中国地图:
http://english.people.com.cn/china/19990923A101.htmlGeography
China is situated in eastern Asia, bounded by the Pacific in the east. The third largest country in the world, next to Canada and Russia, it has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers, or one-fifteenth of the world's land mass. It begins from the confluence of the Heilong and Wusuli rivers (135 degrees and 5 minutes east longitude) in the east to the Pamirs west of Wuqia County in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (73 degrees and 40 minutes east longitude) in the west, about 5,200 kilometers apart; and from the midstream of the Heilong River north of Mohe (53 degrees and 31 minutes north latitude) in the north to the southernmost island Zengmu'ansha in the South China Sea (4 degrees and 15 minutes north latitude), about 5,500 kilometers apart.
The border stretches over 22,000 kilometers on land and the coastline extends well over 18,000 kilometers, washed by the waters of the Bohai, the Huanghai, the East China and the South China seas. The Bohai Sea is the inland sea of China.
There are 6,536 islands larger than 500 square meters, the largest is Taiwan, with a total area of about 36,000 square kilometers, and the second, Hainan. The South China Sea Islands are the southernmost island group of China.
Climate
China lies mainly in the northern temperate zone under the influence of monsoon. From September and October to March and April next year monsoon blow from Siberia and the Mongolia Plateau into China and decrease in force as it goes southward, causing dry and cold winter in the country and a temperature difference of 40 degree centigrade between the north and south. The temperature in China in the winter is 5 to 18 degree centigrade lower than that in other countries on the same latitude in winter. Monsoon blows into China from the ocean in summer, bringing with them warm and wet currents, thus rain.
Great differences in climate are found from region to region owing to China's extensive territory and complex topography. The northern part of Heilongjiang Province in northeast China has no summer, Hainan Island has a long summer but no winter; the Huaihe River valley features four distinct seasons; the western part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is covered by snow all year round; the southern part of the Yunan-Guizhou Plateau is spring-like all the year; and the northwestern inland region sees a great drop of temperature in the day. Annual precipitation also varies greatly from region to region; it is as high as 1,500 millimeters along the southeastern coast. Decreasing landward, it is less than 50 millimeters in northwest China. Please click here for current weather report, weather forecast for major Chinese cities and weather analysis.
Administrative Divisions
China is administratively divided into 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 centrally administrative municipalities and 2 special administrative regions. Municipalities are directly under the administration of central government. A municipality has the same political, economical and jurisdictional rights as a province. The statistics of areas are from official information issued in mid 1997 (CHINA 1997, Published by New Star Publishers.).
Anhui Province
Area: 139,000 square kilometers
Population: 60.70 millions
Capital: Hefei
Major Cities: Huangshan; Bengbu; Tongling; Ma'anshan
Beijing
Area: 16,800 square kilometers
Population: 12.59 millions
Chongqing (Municipality) (Newly Promoted as Municipality in 1997)
Area: 82,000 square kilometers
Population: 30.02 millions
Fujian Province
Area: 120,000 square kilometers
Population: 32.61 millions
Capital: Fuzhou
Major Cities: Xiamen; Zhangzhou
Gansu Province
Area: 450,000 square kilometers
Population: 24.67 millions
Capital: Lanzhou
Major Cities: Dunhuang; Jiayuguan; Jiayuguan
Guangdong Province
Area: 186,000 square kilometers
Population: 69.61 millions
Capital: Guangzhou
Major Cities: Chaozhou; Dongguan; Shantou; Shenzhen; Shunde; Zhuhai;
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
Area: 236,300 square kilometers
Population: 45.89 millions
Capital: Nanning
Major Cities: Beihai; Guilin; Liuzhou
Guizhou Province
Area: 170,000 square kilometers
Population: 35.55 millions
Capital: Guiyang
Major Cities: Anshun; Zunyi
Hainan Province
Area: 34,000 square kilometers
Population: 7.34 millions
Capital: Haikou
Major Cities: Sanya
Hebei Province
Area: 190,000 square kilometers
Population: 64.84 millions
Capital: Shijiazhuang
Major Cities: Cangzhou; Chengde; Qinhuangdao(Including Beidaihe and Shanhaiguan); Tangshan; Baoding; Zhangjiakou
Heilongjiang Province
Area: 469,000 square kilometers
Population: 37.28 millions
Capital: Harbin
Major Cities: Hailaer; Mohe; Mudanjiang; Qiqihar; Suifenhe
Henan Province
Area: 167,000 square kilometers
Population: 91.72 millions
Capital: Zhengzhou
Major Cities: Anyang; Kaifeng; Luoyang; Sanmenxia
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)
Area: 1,092 square kilometers
Population: 6.31 millions
Hubei Province
Area: 187,400 square kilometers
Population: 58.25 millions
Capital: Wuhan
Major Cities: Huangshi; Shiyan; Shashi; Xiangfan; Yichang;
Hunan Province
Area: 210,000 square kilometers
Population: 64.28 millions
Capital: Changsha
Major Cities: Changde; Dayong; Hengyang; Xiangtan; Zhangjiajie
Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region
Area: 1,183,000 square kilometers
Population: 23.07 millions
Capital: Hohhot
Major Cities: Baotou; Chifeng; Wuhai
Jiangsu Province
Area: 102,600 square kilometers
Population: 71.10 millions
Capital: Nanjing
Major Cities: Lianyungang; Xuzhou; Suzhou; Wuxi; Zhenjiang
Jiangxi Province
Area: 166,600 square kilometers
Population: 41.05 millions
Capital: Nanchang
Major Cities: Jiujiang; Lushan; Jian, Jinggangshan
Jilin Province
Area: 187,000 square kilometers
Population: 26.10 millions
Capital: Changchun
Major Cities: Jilin; Tuman; Yanji
Liaoning Province
Area: 145,700 square kilometers
Population: 41.16 millions
Capital: Shenyang
Major Cities: Dalian; Dandong; Anshan, Wafangdian
Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region
Area: 66,400 square kilometers
Population: 5.21 millions
Capital: Yinchuan
Major Cities: Shizuishan
Qinghai Province
Area: 720,000 square kilometers
Population: 4.88 millions
Capital: Xining
Shaanxi Province
Area: 205,000 square kilometers
Population: 35.43 millions
Capital: Xi'an
Major Cities: Xianyang; Baoji; Hanzhong;
Shandong Province
Area: 153,000 square kilometers
Population: 87.38 millions
Capital: Jinan
Major Cities: Dezhou; Linyi; Qingdao;Qufu; Tai'an; Yantai
Shanghai (Municipality)
Area: 6,200 square kilometers
Population: 14.19 millions
Shanxi Province
Area: 156,000 square kilometers
Population: 31.09 millions
Capital: Taiyuan
Major Cities: Datong; Linfen; Yangquan
Sichuan Province
Area: 488,000 square kilometers
Population: 84.28 millions
Capital: Chengdu
Major Cities: Emeishan; Zigong; Daxianshi
Taiwan Province
Area: 36,000 square kilometers
Population: 21.30 millions
Major Cities: Taipei; Gaoxiong; Tainan; Xinzhu
Tianjin (Municipality)
Area: 11,300 square kilometers
Population: 9.48 millions
Tibet Autonomous Region
Area: 1,220,000 square kilometers
Population: 2.44 millions
Capital: Lhasa
Major Cities: Xigaze
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
Area: 1,600,000 square kilometers
Population: 16.89 millions
Capital: Urumqi
Major Cities: Kashgar; Turfan
Yunnan Province
Area: 394,000 square kilometers
Population: 40.42 millions
Capital: Kunming
Major Cities: Dali; Simao; Xishuangbanna
Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR)
Area: 23.8 square kilometers
Population: 435,000
Zhejiang Province
Area: 101,800 square kilometers
Population: 43.43 millions
Capital: Hangzhou
Major Cities: Jiaxing; Ningbo; Shaoxing; Wenzhou;
Ethnic Groups
There are 56 ethnic groups in China. The Han people form the largest, numbering 1.1 billion and making up 93.3 percent of the country's population. The other ethnic groups, that is the minority nationalities, total 160 million, only 6.7 percent of the Chinese nation.
Of the minority nationalities, 15 have over a million people each; 13 over 100,000 each; 7 over 50,000 each; and 20 have fewer than 50,000 people each.
The Han people live all over the country but their compact communities are in the Huanghe, Changjiang and Zhujiang valleys and the Songhua-Liaohe Plain of the northeast. The minority nationalities inhabit 60 percent of the country's total area, and they live mainly in the border regions.
All nationalities in China are equal, as stipulated by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, They take part in the administration of state affairs as equals, irrespective of their numbers or the size of areas they inhabit. Every minority nationality is represented in the National People's Congress, which is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China.
National regional autonomy is practiced in areas where the minority nationalities live in compact communities. There are 5 national autonomous and 75 autonomous counties (or banners in Inner Mongolia). Local autonomous governments are established and local affairs are administered by the minorities themselves. All national autonomous regions are inalienable parts of the People's Republic of China.
At present, because of various historical factors the minority nationality areas are less developed than Han areas economically and culturally. Over the last three decades, the Chinese Government has adopted many policies and measures, including the provision of manpower, financial and technical support, to help develop these minority nationality areas. Such help, of course, is a two-way street, for minority nationality areas have also contributed to the economic development of the areas inhabited by the Han people.
Population
Year Total Population Urban Population Rural Population
1995 1.21121 billion
1996 1.22389 billion 359.5 million 864.39 million
1997 1.23626 billion 369.89 million 866.37 million
1998 1.24810 billion
Year Birth Rate Death Rate Natural Growth Rate Unit: per thousand
1995 17.12 6.57
1996 16.98 6.56 10.42
1997 16.57 6.51 10.06
1998 16.30 6.50 9.53
The year of 1998 saw19.91 million births, 8.07 million deaths of the population, with a net growth polulation of 11.84 million (compared with 12.37 million in 1997).
China population is distributed unevenly with more in the east (more than 300 persons per square kilometer) and fewer in the west (about 40 persons per square kilometer. The national average density of population is 119 per square kilometer (1990 census). For basic urban population data, please visit "ChinaToday.com" Provinces and Cities page. The average size of household was 3.7 persons. The proportion of population aged at 0-14 was 26.4 percent, those aged 15-64 was 67.2 percent, and that of the people aged 65 and over was 6.4 percent. The Average Chinese Life-Span of the population was 70.8 years, that for male was 68.71, and female, 73.04.
(Some of the above data are based on the report from China National Statistics Bureau, FOR YOUR REFERENCE ONLY).
Religions
China is a multi-religious country. Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism, with the first three being more wide spread.Various religions exert different influence on different ethnic groups.
Islam is followed by the Hui, Uygur, Kazak, Kirgiz, Tatar, Dongxiang, Salar and Bonan nationalities;
Buddhism and Lamaism are followed by the Tibetan, Mongolian, Dai and Yugur nationalities;
Christianity is followed by the Miao, Yao and Yi nationalities;
Shamanism is followed by the Oroqen, Ewenki and Daur nationalities;
the majority Han nationality believes in Buddhism, Christianity and Taoism.
Culture
New China has witnessed in the past 50 years a tortuous development of its literature and art. The first Congress of Literary and Art workers held in 1949 set into motion what was known as "socialist art cause". In 1956, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party put forward the principle of "let one hundred flowers bloom and one hundred schools of though contend", a policy that promoted the development of arts. Things were in good shape up to 1966, when the "cultural revolution" broke out, with the exception of the excessive Anti-Rightist Movement of the late 1950's, which implicated a big number of writers and artists. During the 10-year "cultural revolution", many excellent works were labeled as "poisonous weeds", and writers and artists were persecuted, leaving China's garden of literature and art barren.
Since 1978, China has seen a revival of artistic creation. Great progress has been made in the following areas:
1. The country's art performance troupes have been revamped as part of the effort to reshape China's cultural establishment.
This effort has achieved major breakthroughs over the last 20 years of reform and opening up. Since 1992, the Ministry of Culture, the country's chief regulator of cultural affairs, has responded to the Party's call to deepen structural reforms of cultural institutions by focusing first on performance groups directly under the central government. Measures taken include redefining the relationship between the State and the troupes by introducing performance-related subsidies, and redefining the relationship between the performance groups and performers by linking employment with performance. Thanks to the effective reforms, the number of performance groups directly under the central government has been reduced from 13 to 10, but annual performances by those troupes increased from nearly 400 of the pre-reform period to 1,928 in 1997. Financially, these troupes put an end to loss-making and posted a profit of 7.43 million yuan in 1997. This experience served as a model to be applied nationwide for reforming art troupes of various sizes.
Art education and culture-related science and technology have also undergone readjustments, and pilot programs have been undertaken in promoting rural cultural reforms and reorganizing popular cultural institutions.
2. Artistic creation has flourished.
To promote art development, the government has since 1987 held five Chinese art festivals featuring time-honored stage performances. These festivals have been hugely successful thanks to the participation of professional artists and the public at large. In 1991 the Ministry of Culture launched the Wenhua Award -- the highest award for professional artists given by the government. Recipients of that award include Grandpa Shangang, Remote Town, Barren land and The Geologist.
In stage productions, the government protects and supports classical art such as orchestral music, opera and music plays, and traditional Chinese arts such as Peking Opera. The most popular shows include the New Year's Peking Opera Night and the Chinese New Year Party organized by the Ministry of Culture. In 1997 alone, 417,000 shows were staged attracting a audience of 464 million.
3. A cultural market is fast emerging.
The reform program has given rise to a booming cultural market. That market encompasses performances, books, newspapers and magazines, fine arts, films, audio and video products, entertainment, historical relics, Sino-foreign cultural exchanges and art training. Meanwhile, problems have arisen along with the booming market. In 1993, a national working conference was held on regulating the burgeoning cultural market. At that meeting, the principle of "attaching equal importance to cultural prosperity and market regulation" was set forth. A series of related policies and regulations have been formulated and promulgated since. The promulgation of the Regulations on Commercial Performance Administration in 1997, in particular, represented a major milestone in cultural market legislation. Over the past years, a planned and step-by-step effort to tackle problems in the cultural market has been made and the result has been good. The macro-control measures taken to regulate the performance market, in particular, have created a positive market environment for the growth of traditional Chinese arts and classical Western arts. The rearrangement of the audio and video market has resulted in an obvious increase in the market share of authentic products. Since January 1997, a program-supply system has been introduced to ensure that video projection rooms all over the country play only authentic films, thereby ensuring the healthy development of the market.
Statistics show that by 1997 there were 257,378 business entities nationwide affiliated with cultural institutions, employing 1,160,385. That market represents not only a place for entertainment but also a source of employment and tax revenue. The cultural industry, as part of the service industry, is playing an increasingly important role.
4. Impressive progress has been made in the development of ethnic minority cultures.
To support the cultural development of ethnic minorities, the Ministry of Culture has mapped out a series of preferential policies for building cultural facilities in minority-inhabited areas, training ethnic artists, conducting cultural exchanges with foreign countries, and preserving cultural relics. With the assistance of the government, all the ethnic groups in China have formed their own art troupes. By 1997 those troupes numbered 526, including 59 singing and dancing troupes. In addition, there were 596 libraries, 658 cultural centers and 134 museums. The Ministry of Culture allocates more than 10 million yuan to minority-inhabited areas for building cultural facilities. To encourage artistic excellence, the government set up a Peacock Prize for ethnic artists, so far 166 have won the prize.
Also, 24 institutions of higher learning and secondary schools nationwide are designated to train minority artists. To support the cultural development of Tibet, for example, the Ministry of Culture mobilized 14 provinces and municipalities to aid Tibet's cultural development. The first 15 projects alone involved nearly 50 billion yuan of aid.
5. Art education has been strengthened.
Currently, the country now has 30 institutions of higher learning devoted to art education, with a combined enrollment of 6,673 students and a staff of 21,284. In addition, 137 secondary schools employ 13,959 staff members with an enrollment of 68,594. These schools have produced such great Chinese artists as singers Guan Mucun and Dong Wenhua, as well as comedians Shi Fukuan and Jiang Kun.
6. The cultural infrastructure has been consolidated.
The reform and opening up program has given rise to the emergence of a host of hallmark cultural facilities in various localities. These include the National Library of China (the largest in Asia; dedicated in October 1987); the museums of Shaanxi, Shanghai, Henan and Tibet; the libraries of Shanghai, Jiangxi, Fujian and Inner Mongolia; the Changan Grand Theater of Beijing and Tianhe Book Trading Center of Guangzhou. In 1997 alone, 1,043 cultural infrastructure projects were under construction, involving a construction area of 4.5 million square meters. By the end of that year, 361 projects had been completed, with a construction area of 934,000 square meters and a total investment of 2.84 billion yuan. The Ministry of Culture alone undertook more than 30 projects, most involving over 10 million yuan each. Eight projects involved more than 100 million yuan each. The construction of a National Opera House is under way, and a number of provinces and cities have built their own opera houses and concert halls.
Overview
In the fifty years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially in the two decades since the initiation of reform and opening to the outside world, China's socialist construction has scored great achievements that have attracted world attention. The national economy showed a rapid and sustained growth, the overall strength of the country expanded noticeably, the standard of living of the people improved with the passage of time and unprecedented results have been achieved in such undertakings as science and technology, education, culture, health and physical culture.
China's economic construction has experienced both smooth development and severe setbacks. After the founding of the People's Republic, China first went through three years of economic rehabilitation. In 1953, the First Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development was worked out and implemented. During this period, China established more than 100 large industrial enterprises, some basic industries which had remained weak links until then as well as some new industrial sectors such as aircraft manufacturing, automobile, tractor, power generating equipment, metallurgical equipment, mining machinery, heavy and precision machinery, thus laying a preliminary foundation for socialist industrialization.
In the decade from 1956 to 1966 prior to the eruption of the Cultural Revolution, socialist construction was carried out in an all-round way. Despite severe setbacks, Chinese economy managed to score illustrious results. New industries like electronics and petrochemical engineering came into being and the industrial layout was improved. China achieved complete self-sufficiency in oil supply from 1965 onwards. The capital construction and technical upgrading of agriculture were launched on a large scale and results were achieved gradually. Remarkable success was also achieved in science and technology. However, the "Great Leap Forward" in 1958 plus the then natural calamities severely affected the development of national economy. In the winter of 1960, a policy of readjusting, consolidating, filling in and raising standards for the national economy was adopted and China's economic construction was brought back to the right track. The Cultural Revolution, which began in 1966, resulted in a decade of social turmoil and China's economic development experienced the most severe setback and biggest loss ever since the founding of the People's Republic.
Since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh CPC Central Committee convened in December 1978, the central government made the strategic decision of shifting the focus of work to socialist modernization and defined the guiding policy of revitalizing the domestic economy and opening up to the outside world. A fully fresh situation appeared in economic development through vigorously balancing the proportions of the national economy and reforming the outdated economic system. The Twelfth National Congress of the Communist Party of China worked out the overall objective for economic construction by the end of this century: striving to quadruple China's annual industrial and agricultural output value on the basis of increasing economic efficiency constantly.
The Fourteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China set the goal of establishing the system of socialist market economy. Resolution of the CPC Central Committee on Certain Questions of Establishing Socialist Market Economy adopted at the Fifth Plenary Session of the Fourteenth CPC Central Committee defined the general framework of China's economic reform. Thereafter, a series of important reform measures were taken and positive effects were achieved. A major step was made in the reform of the pricing system, public finance, taxation, banking, foreign trade and foreign exchange and notable results were achieved. A new mechanism for fixing the price by the market was formed initially. A new taxation system began to operate in a normal order and a system whereby tax revenue was shared by central and local authorities was implemented in a full swing. People's Bank of China was designated as the central bank implementing the monetary policy independently while the separation of policy bank and commercial bank was also under way. An operating mechanism for foreign trade that conforms to the internationally accepted rules was established after carrying out a series of measures for reforming the system of foreign trade and foreign exchange. These measures include introducing a single exchange rate, implementing the system of exchange settlement and sales by banks and reforming the management of import and export. The reform of state-owned enterprises, which is designed mainly to establish modern enterprise system, progressed steadily. And the reform related to social security, housing, education and science and technology also made new strides.
The Eighth Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development (1991-1995) marked a period during which, with slightest fluctuation, China's economy developed at an all-time high speed. During the period, the central government put forward the basic policy of "seizing the opportunity to deepen the reform and open wider to the outside world, promoting development and maintaining stability." As a result, the national economy maintained a rapid and sustained development while inflation was brought under effective control and the economy as a whole began to get on a track of rapid and steady growth.
During the period of the Eighth Five-Year Plan, the state increased its investment in infrastructure and basic industries and established new development mechanisms for these industries through reform. As a result, great strides had been made in these areas, especially in railway, highway, communication, port, airport and power industry. According to an incomplete statistics, out of the nearly RMB 600 billion yuan of various funds collected by the central government and local governments at all levels, more than 60 percent were invested in capital construction. At the same time, more decision-making rights were delegated to the local governments with regard to communication and telecommunications and more efforts were made to utilize foreign investment and collect funds through many channels. All this had promoted the development of these basic industries, strengthened Chinese economy for future development and ensured a sustained, rapid and sound development of the national economy.
Economic development is the basis on which foreign trade grows. At the same time, the growing foreign trade also constitutes a major element in promoting economic development. During the Eighth Five-Year Plan, China's foreign trade expanded considerably and managed to become one of the ten major export countries in the world and China's percentage in the total volume of world commodity trade rose very fast. During the period from 1989 to 1991, economic readjustment narrowed the gap between demand and supply within the country , the amount of exports increased rapidly while that of imports plummeted. As a result, a favorable balance of trade appeared continuously and China's foreign exchange reserve increased at a high speed.
In the two decades after the initiation of reform and opening to the outside world, China's economy has undergone a fundamental change from planned economy to market economy. The economic strength of the country was intensified constantly. The standard of living of the people improved gradually. The annual growth rate of GDP averaged around 10 percent and the target of quadrupling the annual industrial and agricultural output vale of the year 1980 by the end of the century was fulfilled ahead of schedule.
In 1996, China worked out the Outline of the Ninth Five-Year Plan for National Economy and Social Development and the Long-range Objectives Through the Year 2010. Through the engineering efforts of all the people in the country, new achievements were made in reform, opening up and modernization in the beginning of the Ninth Five-Year Plan. With the goal of macro control being attained, China's economy realized "soft land". This was a sign that China's economy had entered a period of sound operation and thus laid a solid foundation for the fulfillment of the Ninth Five-Year Plan.
In 1997, adhering to the principle of "seeking progress in the midst of stability" and the macro control policies, China continued to develop at a moderately high speed.
In the face of the complicated and grim economic environment at home and abroad in 1998, the people of all ethnic groups in China worked hard together, surmounted numerous difficulties and scored great achievements in carrying out the reform and opening up policy and in the socialist modernization drive. The objectives for reform and development defined at the beginning of the year were basically attained. The national economy maintained a relatively rapid development. The gross domestic product for 1998 increased by 7.8 percent over the previous year. The increase was slightly lower than the targeted figure of 8 percent, but attaining 7.8 percent was not easy given the impact of the Asian financial crisis and the catastrophic floods that hit China last year. To protect China against the adverse effects of the Asian financial crisis, we adopted a policy of increasing investment and boosting domestic demand at the beginning of last year. However, the crisis became broader and deeper than it had been anticipated and exerted more of an impact on China than the country had expected. In the first half of 1998, China's economic growth rate slowed down due to a sharp decline in the growth rate of export volume and inadequate domestic demand to keep the economy growing. To address this problem, the central authorities resolutely made a decision to adopt a pro-active fiscal policy. After the National People's Congress approved the necessary changes in the budget for 1998, the State Council issued an additional 100 billion yuan of treasury bonds for investment in infrastructure development. As a result, the growth of fixed-asset investment in state-owned enterprises was much more rapid in the second half of the year, increasing by 19.5 percent for the year as a whole. Total investment in fixed assets of all segments of the economy increased by 14.1 percent. This considerable increase in investment played a prominent role in fueling economic growth.
The Second Plenary Session of the Ninth National People's Congress was held in March 1999. It stressed that the general requirement for the work of the government in the year was as follows continue to promote reform and opening up, step up our efforts to implement the strategy of developing the country by relying on science and education and the strategy of working for sustainable development, promote economic growth mainly through the expansion of domestic demand, stabilize and strengthen agriculture, deepen the reform of state-owned enterprises, restructure the economy, make great efforts to open up more urban and rural markets, do everything possible to increase exports, take precautions against and obviate financial risks, rectify economic order, maintain a sustained, rapid and sound development of the national economy, conscientiously strengthen democracy and the legal system and promote cultural and ethical progress, work for all-round social progress, further improve the balance of reform, development and stability, ensure social and political stability and greet the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of New China with outstanding achievements in reform, opening up and the socialist modernization drive.
The session stressed that the year 1999 was a crucial year for achieving the objective of getting most of the large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises operating at a loss out of their plight and accomplishing the initial steps in the establishment of a modern enterprise system in most of the large and medium-sized state-owned key enterprises. In 1999, governments at all levels must put a stop to redundant development and quicken the pace of industrial restructuring and reorganization; continue to guarantee the basic needs of workers laid off from state-owned enterprises and help them find new jobs; promote the separation of the functions of the government from those of the enterprises, improve the supervisory system and consolidate and improve the leadership of enterprises. People in China should continue to relax control over and invigorate small state-owned enterprises in various ways. China should adopt policies and measures to encourage, support and guide the sound development of individual proprietorship, privately-owned and other non-public sectors of the economy. Since the founding of the People's Republic and especially the adoption of the policy of reform and opening up, China's economy has shown a sustained and rapid growth, various social undertakings developed fast, the overall strength of the country was intensified constantly and the standard of living of the people improved notably. China's gross domestic product (GDP), which came to only RMB 362.41 billion yuan in 1978, amounted to 7955.3 billion yuan, 20-fold increase over 1978. China ranks No.7 in terms of total supply and demand and No.1 in terms of economic growth rate.
According to the data provided by State Statistical Bureau, China's GDP in 1997 amounts to US$902 billion if calculated by the average exchange rate between RMB yuan and US dollars of the year. This figure ranks No.7 behind USA (US$7819.3 billion), Japan (US$4223.4 billion), German (US$2115.4 billion), France (US$1393.8 billion), Britain (US$1278.4 billion) and Italy (US$ 1146.2 billion). From 1979 to 1997, China's average annual growth rate is 9.8 percent, 6.5 percentage points higher than that of the world.
China's output of main industrial and agricultural products occupy the front ranks of the world:
From 1978 to 1997, China's output of coal and cloth had remained No.1; the output of cereal, cotton, rapeseeds, pork, beef, mutton, steel, cement, coal and television sets rose to No.1 in the world respectively from No.2 to No.16; the power generated and the output of chemical fertilizers climbed to No.2 respectively from No.7 and No.4; the output of crude oil increased to No.5 from No.8. Of course, the average per capita level of the country still remains fairly low.
河北:Hebei Province
Location: Lying on the North China Plain
Area: 187,700 sq km
Climate: The province has a temperate continental monsoon climate, which varies greatly due to its vastness, and most of the territory has clear-cut seasons. Its annual sunshine time is 2400-3100 hours. annual frost-free period 120-200 days. annual precipitation 300-800mm, annual average temperature 0 degree to 13 degree.
provincial capital: Shijiazhuang
Population: 67,44 millions (March 2001)
Ethnic groups: The population of Han nationality,accounts for 96% of the total; the rest is composed of people from 53 minority nationalities including Manchu, Hui Mongolian,Zhuang, Korean, Miao, Tujia, etc,
Major Cities: Cangzhou; Chengde; Qinhuangdao(Including Beidaihe and Shanhaiguan); Tangshan; Baoding; Zhangjiakou
Agriculture: Eastern Hebei Province is a flat, alluvial plain on which grow luxuriant crops of wheat, cotton, corn, paddy, tobacco, peanut and sesame. In the western part is the rugged Taihang Mountain Area which, besides producing wheat and other cereal crops, also grows walnut, persimmon, date and a wide variety of fruit.
Industry: Located in northeastern Hebei Province not far northeast of the great port of Tianjin is the Kailuan Coal Mines, one of the major coal producers in China. Sizable reserves of oil, iron and other deposits have also been found in the province. Petroleum are tapped on quite a scale in the Renqiu Area in southeastern Hebei Province.
