Jining, located in the southwest of Shandong, China, is one of the key industrial cites of the province. It governs two districts, three county-level cities and seven counties, namely, Shizhong District, Rencheng District, Qufu, Yanzhou, Zoucheng, Weishan County, Yutai County, Jinxiang County, Jiaxiang County, Weishan County, Sishui County, and Liangshan County. It covers an area of 11,000 square kilometers, with a population of 8.3131 million.
Jining, the birthplace of Confucius and Mencius, the great thinkers and educators well- known in the world, has long been praised as “the Hometown of Confucius and Mencius, the Land of Proprieties” as well as the cradle of Confucianism. Confucius Temple, Confucius Mansion and Confucius Cemetery in Qufu have been included on the list of World Culture Heritage by UNESCO. The annually celebrated “China (Qufu) International Confucius Cultural Festival” attracts both domestic and foreign friends to the holy city. Moreover, there are many other places of interest such as “the Four Sites on Mencius”, namely, Mencius Mansion, Mencius Temple, Mencius Cemetery and Mencius’ Mother Cemetery in Zoucheng, Water Margin in Liangshan County, Weishan Lake, the stone carvings of Han Dynasty in Jiaxiang County, and the Tai Zi Ling Zong Buddist Pagoda in Wenshang County etc.
Jining enjoys favorable geographic location and convenient transportation and communication. The Beijing-Shanghai Railway, Beijing-Kowloon Railway go through the city from south to north; Yanzhou-Shijiu Railway and Jining-Xinxiang Railway pass through the city from east to west. 223.7 kilometers of expressways have been open to traffic. The newly built Beijing-Shanghai Express Railway crosses Jining, with one stop in Qufu. Furthermore, Jining Qufu Airport, with direct flight to domestic cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenyang, Qingdao, etc. has been put in use. The Beijing—Hangzhou Grand Canal flows through the city, with strong river transportation capacity. Jining is only 200 kilometers away from Rizhao port, and 400 kilometers from Qingdao port. Mobile communication and internet services cover both the urban and rural areas.
Jining abounds with coal, electricity, freshwater and many other resources. It is one of the eight largest coal bases in China, with 25 billion tons of coal reserves and an annual production of 81.15 million tons of natural coals. The annual generation of electricity reached 49.4 billion kilowatt hour. There are reserves of 6 billion cubic meters of fresh water, 2 billion cubic meters of limestone and 2 billion cubic meters of construction stone materials in the city. There are 13 million tons of rare earth reserves which ranks the 2nd nationwide.
With its sound and rapid growth, the comprehensive economy power of Jining ranks among the top of the seventeen medium and large-sized cities in Shandong Province. Facing the severe challenges from the international financial crisis in 2009, the overall economic and social development of Jining is better than expected. The GDP has accomplished RMB 227.919 billion Yuan, increasing by 12.7% compared with last year, and the per capita GDP totaled RMB 28,492 Yuan(about 4,171 USD), increasing by 11.9%. The local fiscal revenue reached RMB 13.466 billion Yuan, increasing by 12.7 %. The volume of import and export amounted to 2.89 billion US dollars, decreasing by 9.8 %, in which the volume of export was 1.063 billion US dollars, down 10.7 %, and the import 1.283 billion US dollars, down 8.6 %. The actually utilized foreign investment reached 416 million US dollars, increasing by 7.3 %. The revenue brought by tourism reached RMB 18.511 billion Yuan, up 22.8%; The tourism earnings amounted to 120 million US dollars with 24.44 million domestic visitors and 250,000 overseas visitors. The investment in fixed assets amounted to RMB 110.1 billion Yuan, increasing by 25 %. The total retail sales of consumer goods were RMB 86.74 billion Yuan, up 19.1 %. The per capita disposable income of urban residents reached RMB 15,163 Yuan, up 11.2 %; and the per capita net income of rural residents was RMB 6,470 Yuan, up 8.5 %. Besides, the balance of the deposits of urban and rural residents was RMB 107.3 billion Yuan.
The agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery developed in an all-around way. The sown area of grain in Jining totaled 9.6226 million mu with a total output of 4.462 million tons and 464 kilos per mu; the area of woodland added up to 216.9 thousand mu with the forest coverage of 26.5 %; the aquiculture area was 670 thousand mu, with an output of 322,000 tons. In addition, the total power of agricultural machinery amounted to 8.69 million kilowatt.
Jining has diverse industries with a solid foundation and continuing restructuring. There are 3,767 large scale enterprises. There are 265 enterprises whose profit and tax exceed 10 million Yuan and 49 enterprises whose profit and tax is over 100 million Yuan. The pillar industries including coal and electric chemical industry, mechanical manufacturing, bio-tech, textile and garments, food and pharmaceutical industry have begun to stabilize and recover. A group of internationally well-known enterprises have started their business in Jining.
The science and technology, education, culture, hygiene, and physical education are developing well. There are 49 new hi-tech enterprises in Jining, 4 technological industrial bases for the National Torch program, and 46 provincial-level engineering research centers and 20 municipal-level agricultural science and technologies demonstration parks. There are 6 universities and colleges, 2 adult institutes of higher learning, 50 secondary vocational schools, 51 senior middle schools, 259 junior middle schools, 1,306 primary schools, 13 special education schools, 1,256 kindergartens. In addition, there are 12 artistic performance troupes, 11 public libraries, one gallery of art, 12 houses of culture. There are 115 hospitals, 141 clinics, 13 maternal and child health care institutions, 2 medical colleges, 6 secondary medical schools, and 26,932 hospital beds. The mass sports are promoted in a deep-going way, and the competitive sports performance scores remains the front place in Shandong Province.
Jining is striving to promote friendly exchanges with foreign countries. It has established sister-city relations with Ashikaga of Japan, Mulhouse of France and so forth. It has also established friendly cooperative relationship with Daegu of Korea, Komatsu of Japan, Taganrog of Russia as well as the cities in U.S., Germany, South Africa, Australia, etc. Meanwhile, It is developing economic partnership with almost 200 countries and regions, and also giving support to nearly 300 Confucius Institutes around the world to spread Chinese civilization. Jining, has unswervingly been sticking to the win-win opening-up strategy while making great effort to create a sound external environment.
In accordance with the Urban Overall Planning of Jining City (2008-2030) approved by Shandong Provincial People's Government, Jining will target at developing into an advanced city in economy, continue to enhance its role in the economic belt of southern Shandong, and give full play to its advantages in economic management, technological innovation, IT, communication, tourism etc, especially with its location of the junction of Shandong, Suzhou, He'nan and Anhui provinces. In the near future, Jining will be built into a dynamic city with the rational industrial structure, harmoniously-developing urban and rural areas, favorable environment as well as regional competitive edge.
Confucius said:" it is a great delight to have friends from afar". The hospitable people of Jining is always ready to welcome all friends at home and abroad to experience the Chinese civilization and Confucian culture, develop friendly exchange and cooperation, and work together for a prosperous and harmonious world!
