The Australia-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New South Wales

FUJIAN PROVINCE（福建省）

Fujian is shown in black.

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General Profile:

Population: 34,700,000

Provincial Capital: Fuzhou, which means “wealthy town”.

Average temperatures: 5 deg C to 13 deg C in January; 25 deg C to 30 deg C in July.

Physical features: The land area is 136,000 square kilometres. Nearly 90 per cent of the province consists of mountains and hills, with lower elevations forming a narrow plain along the coast.

Rivers: The Min River is a major waterway with a drainage area that includes about half of the province.

Administrative divisions: 11 districts and 59 counties.

Historical significance: As a result of an irregular coastline on the western side of the Taiwan Strait, with a number of protected inlets, the province was a leading centre for the silk and tea trade beginning in the 16th century.

Fujian was also a source of emigrant Chinese at about the same time. The local dialect, minnanhua, meaning south of the Min River and sometimes called Hokkien, is very close to the Taiwanese dialect. The emigrants also settled in Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Natural Resources:

Fujian possesses abundant mineral resources. The province's reserves of iron ore are ranked as the best in the country. Also available are coal, molybdenum, manganese, salt and graphite.

Economic Profile:

	1999		2000
Economic Indicators	Value	Growth	Value	Growth
		(% p.a.)		(% p.a.)
Gross domestic product (RMB bn)	357.9	8.9*	392.0	9.5*
Per capita GDP (RMB)	10,969	8.4	11,297	3.0
Income per capita
- urban (RMB)	6,862	5.6	7,432	8.3
- rural (RMB)	3,091	3.6	3,230	4.5
Fixed investment (RMB bn)	108.5	2.7	111.0	2.3
Value added by sector
- primary (RMB bn)	62.4	2.6	63.8	2.2
- secondary (RMB bn)	159.4	10.3	171.1	11.2
- tertiary (RMB bn)	139.5	10.5	157.1	10.5
Retail sales (RMB bn)	124.6	10.0	137.3	10.2
Inflation (retail prices, %)	-3.5		-1.1
Exports (US$ bn)	10.7	-0.7	12.9	24.7
- by FIEs (US$ bn)	5.9	8.1	7.6	29.0
Imports (US$ bn)	7.8	5.3	8.3	14.4
- by FIEs (US$ bn)	5.5	5.4	6.8	20.9
Foreign direct investment
- number of projects	1,439	-28.3	1,463	1.7
- contracted amount (US$ bn)	4.9	-2.6	4.3	-12
- utilised amount (US$ bn)	4.0	-4.5	3.8	-5

Notes: *Estimated
Sources: Statistical Yearbook of Fujian and State Statistical Bureau.

Infrastructure:

Water Transport -- The coastal ports in Fujian have a combined annual throughput of over 69 million tons. Fuzhou's Mawei（馬尾）, Xiamen's Dongdu（東渡）and Meizhou（湄州）Bay are the most important harbours, with berths which can accommodate ships in the 10,000-to-50,000-ton-class. Since 1 January 2001, direct shipping routes from Fuzhou and Xiamen to Kinmen and return are available.

Railways -- Fujian is well connected to northern and central China by railways. The province is connected to the Beijing-Kowloon railway via the 500-km Yingtan-Xiamen railway. In the near future, two new railways will be built -- the Wenfu Railway（溫福鐵路）and Ganglong Railway（贛龍鐵路）－ connecting with Zhejiang Province and Jiangxi Province.

Roadways -- Major arterial highways include those linking Fuzhou-Kunming （福州－昆明）, Beijing-Fuzhou, Xiamen-Chengdu（廈門－成都）, and Fuzhou-Lanzhou（福州－蘭州）. The first class roadway within the province is Fuzhou-Quangzhou-Xiamen-Zhangzhou（福州－泉州－廈門－漳州）. Three new roadways are under construction; they are the Wenzhou-Fuzhou highway, Zhangzhou-Longyan highway as well as the state highway that links Beijing and Fuzhou.

Air Transport --The Changle International Airport（長樂國際機場）in Fuzhou, the Xiamen International Airport and the airport in Wuyishan（武夷山）operate more than 90 domestic and international routes, linking the province with more than 40 domestic cities, as well as Hong Kong, Japan and the Philippines.

Telecommunications – The telecommunications sector is among the most developed in China. By May 2001, there were 6.6 million and 4.9 million subscribers for telephone and mobile phone in the province respectively. The penetration rate for telephone and mobile phone were 35.5 percent and 14.2 percent, respectively. There are also 940,000 internet users.

Electricity -- Fujian has abundant hydroelectric resources, with total electricity capacity estimated at over 4.04 million kWh a year. The major power stations are located at Shuikou（水口）, Shaxikou（沙溪口）, Fuzhou, Zhangping（漳平）and Yong'an（永安）. In Xiamen, a power plant is being built at Songyu（嵩嶼）.

Agriculture:

The province has ample supplies of subtropical products such as sugar cane, peanuts and oranges, but also has remarkably varied output. Other products include: rice, wheat, sweet potatoes, rape seed, soybeans, sesame, tea, lychees, pineapples, pomelos, loquats, bananas, lotus seeds, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, silver fungus, jute, tobacco, rosin, medicinal herbs, tea oil, tung oil and Chinese tallow tree.

Fujian's long coastline offers a favourable condition for fishing and aquaculture, which is ranked third in China in 2000.

Industry:

In 2000, Fujian's total industrial output was RMB 250.6 billion. Electronics and food processing comprise the largest sectors, of which, output of canned food is the largest in the country. Other major industries include footwear, garments, construction materials and aquatic products. Fujian is one of the largest electronics manufacturing centres in China and high-tech industries have become a new economic growth area in the province's economy.

Fujian's export volume ranked 6th among all provinces in the country. In 2000, Fujian's exports increased by 24.7 per cent to US$12.9 billion. Major export goods included canned products, textiles and garments, footwear, handicrafts, electronics, chemicals and mineral products. Major export markets were the US, Japan, Hong Kong, Germany and the Netherlands.

Imports rose by 14.4 per cent to US$8.3 billion in 2000. Major import commodities included electronic raw materials, leather products, synthetic rubber, chemical raw materials, etc. Major import sources were Taiwan, Japan, Republic of Korea, the US and Germany. .

Science and Technology:

Xiamen Torch High-tech Development Zone（廈門火炬高技術產業開發區）, was jointly set up by the State Science and Technology Commission and Xiamen Municipal Government. It is one of the new and high-tech development zones at the state level to implement R&D program which aims at the commercialisation of new and high technologies.

The zone also focuses on the development of electronics and information technology.

Consumers’ Market:

Retail sales of consumer goods of Fujian reached RMB137.2 billion in 2000. Fuzhou is the largest consumer centre in the province with retail sales of RMB 35.1 billion, which is an increase of 11.6 per cent over 1999. Other major consumer centres are located in Quanzhou, Xiamen and Zhangzhou.

Xiamen is one of the 11 pilot cities in China for setting up sino-foreign joint venture department stores with import/export rights. Also, the first state-level market for trading in small amounts with Taiwan was established in Xiamen in May 1999.

There are three commercial zones in Fuzhou, they are Dongjjekou（東街口商貿區）, Wuyi Square（五一廣場商貿區）, Taijiang Pier（台江碼頭商貿區）. Major department stores in Fujian province include Xiamen Commercial Group（廈門商業集團華聯商廈）, Fujian General Merchandise Department Store（褔建省百貨集團有限公司）, Fuzhou Huadu General Merchandise Co.（褔州華都百貨有限公司）, Fuzhou Xin Huadu Depatment Store Co., Ltd.（福州新華都百貨有限責任公司）, Xindeco Dutyfree Market,Xiamen China（廈門免稅商場）, Xiamen Friendship Store Co., Ltd.（廈門友誼商場有限公司）, Fuzhou Dongjiekou Department Store（褔州東街口百貨大樓股份有限公司）, Xiamen No. 1 Department Store（廈門市第一百貨商店股份有限公司）, Zhangzhou Department Store（漳州百貨站）and Quanzhou Department Store（泉州百貨公司）.

Key Cities in Fujian Province:

Port cities – this includes the following:

Ø Fuzhou

Ø Guanzhou

Ø Xiamen and

Ø Zhangzhou

Other cities – not far from the coast:

Ø Sanming and

Ø Putian

Fuzhou 福州:

2000 data:

Population	GDP	Industrial Output	Retail Sales
('000)	(RMB bn)	(RMB bn)	(RMB bn)
6,394	100.3 (+5.6%)	72.7 (+18.2%)	35.2 (+11.3%)

Fuzhou is situated at the point where the Min River reaches the sea. The walled city dates back to the 2nd century but did not become part of China until the 6th century, due to its natural isolation with mountains on three sides and the South China Sea to the east.

Manufacturing includes chemicals, silk and cotton textiles, iron and steel, and processed food. It is also know for its fine lacquer ware and handcrafted fans and umbrellas. Trade consists mainly of agricultural products.

Quanzhou 泉州:

2000 data:

Population	GDP	Industrial Output	Retail Sales
('000)	(RMB bn)	(RMB bn)	(RMB bn)
7,281	104.5 (11%)	40.1 (+16.4%)	34.7 (+9.8%)

Quanzhou is about 70 kilometres northeast of Xiamen and is a much older port. It is likely that Quanzhou is (or is near) the ancient port of Zaiton, which was the centre for the silk and tea trade. Marco Polo visited it in the 13th century and described it as one of the two ports of the world with the greatest flow of merchandise.

It remains a commercial centre today. Many of the dwellings are inhabited by Taiwanese who chose to live on the mainland during their retirement.

Xiamen 廈門:

2000 data:

Population	GDP	Industrial Output	Retail Sales
('000)	(RMB bn)	(RMB bn)	(RMB bn)
2,053	50.1 (+15.1%)	68.2 (+21.6%)	17.0 (+5.3%)

Xiamen is about 225 kilometres southwest of Fuzhou. It is situated on an island with road and rail connections to the mainland at it northern-most point. Its sheltered harbour allowed space for shipbuilding and it eclipsed Guanzhou as a major port in the 19th century.

The city grew rapidly as one of China’s special economic zones in the 1980s.

Zhangzhou 漳州:

2000 data (except where noted by *):

Population	GDP	Industrial Output	Retail Sales
('000)	(RMB bn)	(RMB bn)	(RMB bn)
4,583	*48.7 (+13.8%)	16.9 (+5.9%)	15.0 (+11.2%)

Zhangzhou is about 40 kilometres along the estuary that enters into the sea at Xiamen. It is now an “open city”, like all cities in Fujian province.

Sanming 三明:

2000 data (except where noted by *):

Population	GDP	Industrial Output	Retail Sales
('000)	(RMB bn)	(RMB bn)	(RMB bn)
2,573	*24.0 (+9.8%)	16.3 (+9.4%)	9.2 (+9.6%)

Sanming is about 170 kilometres directly west of Fuzhou, along the Min River.

Putian 莆田

2000 data (except where noted by *):

Population	GDP	Industrial Output	Retail Sales
('000)	(RMB bn)	(RMB bn)	(RMB bn)
2,729	*17.6 (+12.0%)	11.7 (+21.6%)	6.9 (+10.5%)

Putian is about 70 kilometres south of Fuzhou and is near the coast.

Information Sources:

Information contained in this page was obtained from:

Hong Kong Trade Development Council (http://www.tdctrade.com)

Additional Information:

We are in the process of maintaining regular contact with organisations in the cities listed. Please contact us if you require additional information about Fujian Province or any of the cities listed.

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