Global Business Development – China

China, located at the east of Asia, occupies a total land area of 9.6 million square kilometers, third only in size to Russia and Canada. China is a high populated country in the world and its population reached 1.3 billion in early 2005. The density is 140.1 persons per sq km. The current age structure is relatively balanced, as 70.3% of the total population is between the age of 15 and 64 (male 469,328,664; female 443,248,860), 22.3% of that is between the age of 0 and 14, and people with 65 years old and above only occupies 7.5%.

To save its stagnant economy, China government dedicated so much effort to reform its economic system and political framework in last several decades. In the late 1970s, the Chinese government began transferring its Soviet-style central plan economy to a market oriented economic system. For an instance, the Government advocated restructuring the old economic system and privatizing public capital. The reform successfully slimmed down the unwieldy public-owned corporations. The Chinese leadership also realized the importance of commerce and technology development. Therefore, the China government intensifies its effort to develop the infrastructures all over the country, in particular the coastal cities and provinces. To stimulate its economic growth, China government actively develops its global and local economic partnerships, and signs enormous unilateral and bilateral agreements. Nowadays, China’s international position is acknowledged by many countries. Based on the purchasing power parity (PPP) measurement, China was ranked as the second largest economy developer behind the U.S. in 2003. According to 2004 CIA World Factbook, it indicates that, in 2003, China’s GDP was $6.449 trillion and the real growth rate of GDP was 9.1%. Even though the GDP was high, the GDP per capita was still low, which was $5,000. About 10% (2001) of population live below poverty line. If the GDP is composited by sectors, about 51.7% of GDP was from industry and construction, 14.5% from agriculture and 33.8% from services (2002).

Railways total: 70,058 km

• • standard gauge: 68,000 km 1.435-m gauge (18,668 km electrified)
  • narrow gauge: 3,600 km 1.000-m and 0.750-m gauge local industrial lines
  • dual gauge: 22,640 km (not included in total) (2003)

Highways total: 1,402,698 km

• • paved: 314,204 km (with at least 16,314 km of expressways)
  • unpaved: 1,088,494 km (2000)

In many cities, railways and expressways are two main transport arteries. Guangdong Province is the one with remarkable achievement on its transport development. Guang Zhou is the capital city of Guangdong Province. The regional transport network is like a spider net starting from Guang Zhou to other neighbour cities, like Shen Zhen, Zhu Hai, Yun Fu, Qing Yuan, Fo Shan, Kai Ping, Shan Tou, etc.

Table Regional and Provincial Transport Fixed Capital Investments (November 2004)