Xiamen Special Economic Zone

Natural Conditons 

Xiamen is a municipality directly under Fujian Province, located at 24° 25' - 46'north and 11T 53'- 118° 11' east in the south-eastern Fujian. It consists of XiamenIsland, Gulangyu Islet and the coastal part of the north bank of Jiulongjiang River. At present, its administrative region includes five districts and one county-Kaiyuan District, Simin District, Xiamen Suburbs and Tongan County, with a total area of1510 sq.km. and a population of 1,000,000 in which the Tongan County has a populationof 470,000. The Xiamen island proper, with another name of "Egret Island", is 13.7 km across from north to south and 12.5 km from east to west with an area of 123.87 sq.km. The terrain slopes from south to north, with some hilly areas in the south and a comparativelyplain land in the north-west. The highest hill is Yundingyan, 339.6 meters above sea level. Xiamen is situated in the sub-tropical zone. Its climate is classified as sub-tropicalmaritime. The annual mean temperature is 20.8° C, and average precipitation of a year is1100 mm. Its climate is mild with an abundant rainfall.  

Industry 

Xiamen has more than 770 industrial enterprises and a fairly complete industrialstructure has been formed which includes machinery, electric power, textile, light industry,foodstuff, chemical industry, electronics, plastics, rubber, medicine, shipbuilding,metallurgy, construction materials and arts & crafts. The light industry plays an important part in the city's industry and dominates several sectors: foodstuff, winery, bicycle, battery, tableware, glass plate, papermaking, leather,sugar-refining, cigarette, arts & crafts, etc. 

Its products are in great demand domesticallyand enjoy great presitige in the international market. In the chemical industry, many enterprises are engaged in the sectors like chemicalraw materials, pesticide, fertilizer, medicine, chemical fibre, dyestuff, paint, rubber, plastic,sulphic acid, caustic soda, film, photo paper and so forth. Many products, apart frommeeting the demands in the domestic market, are for exportation. The metallurgy industry largely concentrates in processing. 

The machinery manufacturing industry has been developing with great rapidity, which consists of power machinery, engineering machinery, machine tools, fork lifts, ship building, electric machinery, instruments and meters, etc. The electronic industry is newly burgeoning industry beginning to take shape withmany products, such as computer, electric instrument, colour TV, radio cassette recorder, camera, electronic device, etc.  

The textile industry has been developing rapidly in the recent years. The main textilesare that of cotton spinning, polyester fibre, polyamide fibre and knitwear as well as woolspinning, silk, printing and dyeing. There are various kinds of textiles that are highlyappreciated by domestic and foreign consumers. The electric power industry mainly concentrates in thermal power generation.  

Transportation 

A comprehensive transportation has been developed in Xiamen which is linked withother regions by a network of highways, railways, sea routs and air lines. Xiamen Railway Station is the terminus of Yingtang-Xiamen railway line which connects Xiamen with the nationwide rail network. Highways radiate to other parts of Fujian Province. Regular daily bus services between Xiamen and Guangzhou, Xiamen and Shegzhen are available ready. The "Sannan (three south) highway" linking southern Fujian with southern Jiangxi and southern Hunan is now under construction. 

Xiamen, backed by hinterland - Zhangzhou and Ouanzhou, facing Taiwan across the Strait holds a strategic position on sea routes. The main channel is over 12 metersdeep, permitting 10,000 ton ships in or out of the port. The harbour originally had 22medium and small docks. The newly completed Dong Du Wharf which consists of fourberths of 10,000 -- 50,000 tonnage has been put into use, thus doubling the handlingcapacity of Xiamen Port. The annual loading and unloading capacity of the container dockis 30,000 standard containers. 

All these berths, plus a 30,000 sq. metres godown area,110,000 sq. metres of storage space and the railway and highway, all of which are integrated, greatly facilitate the wharfs cargo trans-shipment capability. Up to now, Xiamen has established trading relations with 84 countries and regions in the world. Regular cargofleets and passenger liners sail directly to Hong Kong and also, irregular freighters to Singapore, Japan and Australia. In the Xiamen International Airport, regular flights from Xiamen to Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Hong Kongand Manila have been put into service. 

Post and Telecommunication 

All kinds of postal service are offered in Xiamen. Mails travel to the rest parts of thecountry. A telecommunication network has been set up. In the early 1985, the introduction of the programmed exchange system made it possible to dial directly from Xiamen to all major cities in China and to Hong Kong, USA and Japan. There is telegram service tomost countries and regions all over the world. 

Technology And Education Resources

Xiamen possesses a good education basis. There are six institutions of higher learning in Xiamen at present: Xiamen University, Xiamen Aquatic College, the Jimei Ocean Shipping College, the Fujian Physical Culture Institute, the Xiamen Lujiang Vocational College and the Xiamen Teachers College. In addition, there are 10 Vocational schools such as, the Economic and Financial School, the Chemical Industry School and the Artsand Crafts School, and 38 general middle schools. At present, Xiamen has some 8,000 students enrolling in university and institution, 5,000 in vocational schools, 50,000 inmiddle schools, and some 21,000 teachers and staff members altogether. Xiamen also has about 20 special research institutions of Special Economic Zone, South-east Asian Economy, ocean, subtropical plant, etc, and has about 20,000 scientific technical stuffs. 

Xiamen is a coastal city, back to the hills and face to sea, with a hospitable climateand unspoiled beaches, flowers blooms all year round. Xiamen has been well known as "sea garden". 

The Xiamen's landscape include hills, water, rock, cave, tree and flowers, etc. It isexactly an ideal resort for tour and holiday. Now some places of historic interest and scenic beauty has been accessible to the tourists, such as, Gulangyu. Ten Thousand Rock Garden, Jimei, Lanputuo Temple, Sunny Rock, Aoyuan and so on. Xiamen's arts & crafts article has enjoyed a great favour among tourists for a longtime. It possesses strong national style and local characteristics.