Profile of Beijing Industry

Economy of the Capital

Beijing, as China's political, cultural and international exchange center, is a gigantic city filled with economic vigor and market prosperity. Since the implementation of the Ninth Five Year Plan, Beijing has put forward the notion of "Capital Economy", which is aimed to promote high and new technology industries, vigorously develop modern manufacturing and service industries, actively and steadily restructure or reform traditional industry, and foster the development of urban industry suited to the capital's features. One of the purposes is to make urban industry another important pillar of Beijing's economy while at the same time heading towards the target of "New Beijing, New Olympics".

In 2003, Beijing's national economy on the whole continued to maintain a good momentum of relatively rapid growth. Its annual GDP reached 361.19 billion Yuan, a 10.5 percent increase compared with that of last year as calculated with comparable price. The city's economic growth rate maintained over 10 percent in the past five years continuously. Its per capital GDP reached 31613 Yuan, a 9.2 percent increase than that of the previous year; local fiscal revenue was 59.25 billion Yuan, 18.2 percent more than that of the previous year; local fiscal expenditure was 73.72 billion Yuan, an 17.3 percent increase than that of 2002.

In the process of reform and opening up, Beijing clearly has advantages in a great many ways: scores of national science and research institutes, more than 60 universities and colleges, nearly 400 schools for technical and professional training, several foreign enterprise service agencies and advanced talent promotion centers, all of these constitute immense technological resources and rich intellectual resources in Beijing. Relatively large demands for goods, consumption example effect, and highly intensified market information constitute the central position of market in Beijing economy. Headquarters of large national financial institutions constitute the city's financial advantage. A series of comprehensive urban services that can be provided to high-quality management personnel, including culture, health care, medical treatment and education, constitute Beijing's comprehensive environmental resources. Rapidly developing information industry and an information environment nearly unparalleled in the country both constitute the city's advantage in information service. Road, railway and airline systems extending in all directions constitute the capital's advantage in transportation. China's accession to WTO and the rare chance for Beijing to hold Olympic Games in 2008, have both injected a strong momentum of development for Beijing's economy.