Tianjin Municipality
www.chinaview.cn
2003-04-02 12:27
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Tianjin Harbour | Tianjin is one of the Chinese municipalities directly
under the administration of the Central Government. As the largest industrial
and commercial city as well as the largest coastal open city in northern China,
it has long enjoyed the reputation as the "Pearl on the Bohai
Sea".
Located in the northeastern part of the North China
plain, Tianjin is 120 km east of Beijing and covers an area of 11,919.7 sq km.
The whole of Tianjin is divided into 13 districts and five counties. Tianjin as
a city has a long history. When the Great Canal was opened in around the year of
610 in the Sui Dynasty (581-618), Tianjin became a major hub of transportation
linking the river and sea in North China. In 1404 of the Yongle Period of the
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Tianjin became to be built as a city called
"Tianjinwei". After the 17th century, the scope of urban areas in Tianjin
expanded continuously along with further economic and social development in the
area. In the middle of the 19th century, troops of the Western imperialist
powers landed at Tianjin and marched on Beijing, forcing the corrupt Qing
Dynasty government to declare Tianjin as an open trading port in 1860. From then
to 1943, the city was largely under the control of nine foreign countries. In
1986, it was opened as a trading port for foreign commercial operations. Since
then, its industrial production and foreign trade have developed rapidly, and
Tianjin has been able to become China's second largest industrial and commercial
city next only to Shanghai and also an economic hub in North
China.
Tianjin is rich in natural resources. It has two
priority oil and natural gas fields of the State -- the Bohai Sea Oil and
Natural Gas Field and the Dagang Oil and Natural Gas Field which produce more
than 5 million tons of crude oil and 650 million cu m of natural gas annually.
With a coastline of more than 130 km, it produces a quarter of China's salt
annually. Under the ground of 72 sq km of Tianjin is a vast deposit of coal with
reserves estimated at 680 million tons, with a coal-containing layer of 530 m in
thickness. In an area of hundreds of square kilometers, there exists a source of
terrestrial heat that can be developed and utilized, with a total deposit of hot
spring of 110.3 billion cu m, whose temperatures range between 30 and 90 degree
centigrade. This geothermal source has been the largest medium- and low
temperature geothermal field ever discovered in China. Tianjin has 20 types of
verified minerals, including manganese, gold, tungsten, molybdenum and copper.
Most of these minerals are worth exploitation. Tianjin covers a total area of
land of 1.19197 million ha, including 495,530 ha of cultivated land. Between the
city proper and the coastal zone, there exists a barren land area of nearly 200
sq km, where transport conditions are good and development costs are
low.
As a member of the first group of major Chinese cities open to the outside world, Tianjin has improved its investment environment and has become a hot spot attracting foreign investment. Many first rate international financial groups and giant companies have a good prospect of investing in Tianjin. In particular, a large number of overseas companies, including Motorola, Otis and Mobil of the U.S., NEC, Honda and Yamaha of Japan, Siemens, Henkel and Volkswagen of Germany, Samsang Electronics and Daewoo Electronics of the Republic of Korea, Shell of Britain, Remy Martin of France, Nestle of Switzerland, Zanussi of Italy, Novo Nordisk of Denmark, Chiatai Group of Thailand, and Kerry and Shun Tak of Hong Kong, have established enterprises in Tianjin.
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