I. Facts about Jinan
Jinan is the capital city of Shandong province, the economic giant on east coast of China. The city is the political, economic and cultural center of Shandong province.

Jinan is a sub-province level city approved by the state, governing six districts (Lixia, Licheng, Huaiyin, Tianqiao, Shizhong, and Changqing), three counties (Pingyin, Shanghe, and Jiyang) and Zhangqiu City. Jinan covers an area of 8,227 km2, with a population of 5.69 million, among which 2.22 million are non-agricultural.

Jinan lies in the mid-west of Shandong, where the Beijing-Shanghai Railway and the Jinan-Qingao Railway joint together. Mountain Tai, listed as World’s Natural and Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, lies to the south of Jinan, and the Yellow River, Mother River of Chinese Nation, flows on the north of the city.

Jinan is located in North Temperate Zone, and has a continental monsoon climate with four distinctive seasons. The annual average temperature is 14℃, and average annual rainfall 650~700 mm.

Jinan has a long history, and is one of the famous cities of historical and cultural importance publicized by the State Council. The city boasts beautiful scenery and a large number of springs so the city was named “city of springs”. Willow is the Tree of the City, and lotus the City Flower.

Since China’s reform and opening-up to outside, Jinan has made great achievements in economic and social development. Jinan is now among the “Top 50 cities in economic strengh” and “Top 40 cities with excellent investment environment” in China.

II. Infrastructure
To build a modern capital city, many projects are under construction: the infrastructure project, aiming at the improvement of traffic and environmental conditions; the image project, aiming at construction of symbol buildings, green city, and protection of famous springs; and facility project, aiming at construction of service facilities. A group of key infrastructure constructions and symbol buildings have been accomplished and made a new change of the image and function of the city.

Many constructions have been completed in Jinan in recent years. The new railway station, the Shunhe overhead highway, and Quancheng Square have been built; the first phase construction of Jinan International Airport has been completed and the second phase construction now started; over 50 urban roads, such as Erhuan Road and Beiyuan Road, have been built or expanded; Quanfu overpass and more than 40 ever-lasting bridges have been finished; and 140 modern-style skyscrapers have emerged from the horizon.

Along the 20 trunk roadsides, trees, bushes, flowers and lawns are planted. The green coverage in 1999 was 950 hectares (35% coverage). Five squares in different styles now appear in the urban area, among which the largest one—Quancheng Square, was built through an international bid. For many years in a row, Jinan has been named “The National Top Ten Hygienic City”, and titled by the Ministry of Construction as “Clean City” and “City Advanced in Comprehensive Improvement”.

III. Traffic and Communications
Jinan is the traffic hub in north China. Jinan International Airport is the second largest in eastern China, with 30 domestic flights to Hong Kong, Beijing, Haerbin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Xian, Wuhan, Zhuhai, and Haikou, etc. Chartered flights for cargos travel between Jinan and Russia, and international flights connect Jinan with Thailand, Korea, and Japan. In addition, there are also land transportation passage lies between Jinan and Hong Kong, and the Jinan International Containers Distribution Center has been built.

Land traffic of Jinan is also well developed. Railways and highways from Jinan reach Beijing and Tianjin in the north, Shanghai and Nanjing in the south, and Qingdao and Yantai in the east. The city is a traffic hub on the joints of Jinan-Qingdao/Beijing-Shanghai railways and expressways. The Jinan-Qingdao expressway shortened the distance between the two cities to a 4-hour drive, and the Jinan-Dezhou expressway, Jinan part of the Beijing-Shanghai expressway, the Jinan-Taian expressway, and the city rim expressway have all been completed. Hundreds of trains are sent from Jinan to major cities nationwide, and the Jinan Coach Station was titled “No.1 Station in China” by the Ministry of Communications, for dealing with the largest passenger flow in China for successive three years.

Telecommunication infrastructure is well built in Jinan. More than 450 thousand fixed line telephones have been installed in Jinan, and mobile and paging system are also established. Telephone and telegraph networks connect the city directly with 210 domestic cities and 164 countries/regions around the world.

IV. Economic Development
Economic development is very fast in Jinan. The GDP of the city reached RMB 136.78 billion yuan, an increase of 14.5% over the previous year. The added value of the primary Industry was RMB 10.5 billion yuan, which increased 5% more than previous year. The figures for the secondary Industry and tertiary Industry are 59.96 billion/18%, and 66.32 billion/13%, respectively. The ratio of the three Industries is 7.7:43.8:48.5. GDP per capita was RMB 23,632 yuan (US$ 2,855), 13.2% higher than previous year.

Non-state-owned economy expands fast in Jinan. With an added value of RMB 48.27 billion yuan and an increase of 22.8%, its ratio in GDP reached 35.3%, 2.5 percent higher than previous year.

Much emphasis is placed on the leading industries in Jinan. Based on its well-developed industries of machinery, textile, iron & steel, chemicals, light industry, food, and construction materials, and guided by state policy on industry development, Jinan is going to build the industries of machinery (high performance, high added-value machinery and metallurgy products), vehicles (advanced heavy-duty trucks, altered vehicles, and motorcycles), electronics (new electronic products and high-grade appliance), and chemicals (modern biomedicines, fine chemicals and chemical fibers) as the leading part of its industrial force. Meanwhile, as the industrial banks and enterprises join hands, 18 enterprise groups are now developing on a basis of large-scale economy, and thus improve the quality and efficiency of the city’s industries.

Well-known brands are in a strategic position in Jinan’s economic development. Representatives include machinery and vehicle products like “Qingqi” motorcycles, large pressing machines, numerically controlled machine-tools and high-grade altered vehicles, and also home appliances like “Xiaoya” washing machine and “Panasonic” television. In addition, some light industry products like “General” cigarettes, “Baotuquan” beer, “Golden Bell” electronic weighing apparatus, “Yuanshou” knitted products, and “Shuanglida” cases and bags, have taken large shares of domestic markets. Among them the “Xiaoya” automatic washing machines and “Qingqi” series of motorcycles are even exported to over 30 countries/regions around the world.

Information industry is greatly encouraged in Jinan. The operation of the Jinan information port (on Chinese Public Multimedia Communication Web) and Jinan branch of China International Electronic Commercial Center give Jinan an easy access to the world’s information networks. The newly established Qilu Software Development Park was titled National High-tech Industrial Park, and is among the four state-level software parks nationwide.

Nevertheless, Jinan is also an important collecting and distributing center for all kinds of goods in Shandong. There are 5 market groups in Jinan, located at Beiyuan Road, Jiluo Road, Huanyuan Road, Zhangzhuang Road, and Jingshi West Road, respectively. 206 professional wholesale markets and 343 agricultural products markets are operating. The total markets are 768 with the business building area reaches 8.21 million m2. 11 modern department stores such as Daguanyuan, the People’s Market, Silver Plaza, and Guihe, etc, and 189 commercial streets have been constructed or expanded, which, while meeting the needs of customers, gradually change the citizens’ consumption custom.