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Physical Geography

Jiaxing City is located in the northeastern part of Zhejiang Province and because it is in the center of the Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou Plain, it is one of the important cities in the Yangtze River Delta. It geographically lies between 30°21＇and 31°2＇north latitude and 120°18＇and 121°16＇east longitude. It faces the sea to the east, leans against the Qiantang River on the south, leans close to the Lake Taihu on the north, and meets Tianmu River on the west with the Grand Canal running through it from north to south. It is situated at the intersection of rivers, sea and lakes, clutching the pharynx and larynx of the southern corridor of Lake Taihu. Jiaxing is not very far from Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Huzhou (less than one hundred km.), therefore, its geographical superiority is so obvious that it is especially famous for its position between Suzhou and Hangzhou which are called paradise on earth.

Jiaxing city is 92 km long from west to east and 76 km wide from north to south. It has a land area of 3915 sq km, of which the plain area is 3477 sq. km, the water area is 328 sq. km and the hilly area is 40 sq. km. And it has a sea area of 4650 sq km.

The physical features of Jiaixng are low and flat, with an average altitude of 3.7 meters (Wusong Elevation Benchmark). Xiuzhou District and the northern part of Jiashan are the lowest-lying areas whose ground altitude generally ranges between 3.2m~3.6m, and 2.8m~3.0m for some of the lowlands. There are more than 200 hillocks in the whole city, scattered along the line of northern shore of Hangzhou Bay of Qiantang River, with altitudes mostly below 200 meters. And the highest point within Jiaxing’s boundary is the Mount Gaoyang located in the bordering area of Haiyan and Haining. Jiaxing is a shallow dish-shaped lowland by Lake Taihu, in a surface relief approximately slanting from southeast to northwest. The plain has been divided up by ponds, riversides, rivers and dykes in a crisscross fashion, with field, land and water distributed in an interlaced manner. A solid structure of landform has been formed: six-tenth field, one-tenth water and three-tenth land, featuring an obvious artificial relief and a rich watery region, for mulberry trees are planted in drylands, crops are grown in paddy fields and fishes are cultured in lakes.

Jiaxing city lies in the southern edge of the northern subtropical zone, falling in the East Asian monsoon region. It is typical of monsoon alternation in winter and summer, with clear-cut four seasons, moderate air temperature, sufficient rain water, and adequate sunlight, characterized by wet spring, hot summer, dry autumn, and cold winter. Located at the middle latitude, the duration of wet, hot, and rainy climate in summer is much shorter than that of dry and cold climate in winter. The average annual air temperature is 15.9℃. The average annual rainfall is 1168.6mm. The average annual sunlight is 2017.0 hours.

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Jiaxing has long been praised as "a land with abundant fish and rice " and "the Home of Silk". It has been honored a National Model City for Mutual Support between the Civilian and the Arm Forces, a National Model City for Greening, a National Excellent Tourism City and a National Garden-like City. Since China's reforming and opening up to the outside world, especially in recent years, Jiaxing has witnessed vigorous development and Jiaxing's comprehensive strength has been enhanced obviously. Statistics shows that Jiaxing's GDP in 2007 reached 158.518 billion yuan, an increase of 14.4 % in comparable prices，0.5 % higher than the growth rate in the previous year. The primary industry accounts for 10.022 billion yuan, increasing by 4.7 %；the secondary industry accounts for 94.726 billion yuan, increased by 14.8%;and the tertiary industry accounts for 53.77 billion yuan, increased by 15.7 %. The percentage of contribution of the three industries to economy were 6.5%, 60% and 33.5% respectively in 2006, and were  changed to 6.3%, 59.8% and 33.9% in 2007. The per capita GDP amounted to 47,153 yuan calculated according to the total registered residents, equal to $6,201, increasing by 14%. The per capita GDP amounted to 38,354 yuan calculated according to the total permanent residents, equal to $5,044, increasing by 11.8%.

Jiaxing, with the coordinated development of society and economy, enjoys a higher level of social development in Zhejiang Province. Jiaxing Municipality and the five county and county-level cities have all been edged into the national advanced ranks in science progress and all of them have been honored provincial model cities (counties) and provincial advanced counties (cities) in education.

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The industrial added value in 2007 in Jiaxing reached 85.6 billion yuan calculated in comparable prices, increasing by 16.1 % and accounting for 54% of the GDP. In 2007, there were 5964 enterprises above the designated size, 969 more than in 2006. The total industrial output value hit 333.859 billion yuan, increasing by 25.7%, contributing tax of 27.43 billion yuan, increasing by 30.2%, and profit of 16.32 billion yuan, increasing by 32.6%. The growth of industry in Jiaxing was characterized with faster growth in tax than in production value, and faster growth in profit than in tax.
The output value of equipment manufacturing and high-tech industries increased by 35.5% and 38.8 % respectively in 2007, with their ratio increased by 1.6% and 0.5% respectively in output value of enterprises above the designated size.
Brand strategy made great success, with 29 well-known trade marks of China and 10 famous trade marks of China and 23 national inspection-free products created.

Opening up to the Outside World

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In 2007, the total volume of import and export reached US$16.062 billion, an increase of 26.9%, out of which the total volume of export was US$11.674 billion and the total volume of import was US$4.388 billion, increased by 27.2% and 26.2% respectively. Electromechanical and clothing products still remained dominant in exporting commodities. The volume of exporting electromechanical products was US$3.165 billion, an increase of 37.0%, accounting for 27.1% of the total volume of export while the volume of exporting clothing products was US$ 2.974 billion, an increase of 13.2%, accounting for 25.5% of the total volume of export. Export-oriented economy further developed. Accordingly, ratio of dependency on foreign trade reached 77.1%, out of which dependency on export accounted for 56.0%. In 2007, the total contracted foreign capital reached US$3.455 billion, and US$1.662 of foreign capital was actually utilized, increased by 35% and 36% respectively. Jiaxing newly approved 420 foreign-invested enterprises, of which 211 projects with an investment of over US$10 million for each were introduced and production base of Foxconn Group (east China Branch) has been established in Jiashan. In 2007, steady progress was made in economic and technological cooperation with other countries. Another 26 enterprises invested by Jiaxing enterprises were established abroad, with a total investment amounting to US$ 62.54 million, increased by 123.5%. The number of exporting labor reached 677 person-times.

Science and Technology

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In 2007, the city of Jiaxing, counties and county-level cities under jurisdiction of Jiaxing have all entered advanced ranks of national scientific and technological progress, and all the counties (cities and districts) are among the provincial advanced units in scientific and technological progress. 
 
By the end of 2007, there had been 9 state-owned independent research and development institutions at and above county level, and the total human resources reached 504,300, an increase of 72,000 in number or 16.7 % as compared with that in the previous year 
 
In 2007, a total of 101 science and technology achievements were made at and above the municipal level, of which 11 won provincial rewards and 90 won municipal ones. 421 enterprises were established in Jiaxing Hi-tech Industrial Park, with total revenue of 13.89 billion yuan in technology, industry and trade, and a tax payment of 1.658 billion yuan. And 42 foreign-invested enterprises were introduced, with the contracted foreign capital reaching US$229 million. The number of national high-tech enterprises in the Park totaled 46, and technology-based enterprises were 229, an increase of 59 in number.

Scenic Spots

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Jiaxing is both a National Excellent Tourism City and a National Garden-like City. With its favorable climate, rivers and lakes dotted here and there, it is famous for its natural scenery, especially for its water country and ancient towns. In addition, mountains, seas and tide watching are also worth your attention. South Lake, the birthplace of CPC, Qiantang Tide in Haining, the first tide in the world, South-north Lake in Haiyan, which is honored as the real combination of mountain and water, the ancient Great Canal, Wuzhen in Tongxiang and Xitang in Jiashan which have been in the list of candidates for World Cultural Heritage, contribute to the Jiaxing's unique characteristics of water country in the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

At present, there are 7 National 4A Scenic Spots in Jiaxing. They are South Lake, Wuzhen, Xitang, China Leather City in Haining, Tide Watching vantage in Yanguan, South-north Lake and East Lake.

2007 witnessed rapid development of Jiaxing tourism. Statistics shows that Jiaxing received a total number of 19.1148 million foreign and domestic tourists and the total tourism income reached 16.2 billion yuan, an increase of 16% and 20.1% over last year respectively. More specifically, Jiaxing received 612,500 tourists from foreign countries and the regions of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao, and the tourist income in foreign currency amounted to US$190 million, an increase of 16.2% and 18.7% over the previous year respectively. It received 18.5023 million domestic tourists, and the domestic tourist income totaled 14.8 billion yuan, an increase of 16% and 21.2% respectively.