Sichuan & Southwest Brief

SICHUAN

Sichuan is a province in western China with its capital at Chengdu.

Geography and Climate

The area lies in the Sichuan basin and is surrounded by the Himalayas to the west, Qinling range to the north, and mountainous areas of Yunnan to the south. The Yangtze River flows through the basin and thus is upstream to areas of eastern China. The Minjiang River in central Sichuan is a tributary of the upper Yangtze River, which it joins at Yibin. Plate tectonics formed the Longmen Shan fault, proceeding under the north-easterly mountain location of the 2008 earthquake.12

The climate is highly variable. The Sichuan Basin (including Chengdu) in eastern half of the province experiences a subtropical monsoon climate with long, warm to hot, humid summers and short, cool to cold, dry and cloudy winters, with China's lowest sunshine totals. The western areas have a mountainous climate characterized by very cold winters and mild summers, with plentiful sunshine. The southern part of the province, including Panzhihua, has a sunny, subtropical climate with very mild winters and hot summers.

Bordering provinces: Chongqing Municipality3, Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Guizhou and Yunnan.

Economy

Sichuan has been historically known as the "Province of Abundance". It is one of the major agricultural production bases of China. Grain, including rice and wheat, is the major product with output that ranked first in China in 1999. Commercial crops include citrus fruits, sugar canes, sweet potatoes, peaches and grapeseeds. Sichuan also had the largest output of pork among all the provinces and the second largest output of silkworm cocoons in China in 1999. Sichuan is rich in mineral resources. It has more than 132 kinds of proven underground mineral resources of which reserves of 11 kinds including vanadium, titanium, and lithium are the largest in China. The Panxi region alone possesses 13.3% of the reserves of iron, 93% of titanium, 69% of vanadium, 83% of cobalt of the whole country.4

Sichuan is one of the major industrial bases of China. In addition to heavy industries such as coal, energy, iron and steel industry, the province has established a light manufacturing sector comprising building materials, wood processing, food and silk processing. Chengdu and Mianyang are the production bases for textiles and electronics products. Deyang, Panzhihua, and Yibin are the production bases for machinery, metallurgy industries, and wine respectively. The wine production of Sichuan accounted for 21.9% of the country’s total production in 2000. Great strides have been achieved in accelerating the development of Sichuan into a modern hi-tech industrial base by encouraging both domestic and foreign investments in electronics and information technology (such as software), machinery and metallurgy (including automobiles), hydropower, pharmaceutical, food and beverage industries. The auto industry is important and a key sector of the machinery industry in Sichuan. Most of the auto manufacturing companies are located in Chengdu, Mianyang, Nanchong, and Luzhou5. Other important industries in Sichuan include aerospace and defense (military) industries. A number of China's rockets (Long March rockets) and satellites has been launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, located in the city of Xichang. Sichuan's beautiful landscapes and rich historical relics have also made the province into a major center for tourism.

The Three Gorges Dam, the largest dam ever constructed, is being built on the Yangtze River in nearby Hubei province to control flooding in the Sichuan Basin, neighboring Yunnan province, and downstream.6 The plan is hailed by some as a Chinese effort to shift towards alternate energy sources and to further develop its industrial and commercial bases but others have criticised it for its potential harmful effects, such as massive resettlement of residents in the reservoir areas, loss of archeological sites, and ecological damage.

Sichuan's nominal GDP for 2007 was 1.05 trillion yuan (US$138 billion), equivalent to 11,708 RMB (US$1,540) per capita. In 2007, the per capita net income of rural residents reached 3,547 yuan (US$466), up 18.1% from 2006. The per capita disposable income of the urbanites averaged 11,098 yuan (US$1,460), up 18.7% from 2006.[13] In 2007 its GDP stood at 1.05 trillion yuan (US$138 billion) accounting 4.3% of the national figure.7

Transportation

Expressways

On November 3, 2007, Sichuan Transportation Bureau announced that the Sui-Yu Expressway has been completed after three years of construction. After completion of the Chongqing section of the road, the 36.64 kilometer long Expressway connected Cheng-Nan Expressway and formed the shortest expressway from Chengdu to Chongqing. The new expressway is 50 kilometers shorter than the pre-existing road between Chengdu and Chongqing; it has cut the journey time between the two cities down by an hour, to two and a half hours. The Sui-Yu Expressway is a four lane overpass with a speed limit of 80 kilometers per hour. The total investment was 1.045 billion Yuan.

CHENGDU

Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, is the most important commercial center in West China. This metropolis of 10.44 million lies 1,500 miles from China’s eastern seaboard. The city has a market reach of 200 million consumers and it is the distribution center for southwest China encompassing Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces, the Tibet Autonomous Region, and the Municipality of Chongqing. Sichuan Province boasts one of the most diversified industrial bases in the country and Chengdu is a key manufacturing center for the electronics, machinery, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, metallurgy and food processing industries. The IT industry has been designated as the Number One Project for growth in Sichuan Province. Sichuan is also the national headquarters for feed grain companies. In 2003, the city of Chengdu had a GDP of RMB 187.08 billion ($22.6 billion), a 13% increase over 2002.

CHONGQING

Chongqing, the most recently established municipality directly under the Central Government since 1997, is the largest administrative municipality in China with a population of 30.9 million. Chongqing is strategically located in the upper reaches of the Yangzi River. According to current patterns of Chinese economic development, there are three economic belts: the eastern, western, and central belts. Chongqing has been identified as the connecting point between the eastern and western belts. Chongqing has received a great deal of financial and policy support from the Central Government, enabling its economy to grow rapidly and increasingly compete with Chengdu. Chongqing is famous for the scenic Three Gorges and the Three Gorges Reservoir. Once the construction of the Three Gorges Dam is competed, river navigation between Chongqing and Shanghai will become more reliable. Pillar industries in Chongqing are machine building, metallurgy, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Since the early 1980’s, many companies in the national defense industry have shifted to manufacturing civilian products, playing an important role in the automobile and motorcycle industries in the city. With its strong heavy industry foundation, Chongqing is expected to become the automotive capital of western China. In 2002, Chongqing had a GDP of RMB 197.1 billion ($23.7 billion), a 10.3% increase over 2001. Southwest China’s economy has enjoyed relatively sustained growth in recent years and will continue to grow at 9 to 10% over the next few years.

Notes

WISDOM SERVICES

Solutions for Your Business in Chinamore
Giant Panda

Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, home to more than 30% of the world's pandas which are classed as highly endangered, covers 924,500 ha with seven nature reserves and nine scenic parks in the Qionglai and Jiajin Mountains

Jiuzhai Valley

Jiuzhai Valley, is a National Park located in the Min Shan mountain range, northern Sichuan in Southwest China