Geographic location
  Anhui Province, also called “Wan” for short, is located in the southeast of China. The province extends about 570 kilometers from north to south, and 450 kilometers from west to east, covering a total area of 139,600 square kilometers, accounting for 1.45 percent of the country’s land. Anhui has 1,850 townships.

Topography:
  Anhui has a complex topography. With Yangtze River and Huaihe River running through the province from west to east, Anhui is divided into three regions, including Huaibei (North of Huaihe), Jianghuai (Between Yangtze and Huaihe), and Jiangnan (South of Yangtze). The North of Huaihe River, as part of the North China Plain, is a vast expanse of flatland. The middle area between the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River is a chain of undulating hills. The lands by the two sides of the Yangtze River and around the Chaohu Lake are low and flat, belonging to the well-known Middle-Lower Yangtze River Plain. The south is mainly covered by hills.
   Generally, the province can be divided into five topographical zones: plain north of Huaihe River, hilly land between the Huaihe and Yangtze, Dabieshan mountainous area of West Anhui, plains along the Yangtze River and the hilly area in southern Anhui. Located in the transition region of the warm-temperate zone and subtropical zone, the climate of Anhui is warm and humid with distinctive seasons. The province’s annual rainfall differs greatly and its weather is very changeful, with frequent spring droughts and summer floods.

Climate:
   The annual average temperature of Anhui is between 14°C to 17°C centigrade. The average annual sunshine hours are 1,800-2,500. The average frost-free period is 200 to 250 days. The annual average rainfalls are 800 to 1,800 millimeters.

Natural resources:
  Covering a total area of 4.33-million-hectare fertile farmland, Anhui is suitable for the growth of various crops.
   The total water reserve of Anhui is about 68 billion cube meters. Bishihang Irrigation Project and Simashan Diversion and Irrigation Project are two key irrigation projects of the province.
   The land for forestry is 41,800 square kilometers, accounting for 12 percent of the total land of the province. Anhui is rich in plants and animals. It has a total of 1,300 woody plants and 2,100 more herbaceous plants. Among its more than 500 species of animals, 54 are listed as rare ones under state protection, including the Yangtze alligator and white-fin dolphin.
   Anhui has a rich mineral resource, which is great in variety and concentrated in distribution. Among the 130 discovered minerals, 67 have had their reserves proved, 49 have been exploited, and 38 rank among the first 10 in the country in terms of reserve. According to the calculation based on the fixed price in 1990, the potential value of the province’s mineral reserves reach 1,920 billion yuan, ranking the tenth in China. Among them, the reserves and potential values of 11 minerals, including coal, iron, copper, sulphur and alum stone, rank among the top ones in eastern China and even in the country.

Total population:
  Anhui registered a birth rate of 11.15‰ in the year 2003, 0.05 permillage points lower than that of the previous year. The mortality was 5.2‰, up 0.03 permillage points from the previous year. The natural growth rate of the population was 5.95‰, down 0.08 permillage. At the end of 2003, the province had a total registered population of 64.1 million.

Ethnicity:
  There are 59.484 million Han people, accounting for 99.37 percent of the total population. People of other ethnic groups are 376,000, accounting for 0.63 percent of the total population. In addition to the main minority ethnic group of the Hui, there are 52 other ethnic groups, including the Man, Zhuang and She.

Literacy:
  There were 73 institutes of higher learning, 521 secondary technical schools, 3,820 middle schools, and 22328 primary schools with a total amount of 11.73 million students by the end of 2003.

GDP: 397.32 billion yuan (2003)

GDP growth rate: 9.2 percent

GDP ratio (1st, 2nd and tertiary industries):
  The ratio of the three industries in GDP is about 18.9:44.8:36.3. The added values of the three industries are 74.91 billion yuan, a drop of 3 percent; 178.06 billion yuan, an increase of 14 percent; and 144.35 billion yuan, an increase of 10.2 percent, respectively.

Per capita GDP: 6,457 yuan, up by 640 yuan from the previous year.

Revenues:
  The revenues in 2003 were 41.23 billion yuan, 18.9 percent more than that of the previous year.

Industrial output value:
  The added industrial value of 2003 was 144.56 billion yuan, an increase of 12.2 percent compared to the previous year.

Foreign trade:
  The total volume of export and import in 2003 was US$5.94 billion, 42.1 percent higher than that of the previous year, of which the total volume of export was US$3.06 billion, an increase of 24.9 percent; and that of import was US$2.88 billion, an increase of 66.6 percent.

Foreign investment:
  In 2003, great efforts were made across the province to improve environment for investment and open up more channels to introduce foreign investment. The actual utilization of foreign capital in the year was US$1.095 billion, 47.8 percent up from the previous year, and the direct foreign investment was US$391 million, an increase of 4.1 percent. The newly approved foreign-funded enterprises were 431, an increase of 93.

Agriculture
  Anhui is one of China’s major agricultural production bases. Among the grain crops are rice, wheat, bean, corn, sorghum, sweet potato come second. The main economic crops are cotton, rapeseeds, flue-cured tobacco, tea, silkworm cocoon, jute and bluish dogbane. Anhui’s agricultural economy ranks the ninth in China.

Light Industry
  A light industry production system focusing on household electronic appliances, electronics, texture, wine and tobacco, daily chemical products has been formed. The varieties of light industrial products have increased from 20,000 to 50,000. A group of core and well-known enterprises, including Meiling Group, Rongshida Group, Fengyuan Biochemical Group, Fangcao Daily Chemical Products Groups, Gujing Group, Shengquan Group, Hongxing Xuan Paper Group, Fengexin Pharmaceutical Co. have emerged. Among them, Meiling refrigerators, Rongshida washing machines, Gujinggong wine, Shengquan beer and Fengyuan citraconic acid lead the country in terms of output and sales volume.

Tourism
  Anhui has abundant tourism resources, featuring many well-known natural scenic spots well-preserved cultural relics. Currently, there are five state-level scenic areas, including Mount Huangshan, Mount Jiuhua, Mount Tianzhu, Mount Langya and Mount Qiyun, three national nature reserves, 23 national forest parks and three state-level historical and cultural cities in Haozhou, Shouxian and Yixian counties. Spots of historical interest under state protection include: Ruins of Zhongdu and the Ming Emperor Tomb in Fengyang, the Site of Hexian Man, the Xuguo Arch Gate in Yixian, and the Huaxi Theatre in Bozhou. In 1999, Mount Huangshan won the International Award for Protection and Management of Cultural Scenic Spots and Mount Jiuhua was named a national model scenic spot by the Ministry of Construction. Previously, in 1998, Hefei, Huangshan, Bozhou were in the first group of Chinese cities to be awarded as excellent tourism cities

Energy and raw materials industries
  The exploitation and utilization of mineral resources in Anhui play a significant role in the national economy. Mining of such minerals as coal, iron, copper, limestone and sulfide is of large-scale and energy, construction materials, metallurgy, non-ferrous metal and chemical products are the province’s five major basic industries. Anhui is a national base of material industry and the energy supply base of east China. The coal fields in Huainan and Huaibei, with an annual output of 46.777 million tons, are the largest coal producers in southern China. The power generating capacity of the province is 31.93 billion kilowatts.

Hefei, the capital city of Anhui, is the center of the province’s politics, economy, science, education, culture and transportation. Under its jurisdiction, Hefei has four districts and three counties. Hefei covers a total area of 7,029 square kilometers, and
the population had reached 4.56 million by the end of 2005. Hefei has much to?offer. It is the nation’s only pilot city for scientific and technical innovation. It is one of the most important scientific and educational cities in the nation, with more than 30 universities and institutions of higher learning and more than 190 institutions of scientific research. The world-renowned University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) and the Hefei Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) are both in Hefei. Hefei ranks top among the cities of the same category in China for its intellectual resources. In addition, Hefei is called the "Green City", with forest covering 36.2 per cent of its total area.?

Geographic Advantages

Entering the new century, Maanshan will play a more important role in the market economy stage. People of the city are determined to build it into a modernized city in the coming 5 to 10 years, expanding its district area to 100 sqkm, and the population to 1 million. Maanshan people are devoting themselves to fulfilling this goal.

Chaozhou
Chaohu City is situated in central Anhui. In close neighborhood of the Yangtze River, it is one of the five major freshwater lakes. Now it has jurisdiction over 4 counties -- Lujiang, Wuwei, Hanshan, and Hexian -- as well as Juchao District. With a population of 4.5306 million by the end of 2005, the whole municipality covers an area of 9432 km2 .
Chaohu has a well-developed transportation system, with convenient access to Nanjing, Hefei, Anqing, Wuhu, Ma'anshan, and Tongling. Hefei-Jiujiang Railway and Hefei-Nanjing, Shanghai-Chengdu, Hefei-Chaohu highways pass through the area. The Yangtze River flows through Chaohu. Nearby are Wuhu and Tongling Yangtze River Bridges. Thus Chaohu can benefit from the trade port in Wuhu in addition to the airports in Najing and Hefei for its overseas trading activities

Chaohu is abundant in resources. 34 minerals have been identified, among which magnetite, pyrite, alunite, limestone and gypsum mine are of huge reserves. Chaohu Lake is known as "land of plenty", which abounds in rice, edible oil, cotton, vegetables, poultry, and aquatic products. "The Three Local Specialties" (Ice fish, white shrimp and crab) are very famous. Chaohu Lake is a national scenic area, boasting of 130 natural scenic spots and cultural sites, in addition to beautiful rivers, lakes, mountains, and springs. Water, spring and mountain are called "Three Scenic Bests."

Since the reform and opening up, especially since the 1990s, Chaohu economic and social development is accelerating, the comprehensive economy is strengthened, and the structure of agriculture is improved continuously. Five counties are major producers of grain and cotton, entering the national top 100 counties of grain and oil. The aquatic products, birds, and vegetables develop rapidly. The output of aquatic products ranked second and the special aquatic products ranked first in the entire province; there have developed more than 20 large-scale poultry farms. With 100 million mu of vegetables, Chaohu is an important vegetable production base in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Industrial strength has been continuously gaining. Building materials, machinery, textile, medicine, food, etc. have become pillar industries with considerable scale and strength, enjoying the status of key enterprises. Currently, the city has 54 large and medium-sized enterprises, among which Wanwei High-Tech, Chaodong Share-holding Corp, Xinli Pharmaceutical, and Huaxing Chemicals are listed in the stockmarket. The tourism industry is developing rapidly. The five major caves, including Baochan Mountain and Huayang caves, are built; the same is true with Taihu Mountain, 4 national forest parks, as well as Bantang, Tangchi, Fragrance spring resorts. Urban infrastructure is improved significantly, with an efficient comprehensive system. Chaohu has won the title of "National Hygiene Advanced City".

Since Chaohu Municipality was officially established, Chaohu launched six-year campaign of mind-opening and environment-improvement, and carried out the activities of opening-up and encouraging foreign investment for 4 consecutive years. It has established administrative service centers and network on three levels, implemented integrative procedure services, and integrative investment approval procedures -- creating a favorable environment for enterprises and public life.

To build a well-off society, Chaohu City concentrates on speeding up the economic development, making people rich and city powerful. Taking advantages of affluent resources and favorable location, Chaohu accelerates the construction of "four bases, and a garden" -- the base of industrial shift and funds from developed coastal regions, the base of high-quality agricultural supply, the base of high-quality labor force, the base of putting into practical use the sci-tec achievements made by neighboring cities, and the back garden for visitors from surrounding cities.