According to information from the 2002 National Torch Program and Planning Management Meeting, after 14 years of implementation, more than 21,000 Torch projects, including 7,000 at the national level, have been implemented. Statistics of 3,501 national torch projects underway show they have achieved 127.96 billion yuan (US$15.45 billion) in gross industrial product value. They have also brought huge economic and social benefits, and have now become new growth points of the Chinese economy.

The Chinese government ratified the implementation of the Torch Program in August 1988. In the ensuing 14 years, it has played a positive leading and exemplary role, promoting the industrialization of scientific research, helping to develop hi-tech industry, transforming and elevating old industries, promoting the adjustment of the industrial structure, promoting the growth of the national economy and the development of an advanced society.

The construction of hi-tech development zones is an important project within the Torch Program, and there are now 53 of these throughout the country, with total income of nearly 1,200 billion yuan (US$144.93 billion) in 2001, 137 times greater than the early 1990s, and an average annual growth rate of 63.5 percent. The zones have become important bases for developing high technology and realizing industrialization.

Under the Torch Program flag, a group of high standard enterprise incubators, university technology zones, software zones and the zones for returned students to start their own business are springing up rapidly.

At present, 20 industrial bases have been built throughout the country. According to statistics, their total market income was 26.3 billion yuan (US$3.2 billion) in 2001, paying 4.45 billion yuan (US$537.44 million) in taxes.

(china.org.cn by Wu Nanlan, August 19, 2002)