Chongqing

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Chongqing at a Glance

  • Chongqing is the youngest municipality in China and was established in 1997. It is one of five central cities, the others being Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
  • It is located in the Southeast of the Sichuan Basin and is the junction of the Yangtze and Jialing Rivers. It is surrounded by water on three sides and mountains on four sides. Its history stretches back over 3,000 years.
  • The climate is subtropical, with mild, short winters and hot, humid summers. It has been nicknamed the “foggy city” due to its relatively low annual sunshine time of around 950 hours. Annual precipitation is between 1000-1400mm.
  • Chongqing is one of the oldest industrial bases in China, due to industry being moved there in the anti-Japanese war. It is also one of the richest in mineral resources: 75 kinds of minerals have been found, and 40 minerals have proved reserves in 353 places, with a potential value of USD 62.6 billion. Coal, natural gas, manganese, mercury, aluminium, strontium and others can all be found in the Chongqing municipality.
  • There are three airports in Chongqing:  Jiangbei International Airport, Chongqing Wanzhou Wuqiao Airport and Chongqing Qianjiang Zhoubai Airport. The city can also be accessed by train via Chongqing North Railway Station and Chongqing Railway Station, or by boat via Chaotianmen Port. It is the only city in Western China accessible by plane, boat, road or train.
  • The Municipality of Chongqing has a population of 29.9 million. The urban population is 17.8 million. Density is 360/km2 [2014].
  • The GDP of Chongqing grew by 10.9% in 2014. This was the largest growth of any city in China during 2014, and is well above the national average of 7.4%. It has been identified by Forbes, Foreign Policy, the Telegraph, the Guardian and the New York Times as one of the fastest growing cities in the world.
  • Import and Export value of Foreign Trade during Jan-Oct 2014 was USD 45.31 billion. During Jan-Apr of 2015, Import and Export value was estimated at USD 30 billion, a 5.6% increase on the same peiod in 2014.
  • CBBC Member Companies with local offices: Arup, Standard Chartered Bank Ltd, Deloitte, PwC, Mott MacDonald, Savills plc, AGS Four Winds.
  • In first 8 months of 2012, Liangjiang New Area attracted a total of 194 projects and 110 Fortune 500 enterprises, and utilized foreign investment of USD 1.3 billion. During Jan-Sept 2014, the GDP reached USD 19.1 billion with a growth rate of 16.2% from 2013. The total industrial output was USD 40.5 billion with a growth rate of 34.1%, and gross fixed asset investment grew 18.1% to USD 16.9 billion. The public financial income budget reached USD 2.6 billion with a rate of 20.2%, and the total export-import volume increased 20% to USD 3.2 billion.
  • By 2020, 60% of Chongqing’s industrial land and 40% of its commercial land will be located in Liangjiang New Area, which will also account for half of Chongqing’s population. It is linked to 16 major cities via the Yangtze River.
  • There is also a large amount of arable land in the surrounding rural areas. 2.1 million hectares are available for agricultural output.

Chongqing Information

Chongqing Municipality is divided into forty county-level subdivisions, consisting of nineteen districts, seventeen counties, and four autonomous counties. It is the third largest of the directly controlled municipalities of the People’s Republic of China. The boundaries of Chongqing municipality reach much farther into the city’s hinterland than the boundaries of the other three provincial level municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin), and much of its administrative area, which spans over 80,000km², is rural. The Municipality of Chongqing has a population of 29.9 million. The urban population is 17.8 million. Density is 360/km2.

Geography

The total area of Chongqing is 82,400km² of which 64,778 km² belong to the constructed urban area. In the surrounding rural areas, there are 2.1 million hectares of arable land available for cultivation. The area is very rich in mineral resources, with 75 kinds of minerals. 40 minerals have proved reserves in 353 places, with a potential value of USD 62.6 billion. Coal, natural gas, manganese, mercury, aluminium, strontium and others can all be found in the Chongqing municipality.

Climate

Chongqing has a humid subtropical climate, with the two-season monsoonal variations typical of South Asia. As one of the “Three Furnaces”, Chongqing’s summers are among the hottest in China, with highs of around 33°C (91°F) in August, in the central portions of the city. Yet even during the hottest weather the wind has a cooling effect, making such high temperatures more bearable. Winters are fairly mild, but damp and overcast; average January highs are 9.5°C (49.1°F).

Average rainfall per year is between 1000-1400mm. Chongqing has an average of 950 sunshine hours per year.

Economic and Technological Development Zones

The city includes a number of economic and technological development zones:

  • Chongqing Chemical Industrial Park
  • Chongqing Economic & Technological Development Zone
  • Chongqing Hi-Tech Industry Development Zone
  • Chongqing New North Zone (CNNZ)
  • Chongqing Export Processing Zone
  • Jianqiao Industrial Park (located in Dadukou District)
  • Liangjiang New Industrial Area (contains the Jiangbeizui CBD)

Economy

The GDP of Chongqing grew by 10.9% in 2014. This was the largest growth of any city in China during 2014, and is well above the national average of 7.4%. Import and Export value of Foreign Trade during Jan-Oct 2014 was USD 45.31 billion. During Jan-Apr of 2015, Import and Export value was estimated at USD 30 billion, a 5.6% increase on the same peiod in 2014.

The Liangjiang New Area has offices for 129 Fortune 500 enterprises, and utilized foreign investment of USD 1.3 billion in 2012. During Jan-Sept 2014, the GDP reached USD 19.1 billion with a growth rate of 16.2% from 2013. The total industrial output was USD 40.5 billion with a growth rate of 34.1%, and gross fixed asset investment grew 18.1% to USD 16.9 billion. The public financial income budget reached USD 2.6 billion with a rate of 20.2%, and the total export-import volume increased 20% to USD 3.2 billion.

Key industries:

  • Technology
  • Electrical engineering
  • Mechanical engineering
  • Metallurgy
  • Food
  • Textiles
  • Liangjiang New Area

The local government is encouraging foreign investment in several areas:

  • Infrastructures such as expressway, high-class highway, port, water works, waste water treatment plant.
  • Agricultural projects such as traditional Chinese medicine, orange, silkworm, pig, tea.
  • R & D  and production of automobile & parts, motorcycle & parts, power distribution equipment, electronics, digital audio & video, 3G, large tonnage ships, natural gas chemicals, fine chemicals, new materials, clean energy, electro-mineral combined production, aluminium chain industry,  steel chain industries including iron-rough steel-plate-piping-strip material and wire; derivatives of manganese, strontium and barium; IC products, software, information technology, telecom, digital medical treatment, smart instrumentation, information technology based home electric appliances and automobile electronics.
  • Modern services such as banking, insurance, securities, logistics, tourism, education (excluding compulsory education).

Chongqing is a city that is full of promise and ambition. It has been identified by Forbes, Foreign Policy, the Telegraph, the Guardian and the New York Times as one of the fastest growing cities in the world, and plans to transform itself into the financial centre of western and central China. By doing so, it will become the beachhead for the development of the western part of the country – emulating a “Chinese Chicago” by opening up the country’s interior to further investment and industrialization.

Development

The infrastructure of Chongqing is an ongoing project for the Chinese government, as part of their Go West strategy. 18 subway lines have been planned, with 4 currently in operation. Guoyuan Port is also expanding, with 12 wharfs and 4 berths currently in operation. Chongqing is part of the Sino-Burma crude oil pipeline and the Chongqing-Guiyang refined oil pipeline. Plans are underway for a new gas pipeline in the urban area.

Construction is underway for 30,000 3G and 4G bases around the central city area, to aid the main TD-LTE network which has theoretical download speeds of more than 100Mb. Chongqing Broadband and NGB project are in the 12th Five Year Plan, concluding in 2015.

Updates

On September 21 2012, Otis Elevator Company, a unit of United Technologies Corp., announced the opening of a new plant in Chongqing Liangjiang New Area. The new facility, occupying 46,667 square meters, is operated by the company. It has an initial investment of over RMB100 million and the capacity to manufacture over 15,000 elevator units annually.

South Korean SK Group has started the construction of a new material industrial base of lithium-ion batteries with a total investment of US$100 million in Liangjiang New Area of Chongqing

Samsung Group, in cooperation with Shangdong Ruyi Group, will invest 21.5 m UDS in Chongqing municipality to build a textile industrial park in Southwest China.

In June 2013, Green Card Access was extended to those working in 7 kinds of R&D: national laboratories, national key laboratories, national engineering laboratories, national engineering research centres, national-certified enterprise technology centres, national engineering & technology research centres and foreign-invested R&D centres.

In October 2013, Chongqing Communication Administration announced that establishing a 4G network was a key part of expansion plans for all new areas of the municipality. Chongqing is aiming to build 30,000 3G and 4G bases around the central city area, to aid the main TD-LTE network which has theoretical download speeds of more than 100Mb.

Chongqing Graphene Industrial Park was inaugurated in December 2013 in Jinfeng Electronic Information Industrial Park.  RMB500 million have been invested jointly by Shanghai NanJiang (Group) Co., Ltd. and Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology of Chinese Academy of Sciences. The Park aims to form a complete industrial chain, with application-oriented enterprises, scientific institutions and industry-university-research cooperation.

In June 2015, Liangjiang New Area launched a USD 3.2 billion fund aimed at investing in robotics, shipping and green automobiles, among other emerging industries in China. As of April 2015, the number of Global Top 500 companies at Liangjiang has risen to 129.

The local government is encouraging foreign investment in several areas:

  • Infrastructures such as expressway, high-class highway, port, water works, waste water treatment plant.
  • Agricultural projects such as traditional Chinese medicine, orange, silkworm, pig, tea.
  • R & D  and production of automobile & parts, motorcycle & parts, power distribution equipment, electronics, digital audio & video, 3G, large tonnage ships, natural gas chemicals, fine chemicals, new materials, clean energy, electro-mineral combined production, aluminium chain industry,  steel chain industries including iron-rough steel-plate-piping-strip material and wire; derivatives of manganese, strontium and barium; IC products, software, information technology, telecom, digital medical treatment, smart instrumentation, information technology based home electric appliances and automobile electronics.
  • Modern services such as banking, insurance, securities, logistics, tourism, education (excluding compulsory education).

There are some preferential tax rates for foreign-invested businesses in Chongqing. The technology transfer income of foreign-funded enterprise and foreigner to domestic is exempt of business tax. Enterprise, in accordance with provisions (these can be found in Tax Documents 273 and 36, released in 1999 and 2001 respectively). Business tax can also be reduced by employing a proportion of laid off employees, while foreign funded businesses are exempt from city maintenance construction fees and the extra education fee. In the communication, power supply, post service and broadcasting sectors, corporate income tax is reduced for five years.

By 2020, the city authorities plan to have tripled the GDP of the One-Hour Economic Circle, as well as making GDP per capita exceed USD 8,000. By 2020, there will be 22 million permanent urban residents and an urbanization rate of 80%. It is hoped that Chongqing will equal East China in all major indicators of socio-economic development.

Opportunities

  • Chongqing International Expo Centre, China International Horticultural Exposition and many other more business centres and shopping malls are to be built
  • T3a Terminal of Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, a 3rd runway of 3,800 meters and Wushan Airport will be constructed
  • Construction is ongoing on Chongqing’s subway lines. There are 4 lines in operation, of a planned 18.
  • The second phase of Guoyuan Port has been completed. 12 wharfs and 4 berths are under a trial period of operation. The first phase of Xin Tian Port in Wanzhou and first phase of Longtou Port in Fuling are to be built.
  • 1,000 km of expressway is to be built by 2015, achieving a total length of 3,000 km
  • A crude oil pipeline from Burma to China, a refined oil pipeline from Guiyang to Chongqing, and a gas pipeline in the urban area are all to be built soon
  • 3 large reservoirs and about 20 medium-sized reservoirs and water supply lines are to be constructed
  • The city is aiming at creating an “Intelligent Chongqing”, and are developing an Intelligent Grid, while focusing on improvements to transportation, medical service, homes, logistics and environmental protection
  • Chongqing Broadband and NGB project are in the 12th Five Year Plan, concluding in 2015

Culture

Chongqing has a history stretching back over 2000 years, and served as the wartime capital of China during World War Two. It is famous for its food, particularly the hotpot which originated from here. Bayi Road Food Street in Jiefangbei District is the home of many Sichuan restaurants, with both traditional and new Sichuan cuisine. You can also try some of the world famous street vendors down by the banks of the river.

Visit some of the main attractions of Chongqing:

  1. Chongqing Jiefang Pedestrian Street (People’s Liberation Monument)
  2. HongYaDong
  3. Great Hall of People
  4. Three Gorges Museum
  5. Yangtze River Cruises
  6. Ciqikou (Chongqing Ancient Town)
  7. Yangtze River Cableway
  8. Chongqing Zoo
  9. Chongqing Luohan Temple
  10. People’s Assembly Hallrior to further investment and industrialisation.

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