City Introduction of Shandong, China: Jinan

Jinan

Major Economic Indicators (2007)

Source: Jinan Economic and Social Development Report 2007

Introduction

Located in the center of Shandong Province, Jinan is the provincial capital, as well as one of the coastal cities which are opened to foreign investment, and one of the nation's fifteen sub-provincial cities. It covers a total area of 8,227 km² and has a population of 6.0 million. Under its present administration, there are six districts, three counties and one county-level city. Jinan has a temperate monsoon climate, with an average annual temperature of 14℃ and rainfall of 650-700 mm.

Limestone is one of the city’s major mineral resources. Jinan yields limestone of the highest quality and more types of limestone can be found here than anywhere else in China. It also has an abundance of coal and iron. The proven coal reserve in Jinan totals 331.6 million tons, with sixteen coal output locations. Jinan's Zhangqiu County is one of China's key counties for coal output. Additionally, Jinan’s iron ore reserve totals 49.1 million tons.

Three railways intersect in Jinan, namely, the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, Jinan-Qingdao Railway and Jinan-Handan Railway, making this city easily accessible. Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport is located in the northwest of the city, providing more transport options. It is located 28.5 km from Jinan’s downtown area. In 2007, the airport’s passenger and freight throughput reached 4.4 million persons and 4,973 tons, ranking twenty-fourth in China.

Jinan is Shandong’s education center. It has 44 universities and colleges with a total of 462,700 students – the highest in the province. Shandong University, located in Jinan, is the most famous university in Shandong.

Economic Features

Jinan has established automobiles and auto parts, electronics and IT, metallurgy, petrochemicals, machinery, food processing and pharmaceuticals as its pillar industries. In 2007, the value-added industrial output of Jinan reached RMB 99.9 billion, up 17.0% over 2006.

China National Heavy Duty Truck Group (CNHDT or Sinotruk) is the largest investor in the automobile industry. Being the birthplace for China's first heavy duty truck, Sinotruk is currently one of the major heavy duty truck production bases in China, with its sale of over 70,000 trucks and revenue of RMB 28.5 billion in the first half of 2008.

As one of the nation's fourteen service outsourcing base cities, Jinan saw its outsourcing industry grow rapidly in recent years. There are currently over fifty outsourcing companies in Jinan, and their export of software outsourcing generated US$50.8 million in 2007, up 63% over 2006. Presently, twenty-three companies have passed the CMM/CMMI certificate, with Inspur and NEC emerging as major players.

Jinan is home to the headquarters of Inspur Group, one of the earliest enterprises engaged in China’s IT industry. Inspur is also the largest player in the city's electronics and IT industry. It has set up joint ventures with Casio, Ericsson and LG in several other cities. Currently, Inspur is one of the top five outsourcing companies in China, and one of the top 100 outsourcing companies in the world. In 2007, its revenue reached RMB 15.2 billon, of which RMB 2.8 billion came from the software business.

Within the same year, Jinan’s foreign trade jumped 41.7% to US$6.2 billion. The main exports were mechanical and electronic products, accounting for 54.0% of the total export revenue. Utilized FDI reached US$561 million, up 39.0% year on year.