Fifteen Chinese coastal cities, which opened to foreign investors in the 1980s, posted a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of 4.04 trillion yuan (US$505.6 billion) in 2006, or 19.3 percent of the national total.

The cities' GDP rose 14.1 percent on average from 2005, making them a significant force in driving the national economy, according to the latest statistics from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

China opened the cities, including Dalian, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Baihai and Weihai, to foreign investors in 1985 and 1987. With the first four special economic zones of Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou and Xiamen, they were China's first windows to the outside world.

All the cities reported GDP growth higher than 12 percent, the highest rate of 17 percent registered in Yantai, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province.

These cities used US$30.4 billion in foreign funds last year, up 16.8 percent annually and 43.7 percent of the national total.

Shanghai used the largest sum of foreign funds totaling US$7.11 billion, which was followed by Tianjin with US$4.13 billion, and Qingdao with US$3.66 billion. Foreign funds used in the cities of Guangzhou, Nantong, Ningbo, Dalian and Yantai all surpassed US$2 billion.

Per capita disposable income in the cities was an average 14,878 yuan (US$1,860), 127 percent of the national average and 12.3 percent higher than 2005. All the cities reported average per capita income of more than 10,000 yuan, with Shanghai reporting the highest at more than 20,000 yuan.

Average per capita net income for farmers in the cities was 6,374 yuan, or 178 percent of the national average and an 11.4 percent rise annually. The growth rate was 1.2 percentage points higher than the national average.

Shanghai posted the highest at 9,213 yuan and the second highest 8,847 was reported in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province.

(Xinhua News Agency March 23, 2007)