General Economy

Gross domestic product (GDP)

GDP for 2004 was 881.51 billion yuan, up 13.7% from the previous year.

GDP ratio (primary, secondary and tertiary industries)

The primary industry yielded a value added of 164.75 billion yuan, 12.8% more than that of the previous year; the secondary industry, 451.53 billion yuan, a growth of 16.2%; the tertiary industry, 265.23 billion yuan, a growth of 10.6%. The proportion of the three sectors is 18.7: 51.2: 30.1.

Revenue and expenditure

Provincial revenue was 42.86 billion yuan, an increase of 35.1% over the previous year. Provincial expenditure was 87.79 billion yuan, an increase of 22.5%.

Consumer price index (CPI)

CPI was up 5.4% from the previous year.

Investment in fixed assets

Fixed asset investment was valued at 309.9 billion yuan, up by 31.3% from the previous year.

Major Industries

Agriculture

In 2004, the province's total grain output was 42.6 million tons, an increase of 19.3% from the previous year.

Industry

The industrial added value totaled 386.22 billion yuan, an increase of 17.0%.

High-tech

The total added value from high-tech industries was 30.3%.

Construction

Its added value was 65.32 billion yuan, up by 11.0%.

Transportation

Freight carried by various means of transport during the year amounted to a total of 199.787 billion ton-kilometers, 10.9% up from the previous year.

Passengers carried by various means of transport numbered 90.843 billion person-kilometers during the year, up 17.7% from the year before.

Postal and telecom services

The annual turnover of postal and telecommunication operations totaled 44.26 billion yuan, 46.8% up from the previous year.

Retail

The annual turnover from retail sales reached 280.82 billion yuan, an increase of 15.7% from the previous year.

Tourism

Revenue from domestic tourism totaled 56 billion yuan, up by 63.8%. Foreign exchange earnings from tourism totaled US$160 million, up by 152.2%.

Continued Effects of Market Reform

Imports & exports

The annual value of imports and exports totaled US$6.61 billion, an increase of 40.2% from the previous year.

Economic and technological cooperation

Overseas project and labor contracts signed during the year were valued at US$507 million, up 45.5% from the previous year. Business turnover for the year totaled US$271 million, an increase of 40.1% from the previous year.

Foreign investment

Foreign direct investment realized in monetary terms was US$874 million, up by 36.7% from the year before.

Urban Construction and Management

Road transport

The year saw the construction of 1,880 km of highways including 340 km of express highways, and the construction of 136.7 km of railways.

Social Undertakings

Science and technology

At the end of 2004, there were 1,200 research and development institutions staffed with 149,500 professionals and technicians in the province. The R&D input for the year stood at 3.76 billion yuan, 10.0% up from the previous year.

Education

The number of students enrolled in postgraduate schools and institutions of higher learning during the year stood at 5,408 and 257,400 respectively. A total of 136,700 people got rid of illiteracy.

Culture

The province had a total of 200 professional performing organizations, 187 cultural and arts centers, 136 public libraries, and 75 museums at the end of the year.

Public health

There were a total of 14,119 medical and healthcare institutions equipped with 206,800 beds and staffed with 288,800 medical professionals and technicians at the year-end. The centers for diseases control and prevention numbered 182, staffed with 14,100 professionals and technicians.

Sports

The province has a total of 37,000 stadiums and gymnasiums, the per capita amount of sportsground being 0.52 sq m.

Welfare and aid

Various welfare units across the province were equipped with 63,800 beds and put up 47,100 homeless and vagrant people during the year. There were 3,155 urban community centers at the end of the year. The funds raised through selling welfare lottery totaled 321 million yuan in 2004. Public donations totaled 18.14 million yuan.

Poverty relief

The year saw a reduction of 1 million people living in absolute poverty. They began to have enough food and clothing. A total of 120 million yuan were spent on providing primary and middle school students from poor rural families with free textbooks.

Population, Employment, Social Security and Living Standards

Population

The year 2004 saw births of 1.13 million, or a birth rate of 11.67‰, and deaths of 630,200, or a mortality rate of 6.47‰. The natural growth rate of the population stood at 5.2‰. At the end of the year, the total population stood at 97.17 million.

Employment

The employed population stood at 55.5 million at the end of 2004, an increase of 150,000 from the previous year end.

Registered unemployment rate

The registered urban unemployment rate was 3.4%.

Social security

In 2004, insurance plans for endowments, unemployment and medical treatment covered a population of 7.79 million, 6.82 million and 5.9 million respectively. About 1.35 million urban residents received minimum living allowance from the government, totaling 910 million yuan.

Residents' income

The disposable income of urban residents was 7,705 yuan per capita, up by 11.2% from 2003. Rural residents' per capita net income was 2,553 yuan, a growth of 14.2% from the previous year.

Residents' consumption

Urban residents' per capita expenditure was 5,294 yuan, up by 7.1% from the previous year while that of rural residents was 1,664 yuan, up by 10.3%.

Geography and Natural Conditions

Elevation extremes

Henan Province is in the transitional area between the second and third steps of China's four-step terrain rising from east to west, with rolling mountains over 1,000 meters above sea level in its western part and plain area of 100 meters or lower in its east. Laoyacha in Lingbao City, 2413.8 meters above sea level, is the highest peak in Henan. The province's lowest point, 23.2 meters, is found at the place where the Huaihe River leaves the province.

High in the west and low in the east, even in the north and concave in the south, Henan is surrounded by four mountain ranges, the Taihang, Funiu, Tongbai and Dabie, which stand in its north, west and south, leaving subsidence basins here and there. In its middle and eastern parts there is a vast fluvial plain created by the Yellow, Huaihe and Haihe rivers. Mountainous regions comprise 44.3% of its total area, and the plains, 55.7%. Four rivers run across Henan, the Yellow River, Huaihe River, Weihe River and Hanshui River, with the Huaihe River valley covering up 53% of the province.

Climate

Located between the northern sub-tropical zone and warm temperate zone, Henan has distinctive four seasons with complicated weather conditions characterized with a hot and rainy summer. Southern Henan is in the northern sub-tropical zone. The province's average temperature of the year is 13~15℃; the average annual rainfall is 807 mm; and its frost-free period lasts 308~275 days.

Natural resources

Henan has water reserves of 40.5 billion cubic meters, about 417 cubic meters per capita. The key water-conservative project at Xiaolangdi on the Yellow River, built with a loan from the World Bank, has a total installed capacity of 1.8 million kw. It is expected to generate 5.1 billion kwh of electricity annually after its completion.

Of the more than 150 kinds of minerals found on earth, 126 are available in Henan, of which, the reserves of 73 kinds have been made clear; 61 kinds have been mined and utilized.

In term of reservation, 48 kinds of Henan's minerals are listed among the top 10 of the country, of which molybdenum, blue asbestos, grit stone, natural alkali, pearlite, sapper and andalusite are listed as No. 1, and bauxite, natural hone, and limestone for producing cement are assessed as No. 2.

With considerable reserves of petroleum and natural gas, Henan possesses Zhongyuan Oil Fields and Henan Oil Fields. It is the 5th largest petroleum and natural gas producer in China.

Henan has 197 families and 3,830 species of higher plants, and 418 kinds of animals. It's an important producer of the country's wheat, corn, cotton, tobacco leaves and oil plants.

Tourism resources

As one of the major birthplaces of the Chinese civilization, Henan has several epoch-making archeological discoveries, including the Peiligang Culture Site dating back 7,000 years, Yanshao Culture Site of some 6,000 years ago, and Dahe Culture Site of more than 5,000 years ago. In ancient China, more than 20 dynasties established their capitals in Henan. Three of China's seven great ancient capitals are located in Henan: Anyang of the Shang Dynasty, Luoyang of nine dynasties and Kaifeng of seven dynasties. Three of ancient China's four great inventions, the compass, paper-making and gunpowder, were made in Henan. The province numbers first in the whole country in terms of underground cultural relics, and the second in existing cultural relics on the ground. The Yellow River, with numerous ancient relics and scenic attractions, also provides a rich tourist resource to Henan.