB 7.424 billion yuan (local fiscal revenue: RMB 3.973 billion yuan)

Total industrial output value of above-scale enterprises: RMB 76.637 billion yuan

Total retail sales of consumer goods: RMB 23.775 billion yuan

Total export: USD 1.996 billion

Per capita disposable income of urban residents: RMB 15,561 yuan

Fixed asset investment: RMB 43.308 billion yuan

Contractual foreign investment: USD1.692 billion

Foreign investment in actual use: USD 651 million

Huzhou is striving to build itself into a National Sanitary City, China's Excellent Tourist City, National Model City of Mutual Support between Civilians and Armed Forces and Zhejiang Civilized City. In the near future, Huzhou will become a modern cultural city renowned for its beautiful landscapes beside Southern Taihu Lake.

Adhering to the policy of "Building the City with Industry and Strengthening the City with Industry", Huzhou aims to establish the four manufacturing bases of featured electromechanical industry, medical and chemical industry, modern textile industry and modern building material industry. In addition, there are ten manufacturing centers of modern building materials, biochemical products, green bamboo and wooden products, quality cement, special textiles, metal pipes & stainless steel, special electromechanical products, photoelectric products & materials, modern seating products and brand name kidswear. Huzhou is vigorously developing the four featured and advantageous industries¡ªfeatured electromechanics, medical and chemical industry, modern textiles, new building material, and build modern IT and environmental protection industries. After years of efforts, these industries have become the most dynamic ones among Huzhou's manufacturing industries.

In order to better utilize and attract more foreign investments, Huzhou has introduced a series of preferential policies and measures in favor of foreign investors. Huzhou has various well-established administrative and service organs in finance, customs, commodity inspection, industry and commerce, foreign exchange, etc, which provide a sure guarantee of highly efficient services for foreign investors. According to the "Report on Competitiveness of Chinese Cities (2003)", Huzhou is one of the 47 most competitive cities out of the 200 cities surveyed in China, with its structural and institutional competitiveness ranking the 6th and 9th respectively. In the ranking of best commercial cities in Mainland China publicized by Forbes in Sept. 2004, Huzhou is the 28th among all the 660 cities surveyed.

The industries where investments are encouraged in Huzhou:

Agriculture: Hi-tech-based modern agriculture and processing industry.

Industry:

I. IT Industry

1. modern communications and network facilities development and industrialization;

2. software technology development and industrialization;

3. semi-conductor, ICB technology and industrialization;

4. photoelectronic, applied electronic and modern electronic component technology and industrialization;

5. electronic materials and industrialization;

II. Biological and Medical Industry

6. biotic pesticide and veterinary medicine development and industrialization;

7. biochemical and medical equipment industrialization;

8. chemical medicine development and industrialization;

9. modernization of traditional Chinese medicine;

10. health food development and industrialization;

III. New Material Industry

11. new materials;

IV. Environment Protection Industry

12. environment-friendly equipment development and industrialization;

13. environment-friendly material & medicine development;

V. Equipment Manufacturing Industry

14. automobile and motorcycle parts & components;

15. motor vehicles and key components;

16. integrated modern logistics project and equipment;

17. intelligent special equipment;

18. micromotor;

VI. Textile Industry

19. key technology development and industrialization of high-grade textile fabric;

20. key industry-oriented textile development and industrialization;

21. high-grade garment and industrialization;

VII. Light Industry

22. modern seating products;

23. digital printing and key technology in green packing;

24. fur products;

25. food refined processing techniques and industrialization;

VIII. Chemical Industry

26. high-performance pigment and modern refined chemical product development and key technology;

27. highly-efficient and low-toxic fertilizer development and industrialization;

IX. Building Material and Metallurgical Industry

28. modern building material development and industrialization;

29. steel structure fabrication & erection and industrialization;

30. metal pipeline and stainless steel;

X. Recycling Economy

31. key industry environment protection;

XI. Comprehensive Utilization of Resources

32. the technology of power generation by using pure low-temperature residual heat of new dry cement;

33. solid waste reutilization;

XII. Energy-Saving and Recyclable Energies

34. development and use of recyclable energies and clean energies (e.g. wind power);

35. modern energy-saving techniques, products and equipment;

XIII. Industrial Water-Saving

36. renovation of high water-consuming industries.

Others: basic infrastructure construction (expressway, etc), tourism development, scientific research, education (excluding compulsory education).

Houzhou's key development zones include the five provincial-level development zones of Huzhou Economic & Technological Development Zone (state-level overseas Chinese Investment Park), Nanxun Economic Development Zone, Deqing Economic Development Zone, Changxing Economic Development Zone, Anji Economic Development Zone, and the five provincial-level industrial parks, namely,  Huzhou Zhili Kidswear Industrial Park, Nanxun Lianshi Industrial Park, Deqing Xinshi Industrial Park, Changxing Meishan Industrial Park and Anji Gaoyu Industrial Park.

Huzhou warmly welcomes investors and tourists both at home and abroad!

For more information or inquiry, please contact:

Foreign Investment Division

Huzhou Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation Bureau

Address: 137 Fenghuang Road, Huzhou, Zhejiang Province 313000

Tel: 0086-572-2100408, 2101374, 2102686

Fax: 0086-572-2668608, 2103388

Website: http://www.hzbiz.gov.cn/

E-mail: hzwz1984@163.com