During the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05) period, it will develop into a prosperous modern city by fully making use of its advantageous resources, according to Ganzhou Mayor Wang Zhaoyou.

Ganzhou has an area of 39,400 sq km and a population of 8.05 million. It is one of the three ancient historical and cultural cities in Jiangxi, together with Nanchang and Jingdezhen. The Dongjiang River, originating from Ganzhou, flows southward and provides Hong Kong with industrial water.

The city is home to 7 million Hakka, who have many unique customs and a distinctive architecture. These are honored in a memorial hall that has a wide array of Hakka features. Each year, it receives many overseas Hakka descendants who want to trace their family roots.

Owing to its favorable climate, Ganzhou boasts an abundance of products. It produces qicheng (a kind of orange peculiar to the area), sweet shaddocks, phyllostachys edulis (mao bamboo), and salted ducks. Among these, qicheng compares well with US oranges. Yet, until now, industrialized and large-scale production has been missing.

Ganzhou has rich mineral resources such as the world-famous rare earth and tungsten with respective proven reserves of 500,000 tons. It produces 70 percent of the country’s rare earth and 60 percent of the world’s total. It contributes 80 percent of the country’s total tungsten ore production and 50 percent of the world total.

Yet, owing to poor transportation, Ganzhou lacked contact with the outside world. This has been changed owing to the opening of the Beijing-Kowloon Railway, and national highways 105 and 323. Now, the construction of the highway linking Ganzhou and Guangdong is under construction. Ganzhou has also opened four domestic air routes.

We hope convenient transport facilities can fuel local economic growth and attract more investment to fully exploit our competitive resources, said Wang.

He added that Ganzhou has opened more areas to remove restrictions and encourage investment. During the past year, it received 2.5-3 billion yuan of investment. Private economic sectors have also been flourishing which achieved half of the city’s total tax revenue last year.

During the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-05), Ganzhou will further transform its traditional industry and focus on its materials sector, by relying on rare earth and tungsten ore. Instead of producing raw materials as in the past, it will develop a value-added processing industry. In addition, it will adopt scientific management of resources production including prospecting, exploitation, processing, and sales. A rare-earth related hi-tech industry is taking shape in the city.

Ganzhou also plans to accelerate the development of foodstuff processing, fruit and vegetable production, and a bio-pharmaceutical industry.

Great potential for business and profits has already lured many foreigners to invest and cooperate with the area, including enterprises from the US, Japan, and South Korea.

(CIIC by Guo Xiaohong 03/28/2001)