An Overview

Located between 119°04′-121°12 east longitude and 27°4′-28°38′ north latitude in the middle section of the golden coast of China, with 355 kilometers of coastline and situated at the intersection of the two economic zones of the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, Wenzhou is the economic, cultural and transport center of south Zhejiang Province.

Wenzhou has a total population of 7.5 million. Under its jurisdiction are three districts (Lucheng, Longwan and Ouhai), two county-level cities (Rui’an and Yueqing) and six counties (Dongtou, Yongjia, Pingyang, Cangnan, Wencheng and Taishun). It covers a total land area of 11,784 square kilometers, including an urban area of 1,082 square kilometers, and the sea area of about 11,000 square kilometers.

Since reform and opening up, Wenzhou has made enormous achievements in economic and social development. From 1978 to 2005, its GDP increased from RMB 1.32 billion yuan to 160 billion, an average annual increase of 15.2%. The total fiscal revenue increased from 135 million yuan to 20.49 billion yuan, an average annual increase of 20.4%. The constructed urban area increased from 20 square kilometers to 125 square kilometers. People’s living standard keeps improving. From 1978 to 2005, the total retail volume of social commodities increased from 510 million yuan to 68.086 billion yuan, an average annual increase of 19.9%. The per capita net income of rural residents increased from 113.5 yuan to 6,845 yuan, an average annual increase of 16.3%. The per capita disposable income of urban residents increased from 422.64 in 1981 to 19,805 yuan in 2005, an average annual increase of 17.4%. New achievements are constantly being made in opening up and foreign trade. The total export volume of 2005 was 6.18 billion US dollars, and the foreign capital in use was 357 million US dollars. The continuous high increase of Wenzhou’s economy and its specialized economic development pattern have attracted worldwide attention. Wenzhou has been called one of the areas with the most vigorous economy in China.

Opening up and Development

Wehzhou is an open coastal city. It has 5 open coastal counties (cities), one state-level development zone and 12 provincial-level development zones with an area of more than 100 square kilometers. A favorable investment environment has been constructed. To speed up the steps of modernization, Wenzhou Municipal Government will draw up more favorable policies, further its opening up and broaden the scope of opening up. Currently being planned is a grand project of a 400-km2 coastal industrial zone, expected to create a coastal industrial belt leading to industrial clusters of a higher level.

Environment and Resources

The terrain in the whole area of Wenzhou ascends like a ladder from southwest to northeast. The Oujiang, Feiyun and Aojiang rivers are among the larger river systems. In the eastern plain area, the river courses crisscross like a spider web. There are 436 islands along the coast, and the twisty coastline helped make excellent natural ports of Panshi and Yueqing Bays.

Wenzhou has a subtropical maritime monsoon moist climate, manifest in the alternation of dry and wet monsoons and the clear distinction of all seasons. There is abundant rainfall, but no intense heat in summer or bitter coldness in winter. It has an average annual temperature of 18℃, an average annual rainfall of 1,800mm and a frost-free period of 269 days. The duration of sunshine amounts to an average of 1,700 to 2,000 hours annually.

Benefiting much from mountains and the sea, Wenzhou is replete with all varieties of resources. Besides cultivated land, the land resources are mainly composed of sea beaches, silt beaches along the Oujiang, Feiyun and Aojiang rivers and mountain area of over 200 thousand hectares. The total amount of water resources is l4.113 billion cubic meters.

The main marine resources are oil and natural gas as well as iron and manganese modules which are found along the coast and on the continental shelf of the East China Sea. The low-lying beach land of the coastal counties in the east, with an area of over 100 thousand hectares, breeds razor clams, sea clams, oysters, shrimps, crabs and hard clams. Nanji Islands are rich in over 490 varieties of shellfish and algae and the main coastal fishing grounds of Dongtou County, Beiji and Nanji Islands and Yueqing Bay are known for over 370 varieties of fish, including hairtail, yellow croaker, eel, butterfish, mackerel, Chinese herring and perch.

The major forest resources are over 160 varieties of commercial crops like orange, tangerine, tea, loquat, red bayberry, sugarcane and jute, and over 280 varieties of timber, including pine, fir and oak. The Wuyanling Ridge, with subtropical evergreen broad-leaved primitive vegetation, is the green treasure-house in southern Zhejiang. The city's forest coverage reaches nearly 60 percent.

There are more than 30 kinds of mineral resources, among which are metal minerals such as zinc, copper, aluminium, manganese, tin, molybdenum, silver and iron, and nonmetal minerals such as alunite, illite, pyrophyllite, kaolin, fluorite, quartzite and granite. The alunite reserves account for 80 percent of the nation's total, earning the city the title of "The Alunite Capital of the World". The granite reserves rank high in terms of volume, quality and variety.

Wenzhou is an excellent as well as important tourist city in China, with Islands scattered like stars in the sky, lakes and rivers crisscrossing, mountains stretching long and unbroken. The views are enchanting. The scenic spots occupy 22.2% of the land area. There are 3 state-level scenic resorts—Yandang Mountain, Nanxi River and Thousand-Meter Waterside & Flying-Cloud Lake, 2 state-level natural reserves—Wuyanlin Forest and Nanli Islands Sea (also called “Kingdom of Sea Shell and Algae”) and 8 provincial-level scenic resorts—Dongtou Islands, Yaoxi, Zeya, Xianyan, etc. Wenzhou has earned the good reputation of “Fashion in Wenzhou, Food in Wenzhou and Recreation in Wenzhou”. There are more than 30 hotels of and above three stars and 180 big restaurants. There is a complete range of facilities like golf court, bowling alley, performance & recreation square and amusement park. The nightlife is varied and colorful. Wenzhou is a paradise of Chinese food, shopping, traveling and recreation.

Infrastructure

Transportation and Communications

Wenzhou has a complete and functional sea-land-air transportation system. It is one of the 45 major highway hubs as confirmed by the Ministry of Transport. Wenzhou Port is one of the 20 hub ports in China. Along its 355 km of coastline are 38 berths from 1,000 to 50,000 tonnages and it will accommodate 100 more ports from 5,000 to 300,000 tonnages. Wenzhou Port has cargo-shipping routes to more than 80 ports along China’s coastline and along the midstream and downstream of the Yangtze River, with medium/long-range main and branch container shipping routes to Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, etc. Wenzhou’s highways lead to all directions. National highways No. 104 and 330 cross the city from east to west. Wenzhou-Shanghai (520 km), Wenzhou-Ningbo (260 km) and Wenzhou-Jinhua Expressways are open to traffic. Jin-Wen Railway has transported 3.84 million passengers, numbering the second in Zhejiang Province. Wenzhou Airport is Grade II national civil airport where large airplanes like the “Airbus” and “Boeing 767” can land. Over 60 domestic lines and 2 lines to Hong Kong and Macao have been opened. The volume of passenger transport ranks the 22nd among the civil airports in Mainland China. Wenzhou has a program controlled telephone switching system with a capacity of 4.79 million switches. The total subscribers of fixed line phones reached 3.59 million, plus 4.48 million mobile phone subscribers and 1.22 million Internet subscribers.

Information Industry

Wenzhou has a solid foundation in information industry. The popularization of modern communications technology and network rank among the top in cities of the same level. In 2000, Wenzhou started the construction of the cybernetic city to initiate 1) the three network projects—government network, enterprise network and family network; 2) the three centers—product innovation and design center, open multimedia lab center, and commercial trading center of sci-tech achievements, and 3) three bases—incubation base, applied software base and internet professionals training base. A number of famous national and overseas IT enterprises have set up their branches there.

Water & Electricity Supply

Wenzhou has a sufficient supply of electricity with advanced equipment. There are 2 transmission & transformation projects of 500 KV and 11 transformation stations of 220 KW installed capacity, which are connected with East China electricity network. Wenzhou has complete water supply facilities. After the completion of the conveyance system of the Shanxi Water-Control Project, the urban area will have Grade I water supply of 2 million tons. The quality of the urban drinking water will reach 100%.

Living Environment

In the quantitative assessment of the city's comprehensive ecological improvement, Wenzhou has ranked among the country’s top ten for three successive years and held the second place in the provincial assessment for three successive years. The control of noise, such as the ban on the sounding of motor vehicle horn in the urban district, is up to the national standards. The urban green area has increased by over 4.2 million square meters. 10 squares, for example, the Songtaishan, Xinhe and Haitanshan Squares have finished construction. The construction of 21 roads has expanded the urban road area by over 2 million square meters.

Featured Industries

By inheriting the best of traditional industries, employing hi-tech to upgrade traditional industries, promoting industrial modernization with informationization, Wenzhou has built up production systems of machinery, chemical industry, medicine, light industry, food, paper making, garment, leather, plastics, arts and crafts, ceramics building material, household appliances, low-voltage electrical apparatus, electrical meter, metallurgy, shipbuilding, electrical power, etc. Many products rank among the “famous, top-quality, special and new” brands. 13 products were entitled National Well-known Trademarks, 25 National Famous Brands, 64 inspection-free products, and more than 216 Well-known Trademarks and Famous Brands in Zhejiang Province. Wenzhou has earned 27 titles as state-level production bases like “Shoe Capital of China”, “Plastic Weaving Town of China”, “China’s Printing Base and Asia’s Packing Center”, “China’s Pen-Making Center”, “World’s Optical Glasses Production Center”, “China’s Production Base of Metalcase Lighter”, etc. Many of Wenzhou products have a good market share in China.

Shoe and Leather Industry

Wenzhou is known as the “Shoe Capital of China". In 2005, the city had over 4,300 enterprises of shoes and leather products, including over 3,000 manufacturers of leather shoes, with over 1,800 advanced foreign and domestic shoemaking production lines. Their technical equipment, technological level and product quality hold the leading position in the country. In 2005, the shoe and leather industry achieved a total output value of 42 billion yuan, including 30.7 billion yuan for shoes, an increase of 17% over the previous year. The 21 key shoemaking enterprises recorded an output value of over 8.6 billion yuan. Wenzhou shoes are sold in all parts of the country and to over 100 countries and regions in the world. The export delivery value of shoes and leather products in 2005 reached 1.58 billion dollars, an increase of 25.5%. The enterprises which have been approved to bear the “Genuine Leather Mark” account for 70 percent of the country's total. There is 1 “China’s Leading Genuine Leather Shoes”, 5 "China's King of Genuine Leather Shoes”, 6 "China's Famous Genuine Leather Shoes" and three "China's Well-known Trademarks" enterprises. "Wenzhou China's Shoe Capital Industrial Park"—a large-scale shoemaking base accommodating production, scientific research, testing, information and trade is under construction.

Clothing Industry

The clothing industry is the traditional industry in Wenzhou. In 2004, the city had over 3,000 clothing enterprises with an output value of 36.8 billion yuan, about one tenth of the country's total. Export volume reached 934 million—a significant increase of 4.4% over the previous year. The major products were men's suits, while women's, casual and children's clothing shared rapid development. Since the nineties, the clothing enterprises have imported lots of advanced equipment and improved the grade of the products. 44 brands have met the state’s highest quality standards. In the national contests, Wenzhou clothing has won grand prizes. The men's brand-name clothes made by five enterprises were on display in the Chinese garment cultural exhibition in the ‘99 Paris China Cultural Week’. Zhuang Ji, Bao Xi Niao and Fa Pai won the honors of “China’s Famous Brands”. To raise the overall level of clothing industry, Wenzhou Municipal Government has started to build "China (International) Clothing Famous City Industrial Park” in Binhai New District of Wenzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone, making “Fashion in Wenzhou” known to all and creating regional brand names.

Low-voltage Electric Equipment Industry

The low-voltage electrical equipment manufacturers in Wenzhou are mainly grouped in Liushi Town and North Beixiang Town of Yueqing City. In 2005, the city totaled over 1,200 low-voltage electrical equipment enterprises, of which Zhengtai and Delix Group Corporations had an output value of over 4 billion yuan. The low-voltage electrical products are available in over 20 thousand specifications and more than 100 series. By 2003, over 3,500 products of various types and specifications had been awarded production licenses and the CCEE safety certificates; 450 enterprises obtained accreditation certificates of the ISO9000 international quality management system; 500 enterprises had over 6,000 certificates of 3C; 6 enterprises obtained the accreditation certificates of the ISO14000 international environmental protection system; over 250 products got the accreditation certificates from UL, GE, GS and other international accreditation bodies, making Wenzhou the production base with the largest number of certificates in low-voltage electrical equipment in China. “Zhengtai” and “Delix” have been honored with the title of “China’s Well-known Trademark". Products manufactured in Yueqing account for over 50 percent of the electrical equipment used in the construction and renovation of the national electric and information networks. The output value of low-voltage electrical equipment of Yueqing in 2004 totaled 33.2 billion yuan, an increase of 20 percent over the previous year. 160 exportoriented enterprises generated an annual export value of US$ 260 million. Over 5,000 enterprises have set up sales companies in cities all over the country and over 100 enterprises have started E-transaction.

Plastic Product Industry

In 2005, the output value of plastic products in Wenzhou reached 36.2 billion yuan, an increased of 22.91 percent over the previous year. The production of plastic woven bags, artificial leather, plastic film, PTEF products and plastic high-tech products rank among the top in the country, of which plastic woven bags accounted for over 50 percent of the country's total output and PTEF products had a market share of 80 percent in the country. The variety, yield and market share of fishing tackles ranked first in the country. Pingyang County, named "Hometown of Plastic-woven Products in China", is the centralized production area of plastic woven bags in Wenzhou. Xiaojiang Town under its jurisdiction is called "China’s Plastic-woven Products City". In Pingyang County, there are 200 enterprises with 495 assembly lines, over 90 sets of auxiliary processing equipment of compounding and blowing and 40 varieties of products with several hundred specifications.

Printing Industry

Wenzhou is one of the three biggest printing bases in China. In 2005, the city had 2,200 printing enterprises employing over 90 thousand workers. The printing industry has become the pillar industry of Longgang, Jinxiang and Qianku towns of Cangnan County. With advanced printing technology and equipment, the screen printing technology takes the lead in the country. Its PS screen printing plate, ultra-thick screen printing plate and high-precision hyperfine screen printing plate under the weight of 0.005 gram all lead the nation, some of which have found their way to the international market. 8 enterprises and 12 kinds of products have won good quality prizes in East-China Product Quality Appraisals. Experts call Wenzhou “Hometown of Chinese Screen Printing”. In 2005, the city’s output value in the printing industry totaled 15 billion yuan, of which packing and decoration printing accounted for 85 percent.

Optical Glasses Industry

Wenzhou has over 800 enterprises which are engaged in the processing and electroplating of glasses and the production of glasses accessories and equipment. They employ over 120 thousand staff and workers and turn out several thousand varieties of glasses. In 2005, the total output value of glasses hit 6 billion yuan. Most of Wenzhou glasses are exported. The export value in 2005 reached 0.34 billion yuan. Over 30 enterprises have been granted the right of self-managed export.

Cigarette Lighter Industry

Wenzhou is the largest production base of cigarette lighters in the world. Wenzhou Smoking Set Industrial Association has nearly 500 member enterprises, of which 70 percent are distributed over Lucheng District. In 2005, the city turned out 550 million lighters with an output value of approximately 3 billion yuan. Metalcase lighters accounted for 95 percent of the products of the same sort in the country. 80 percent of Wenzhou lighters are exported to all parts of the world.

Valve and Pump Industry

The manufacturers of valves and pumps are mainly distributed over Oubei of Yongiia County, Yongzhong and Shacheng of Longwan District and Tangxia and Tingtian of Rui’an. The 2005 output value of valve and pump enterprises totaled 16 billion yuan. The valve and pump products are complete in range and advanced in technology. 200 enterprises from Wenzhou have been granted the accreditation certificates of the ISO9000 international quality management system and over 4,000 offices and sales departments have been set up all over the country. More than one hundred valve factories in China and Daqing Oilfield have purchased Wenzhou-manufactured pump and valve products.

Pen Industry

Wenzhou is the largest pen production base in China. Wenzhou Pen Association has 200 member enterprises, which are mainly grouped in Puzhou of Longwan District. The products come in ten categories and over 200 varieties: watercolor pen, pencil ball-pen, ballpoint pen, fountain pen, gel pen, pen, rolling pen, fluorescent pen, crayon, marking chalk and so on. The output of various pens was 10 billion pieces, with an output value of 3 billion yuan, about one third of the country's total, and an export delivery value of 1.8 billion yuan. Over 100 trademarks have been approved for registration by the State Trademark Bureau. Several enterprises have been granted the European CE and the US ASTM-D4236 accreditation certificates, tickets to the European and US markets.

Financial Equipment Industry

In 1989, Wenzhou produced the first counterfeit currency detection machine, filling in a blank in China. In 2003, the city had over 100 enterprises manufacturing financial equipment. The products cover counterfeit currency detection machine, checking and sorting machine, binding machine, electronic display screen, negotiable instrument and bill of exchange transmission system and electronic surveillance and monitoring device, with 20 series, more than 100 varieties and 74 patents, occupying over 60 percent of the domestic market. The output value of 2003 was 1.25 billion yuan.

Razor Industry

Wenzhou is the nation’s largest production base of reciprocating razors. The city has over 100 producers of razors. The output value of 2005 reached 1.5 billion yuan. 60 percent of the products are sold to over 100 countries and regions in America, Western Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Australia.

Social Undertaking

Science and Technology

Wenzhou has long been known for its handicraft industry. In 1996, it put forward the strategy of “revitalizing the city through the advancement of science and technology”. In 2004, the city launched 928 sci-tech development projects, more than twice the number of the previous year. In the same year, it carried out 18 state-level new product trial production plans, 18 state-level and 9 provincial-level Torch Projects, 15 state-level and 14 provincial-level Spark Projects. At present there are 12 state-level,139 provincial-kevek and 210 city-level high-tech enterprises in the city. In 2004, 79 projects won the municipal prizes and 21 provincial prizes of science and technology advancement, including 3 first prizes, 18 second prizes and 52 third prizes. In the whole year 3,224 patents were awarded in the city, an accumulated number of 18,007 over the years.

Education

Wenzhou adheres to the strategy of giving priority to the development of education. In 2004, there were 1.242 million students in schools of different types, accounting for 16.6 percent of the city’s total population. The attendance rate of school-age children reaches 99.6 percent. The city now has 1,666 kindergartens, 1,152 primary schools, 350 junior middle schools, 133 senior middle schools, 103 secondary vocational schools and 5 regular institutions of higher learning, including Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou University and Wenzhou Vocational and Technical College, 1 adult higher learning institute and 1 special college for professional training. It has set up an educational framework of “government-run schools as the main body, all social circles actively participating in, state-run and non-state-run schools jointly developing”, and blazed a new path with Wenzhou characteristics of running schools by social forces, which fits in with the economic structure of Wenzhou.

Culture

Wenzhou is reputed as the birthplace of the Southern Opera and the town of singing and dancing. Mass cultural activities are burgeoning. The cultural market is even more lively, with various song and dance halls, Karaoke halls and performance squares. The city now has 303 film showing units, 11 public libraries with a collection of 1.981 million copies, and 11 cultural centers. The newly-built Wenzhou Cultural and Art Center has become the demonstration of Wenzhou’s urban civilization.

Press and Publication

The city publishes 8 kinds of newspapers and magazines, with the distribution amount of daily newspapers up to 640 thousand copies, an average of 8.9 copies of the local newspapers for every hundred people. As the new forms of culture, radio and television have entered thousands of families. There are 8 broadcasting stations, 7 television stations, 180 cable television stations and 611 satellite television ground stations. The city's overall population coverage rates of radio and television rose steadily to 95 percent and 97 percent respectively in 2002.

Public Health

In 2004, the city boasted 825 medical institutions, among which were 520 hospitals and public health institutions with 16,412 beds, and 27,095 medical workers, including 11,869 doctors. There is an average of 22 hospital beds and 15.9 doctors for every 10 thousand people. The rural primary public health and medical services have kept ameliorating, with eleven counties, cities and districts up to standards ahead of schedule. The natural population growth rate was 8.3 ‰ while the quality of birth and population has greatly improved.

Finance

Wenzhou has 14 municipal-level banks, 6 municipal-level insurance companies and 136 Grade 1 incorporated rural credit cooperative. At the end of 2003, the city’s financial institutions recorded a total deposit of 204.2 billion yuan in both local and foreign currencies, an 8.8 percent growth over the previous year. Of all the deposits, 92.03 billion yuan were deposited by residents, an increase of 23.4 percent. The balance on the foreign currency deposit was 1.29 billion US dollars, a decrease of 0.17 billion US dollars from the beginning of the year. The net cash delivered into circulation in 2004 recorded RMB 9.2 billion yuan.

Building a Modernized New Wenzhou

Marching into the 21st century, Wenzhou will firmly uphold Deng Xiaping’s theory and Jiang Zeming’s important thinking of “Three Represents” as the guidance to fully implement the modernization-oriented strategy, vigorously promoting the construction of a modernized new Wenzhou and striving for the basic realization of socialist modernization ahead of schedule. The major target of the next period is to rank top in economic strength among the same-level cities in China. In 2007, the GDP is guaranteed to double the amount of 2000, i.e., an annual average increase rate of over 11 percent and per capita GDP close to 3,000 dollars. The tertiary industry will account for 45% of GDP. The level of marketization and internationalization will be significantly improved, and the city’s comprehensive strength and its functions of clustering and radiating significantly heightened. Great efforts will be exerted to make Wenzhou into a “pace-setter” of southern Zhejiang, of eastern Fujian Province, and of even more city clusters. The basic framework of a modernized metropolitan will be set up. The city will experience the leap from “Oujiang River Period” to the “East Sea Period”, and from a river-bank city to a sea-border one. A famous seaside cultural city, with man and nature harmoniously coexisting, will take shape. All efforts will go into the implementation of the “One Hundred Projects of One Hundred Billion”. 103 major projects are expected to be initiated with a total investment of over 130 billion yuan. Key infrastructures like major transport, energy and water conservancy resources will accelerate their construction to fit in with the steps of an emerging metropolitan. In terms of transport, the Wenzhou section of Wen-Fu and Yong-Wen Railroads will be completed and the construction of a new airport, track traffic and Oujiang River Tunnel will also be under way. In terms of energy, No. 2 Wenzhou Power Plant will be built, with a total installed capacity of 2.4 million KW, together with 500 KV of Ningbo-Wenzhou, South-Wenzhou and East-Wenzhou transmission and transformation projects. The third phase of Wenzhou Power Plant will also be finished. Based on its own characteristics and availing itself of its advantages, Wenzhou will upgrade its comprehensive strength and international competitiveness. The grand strategy of “building a big commercial port along the southeast coast, an international light-industry city, a most robust open city and a famous cultural seaside city” will see its implementation in the near future.