| Fuzhou 福州 |
|
|---|---|
| — Prefecture-level city — | |
| 福州市 | |
| from top, left to right: Black Pagoda of Fuzhou, White Pagoda of Fuzhou; the traditional Fuzhou-style gate of a mansion, fireproof wall and façade decoration in the Three Lanes and Seven Alleys in Fuzhou; City skyline of Fuzhou | |
| Location of Fuzhou Prefecture within Fujian | |
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Fuzhou
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | People's Republic of China |
| Province | Fujian |
| Divisions - County-level |
5 districts, 6 counties, & 2 County-level cities |
| Government | |
| • CPC Ctte Secretary | Yuan Rongxiang |
| • Mayor | Su Zengtian |
| Area | |
| • Prefecture-level city | 12,177 km2 (4,702 sq mi) |
| • Water | 4,634 km2 (1,790 sq mi) |
| Population (2010)[1] | |
| • Prefecture-level city | 7,115,370 |
| • Urban | 4,408,076 |
| • Rural | 2,707,294 |
| Time zone | China Standard Time (UTC+8) |
| Postal code | 350000 |
| Area code(s) | 591 |
| GDP | 2009[2] |
| - Total | CNY 252.428 billion (USD 36.98 billion) |
| - Per capita | CNY 36,851 (USD 5,398) |
| - Growth | 12.8% |
| License plate prefixes | 闽A |
| Local dialect | Fuzhou dialect of the Eastern Min Language |
| Website | Fuzhou.gov.cn |
| Fuzhou | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 福州 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Blessed Settlement | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Fuzhou (Chinese: 福州; pinyin: Fúzhōu, [fǔtʂóʊ] ( listen); Fuzhou dialect: Hók-ciŭ) is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong (闽东, lit. East of Fujian) linguistic and cultural area.
Fuzhou's core counties lie on the north (or left) bank of the estuary of Fujian's largest river, the Min River. All along its northern border lies Ningde, and Ningde's Gutian County lies upriver. Fuzhou's counties south of the Min border on Putian, Quanzhou, Sanming and Nanping municipalities. Its population is 7,115,370 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 4,408,076 inhabitants are urban standing around 61.95%, while rural population is at 2,707,294 standing around 38.05%.[1]
In older publications, the name "Fuzhou" was variously romanized as Foochow, Fuchow, Fuh-chau, Fuh-Chow, Hock Chew or Hokchew.
The Yuanhe Maps and Records of Prefectures and Counties, a Chinese geographical treatise published in the 9th century AD, says that Fuzhou's name came from "Mt. Fu", a mountain located northwest of the city. The mountain's name was then combined with -zhou, meaning "settlement" or "prefecture", in a manner similar to many other Chinese cities. During the Warring States Period, the Han Chinese referred to the Fuzhou area as Ye (Chinese: 冶), though they did not conquer the area until the Qin Dynasty. The city's name was changed numerous times between the 3rd and 9th centuries AD before finally settling on Fuzhou in 948.[3]
In Chinese, the city is sometimes referred to by the poetic nickname Rongcheng (Chinese: 榕城; Foochow Romanized: Ṳ̀ng-siàng) literally "The Banyan City".
The remains of two Neolithic cultures - the Huqiutou Culture (Chinese: 虎丘头文化), from around 5000 BC, and the Tanshi Mountain Culture (Chinese: 昙石山文化), from around 3000 BC - have been discovered and excavated in the Fuzhou area. During the Warring States Period (c. 475 - 221 BC), Han Chinese began referring to the modern Fujian area as Min Yue (Chinese: 闽越), suggesting that the native inhabitants of the area were a branch of the Yue peoples, a family of non-Chinese tribes who once inhabited most of southern China.[4] In 306 BC, the Yue Kingdom (present-day Zhejiang Province) fell to the state of Chu. Han Dynasty historian Sima Qian wrote that the surviving members of the Yue royal family fled south to what is now Fujian, where they settled alongside the native Yue people, joining Chinese and Yue culture to create Minyue.[5] Their major centre was not at Fuzhou's modern location, but further up the Min watershed near Wuyishan City.
The First Emperor of Qin unified ancient China in 221 BC and desired to bring the southern and southeast regions under Chinese rule. The Qin Dynasty organized its territory into "Commanderies" (Chinese: 郡; pinyin: jùn) - roughly equivalent to a province or prefecture - and the Fujian area was organized as Minzhong Commandery (Chinese: 闽中郡). The area seems to have continued mostly independent of Chinese control for the next century. The Han Dynasty followed the short-lived Qin, and Emperor Gaozu of Han declared both Minyue and neighboring Nanyue to be autonomous vassal kingdoms. In 202 BC Emperor Gaozu enfeoffed a leader named Wuzhu (Chinese: 无诸, Old Chinese: *Matya) as King of Minyue, and a walled city called Ye (Chinese: 冶, Old Chinese: *Lyaʔ, literally "Beautiful") was built. The founding of Ye in 202 BC has become the traditional founding date of the city of Fuzhou.
In 110 BC, the armies of Emperor Wu of Han defeated the Minyue kingdom's armies and annexed its territory and people into China. Many Minyue citizens were forcibly relocated into the Jiangnan area, and the Yue ethnic group was mostly assimilated into the Chinese, causing a sharp decline in Ye's inhabitants.[4] The area was eventually re-organized as a county in 85 BC.
During the Three Kingdoms Period, southeast China was nominally under the control of Eastern Wu, and the Fuzhou area had a shipyard for the coastal and Yangtze River fleets. In 282 AD, during the Jin Dynasty, two artificial lakes known simply as the East Lake and West Lake were constructed in Ye, as well as a canal system. The core of modern Fuzhou grew around these three water systems, though the East and West Lakes no longer exist. In 308 AD, during the War of the Eight Princes at the end of the Jin Dynasty, the first large-scale migration of Han Chinese immigrants moved to the south and southeast of China began, followed by subsequent waves during later periods of warfare or natural disaster in the Chinese heartland. The administrative and economic center of the Fujian area began to shift to the Ye area during the Sui Dynasty (581 - 618 AD).
In 725 AD, the city was formally renamed "Fuzhou". Throughout the mid-Tang Dynasty, Fuzhou's economic and cultural institutions grew and developed. The later years of the Tang saw a number of political upheavals in the Chinese heartland, prompting another wave of Chinese to immigrate to the modern-day Fujian and Guangdong areas. In 879, a large part of the city was captured by the army of Huang Chao during their rebellion against the Tang government. In 893, the warlord brothers Wang Chao and Wang Shenzhi captured Fuzhou in a rebellion against the Tang Dynasty, successfully gaining control of the entire Fujian Province and eventually proclaiming their founding of an independent kingdom they called the Min Kingdom in 909. The Wang brothers enticed more immigrants from the north, though their kingdom only survived until 945. In 978, Fuzhou was incorporated into the newly founded Song Dynasty, though their control of the mountainous regions was tenuous.
Fuzhou prospered greatly during the Tang Dynasty. Buddhism was quickly adopted by the citizens who quickly built many Buddhist temples in the area. The Hualin Temple (Chinese: 华林寺, not to be confused with the temple of the same name in Guangzhou), founded in 964, is one of the oldest surviving wooden structures in China. New city walls were built in 282 AD, 901 AD, 905 AD, and 974 AD, so the city had many layers of walls — more so than the Chinese capital. Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty ordered the destruction of all the walls in Fuzhou in 978 AD but new walls were rebuilt later. The latest was built in 1371 AD. During the Southern Song Dynasty, Fuzhou became more prosperous; many scholars came to live and work. Among them were Zhu Xi (朱熹), the most celebrated Chinese philosopher after Confucius, and Xin Qiji (辛弃疾), the greatest composer of the ci form of poetry.
Marco Polo, an Italian guest of the Emperor Kubilai, transcribed, after the conventions of Italian orthography, the place name as Fugiu. This was not the local Min pronunciation but that of the Mandarin administrative class.
Between 1405 and 1433 AD, a fleet of the Ming Imperial navy under Admiral Zheng He sailed from Fuzhou to the Indian Ocean seven times; on three occasions the fleet landed on the east coast of Africa. Before the last sailing, Zheng erected a stele dedicated to the goddess Tian-Fei (Matsu) near the seaport.
Galeote Pereira, a Portuguese soldier and trader, was taken prisoner during the pirate extermination campaign of 1549 and imprisoned in Fuzhou. Later transferred to a form of internal exile elsewhere in the province, Pereira escaped to Macau in 1553. The record of his experiences in the Ming Empire, logged by the Jesuits at Goa in 1561, was the first non-clerical account of China to reach the West since Polo's.[6]
In the 19th century, Lin Zexu, born in Fuzhou, a high-ranking official of Qing Dynasty, led an attempt to resist British colonialism at Guangzhou. Unsuccessful and reviled by the East India Company, he was internally exiled to Xinjiang near the Russian border. By the 1842 peace treaty which concluded the Opium War I, Fuzhou became one of the five Chinese treaty ports, and it became completely open to Western merchants and missionaries.
Fuzhou was one of the most important Protestant mission fields in China. On January 2, 1846, the first Protestant missionary, Rev. Stephen Johnson from ABCFM, entered the city and soon set up the first missionary station there. ABCFM was followed by the Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society that was led by Revs. M. C. White and J. D. Collins, who reached Fuzhou in early September 1847. The Church Missionary Society also arrived in the city in May 1850. These three Protestant agencies remained in Fuzhou until the communist revolution in China in the 1950s, leaving a rich heritage in Fuzhou's Protestant culture.
On August 23, 1884, the Battle of Fuzhou broke out between the French Far East Fleet and the Fujian Fleet of the Qing Dynasty. As the result, the Fujian Fleet, one of the four Chinese regional fleets, was destroyed completely in Mawei Harbor.
On November 8, 1911, revolutionaries staged an uprising in Fuzhou. After an overnight street battle, the Qing (Manchu) army surrendered.
On November 22, 1933, Eugene Chen and the leaders of the National Revolutionary Army's 19th Army set up the short-lived People's Revolutionary Government of Republican China (中華共和國人民革命政府).[7] Blockaded by Chiang Kai-shek and left to twist in the wind by the nearby Soviet Republic of China, the PRGRC collapsed within two months.
With the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937, hostilities commenced in Fujian Province. Xiamen (Amoy) fell to a Japanese landing force on May 13, 1938. "The fall of Amoy instantly threatened the security of Foochow. On May 23, enemy (Japanese) ships bombarded Mei-hua, Huang-chi and Pei-chiao while enemy planes continued to harass our forces. Between May 31 and June 1, our gunboats "Fu-ning", "Chen-ning" and "Suming" defending the blockade line in the estuary of the Min River were successively bombed and sunk. Meanwhile, our ship "Chu-tai" berthed at Nan-tai was damaged. Our Navy's Harbor Command School, barracks, shipyard, hospital and marine barracks at Ma-wei were successively bombed." (4). Fuzhou is recorded as having fallen to Japanese forces in 1938. (5).
The extent of Japanese command and control of the city of Fuzhou itself as opposed to the port at Mawei and the Min River Estuary is uncertain. By 1941 (date unknown), the city is recorded as having returned to Nationalist control. The British Consulate in Fuzhou is noted as operational from 1941-1944 after the United Kingdom Declaration of War on Japan in December 1941. Western visitors to Fuzhou in the period 1941-1944 include the Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett in 1942 (6). and the British scientist Dr Joseph Needham in May, 1944. (7). Both visitors record the presence of a British Consul and a Fuzhou Club comprising western businessmen.
In 'Bomb, Book & Compass', author Simon Winchester relates the visit of Dr Needham in 1944. Needham encountered the American government agent (John Caldwell) and the British SIS agent (Murray MacLehose working under cover as the British Vice-Consul in Fuzhou) involved in aid to the Nationalist resistance to Japanese forces in Fujian Province. (8).
As part of Operation Ichi-Go (1944), the last large-scale Japanese offensive in China in World War 2, the Japanese intended to isolate Fuzhou and the Fujian Province corridor to Nationalist forces in western china and the wartime capital of Chongqing. One account of the Japanese re-taking of Fuzhou city itself is narrated by American naval officer, Houghton Freeman. (9). The date is given as October 5, 1944. (10).
Fuzhou remained under Japanese control until the surrender of Japan and its armed forces in China in September 1945.
Following the restitution of Republic control (1946), the administration divisions of Fuzhou were annexed, and administration level was promoted from county-level to city-level officially.
On December 13, 1993, a raging fire swept through a textile factory in Fuzhou and claimed the lives of 60 workers.[8]
On October 2, 2005, floodwaters from Typhoon Longwang swept away a military school, killing at least 80 paramilitary officers.[8]
Fuzhou is located in the northeast coast of Fujian province, in the opposite of North Taiwan, connects jointly northwards with Ningde and Nanping, southwards with Quanzhou and Putian, westwards with Sanming respectively.
Fuzhou has a humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cfa) influenced by the East Asian Monsoon; the summers are long, very hot and humid, the winters are short, mild and dry. In most years torrential rain occurs during the monsoon in the second half of May. Fuzhou is also liable to typhoons in late summer and early autumn. Monthly daily means range from 10.9 °C (51.6 °F) in January to 28.9 °C (84.0 °F) in July, while extreme temperatures have ranged from −1.7 °C (29 °F) to 41.7 °C (107 °F) [9]
| Climate data for Fuzhou (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 15.2 (59.4) |
15.2 (59.4) |
18.1 (64.6) |
23.2 (73.8) |
26.7 (80.1) |
30.5 (86.9) |
34.1 (93.4) |
33.3 (91.9) |
30.2 (86.4) |
26.4 (79.5) |
22.0 (71.6) |
17.7 (63.9) |
24.38 (75.89) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 8.2 (46.8) |
8.3 (46.9) |
10.6 (51.1) |
15.0 (59.0) |
19.2 (66.6) |
23.0 (73.4) |
25.5 (77.9) |
25.1 (77.2) |
23.0 (73.4) |
19.3 (66.7) |
14.8 (58.6) |
10.1 (50.2) |
16.84 (62.32) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 48.0 (1.89) |
86.6 (3.409) |
145.4 (5.724) |
166.5 (6.555) |
193.7 (7.626) |
208.9 (8.224) |
98.8 (3.89) |
179.7 (7.075) |
145.0 (5.709) |
47.6 (1.874) |
41.3 (1.626) |
32.0 (1.26) |
1,393.5 (54.862) |
| % humidity | 74 | 78 | 80 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 77 | 77 | 76 | 71 | 70 | 70 | 76.3 |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 9.7 | 14.4 | 17.5 | 17.8 | 18.2 | 15.9 | 10.4 | 12.1 | 11.6 | 7.1 | 7.2 | 7.1 | 149.0 |
| Sunshine hours | 101.6 | 79.2 | 89.1 | 111.0 | 114.4 | 141.9 | 225.6 | 199.2 | 153.7 | 144.2 | 120.3 | 126.9 | 1,607.1 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration | |||||||||||||
The administrative divisions of Fuzhou have been changed frequently throughout history. From 1983, the Fuzhou current administrative divisions were formed officially, namely, 5 districts and 8 counties respectively. In 1990 and 1994, Fuqing (Hók-chiăng) and Changle (Diòng-lŏ̤h) counties were promoted to county-level cities. Despite these changes, the administrative image of "5 districts and 8 counties" is still held popularly among local residents. Fuzhou's entire area only covers 9.65% of Fujian Province.
| Historical populations | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 2000[1] | 6,386,013 | — |
| 2010[1] | 7,115,370 | +11.4% |
| Population size may be affected by changes on administrative divisions. | ||
The city of Fuzhou has direct jurisdiction over 5 districts (区 qu), 2 county-level cities (市 shi), and 6 counties (县 xian) :
| Subdivision | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fuzhou City Proper | Fuzhou Suburban and Rural | |||||
| ■ Gulou-qu | 鼓楼区 | Gū-làu | ■ Fuqing-shi | 福清市 | Hók-chiăng | |
| ■ Taijiang-qu | 台江区 | Dài-gĕ̤ng | ■ Changle-shi | 长乐市 | Diòng-lŏ̤h | |
| ■ Cangshan-qu | 仓山区 | Chŏng-săng | ■ Minqing-xian | 闽清县 | Mìng-chiăng | |
| ■ Mawei-qu | 马尾区 | Mā-muōi | ■ Minhou-xian | 闽侯县 | Mìng-âu | |
| ■ Jin'an-qu | 晋安区 | Céng-ăng | ■ Yongtai-xian | 永泰县 | Īng-tái | |
| ■ Lianjiang-xian | 连江县 | Lièng-gŏng | ||||
| ■ Luoyuan-xian | 罗源县 | Lò̤-nguòng | ||||
| ■ Pingtan-xian | 平潭县 | Bìng-tàng | ||||
| Location | Area (km²) | Population | Density |
|---|---|---|---|
| - Gulou District | 36.60 | 687,706 | 18,790 |
| - Taijiang District | 18.28 | 446,891 | 24,447 |
| - Cangshan District | 139.41 | 762,746 | 5,471 |
| - Mawei District | 254.33 | 231,929 | 912 |
| - Jinan District | 566.45 | 792,491 | 1,399 |
| Minhou County | 2,133.03 | 662,118 | 310 |
| Lianjiang County | 1,190.67 | 561,490 | 472 |
| Louyuan County | 1,081.17 | 207,677 | 192 |
| Minqing County | 1,468.90 | 237,643 | 162 |
| Yongtai County | 2,243.41 | 249,455 | 111 |
| Pingtan County | 371.09 | 357,760 | 964 |
| Fuqing City | 1,932.43 | 1,234,838 | 639 |
| Changle City | 717.54 | 682,626 | 951 |
The City of Banyans is distinct from the mainstream inland cultures of central China, and in details vary from other areas of Maritime China
Besides Mandarin Chinese, local residents of Fuzhou (Fuzhou people) also speak Fuzhou dialect, a language that is considered to be the standard form of the Min Dong dialect.
Min opera, also known as Fuzhou drama, is one of the major operas in Fujian Province. It enjoys popularity in the Fuzhou area and in neighboring parts of Fujian such as the northeast and northwest areas where the Fuzhou dialect is spoken, as well as in Taiwan and the Malay Archipelago. It became a fixed opera in the early 20th century. There are more than 1,000 plays of Min opera, most of which originate from folk tales, historical novels, or ancient legends, including such traditional plays as "Making Seal", "The Purple Jade Hairpin" and "Switching Fairy Peach with Litchi".
The two traditional mainstream religions practiced in Fuzhou are Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism. Traditionally, many people practice both religions simultaneously. The city is also home to many Buddhist monasteries/Taoist temples and Buddhist monks.
Apart from mainstream religions, a number of religious worship sites of various local religions are situated in the streets and lanes of Fuzhou.
The origins of local religion can be dated back centuries. These diverse religions incorporated elements such as gods and doctrines from other religions and cultures, such as totem worship and traditional legends. For example, Monkey King, originated to monkey worship among local ancients, gradually came to embody the God of Wealth in Fuzhou after the novel Journey to the West was issued in Ming dynasty.
As the most popular religion in the Min River Valley, the worship of Lady Linshui (临水夫人) is viewed as one of the three most influential local religions in Fujian, the other two being the worship of Mazu (妈祖) and Baosheng Dadi (保生大帝).
Fuzhou cuisine is one of the four traditional cooking styles of Fujian cuisine, which in turn is one of the eight Chinese regional cuisines. Dishes are light but flavorful, with particular emphasis on umami taste, known in Chinese cooking as "xiānwèi" (traditional Chinese: 鮮味; simplified Chinese: 鲜味), as well as retaining the original flavor of the main ingredients instead of masking them. In Fuzhou cuisine, the taste is light compared to that of some other Chinese cooking styles, and often have a mixed sweet and sour taste. Soup, served as an indispensable dish in meals, is cooked in various ways with local seasonal fresh vegetables and seafood. Distinctive snack foods are also an important part of Fuzhou culture. Production of raw materials according to classification can be divided into many classes: powder, starch, dry fruit, meat and seafood, etc., with rice, beans, and sugar as the main raw materials. Red and white rice cakes (年糕) during the Chinese New Year, stuffed yuanxiao (元宵) during the Lantern Festival, zongzi (粽子) during the Dragon Boat Festival, and sweet soy bean powder-covered plain yuanxiao during the winter solstice are just some of the traditional foods enjoyed by the masses of Fuzhou.
Bodiless lacquerware (脱胎漆器), paper umbrellas (纸伞) and horn combs (角梳) are the "Three Treasures" of Fuzhou traditional arts. In addition, bodiless lacquerware, cork pictures (软木画) and Shoushan stone sculptures (寿山石雕) are called "Three Superexcellences" of Fuzhou.
The city is served by two airports: Fuzhou Changle International Airport and Fuzhou Yixu Airport (old airfield). The former is its main international airport and an air-hub in the southeast China, while the latter was turned into a PLA airbase after 1997.
Currently, the main railway is the "Wai Fu Railway", running eastwards through the northern districts towards Jiangxi province. The subline "Fuma railway" runs from the city hub to Mawei district. Two more railways are also under construction: The "Wen Fu railway" runs north towards Wenzhou in southern Zhejiang province, while the "Fuxia railway" runs south towards Xiamen. This later railway was designed to be a high-speed railway with speeds up to 200 km and was opened in April 2010. There are also plans for 2 metro lines, with the first line to be completed by 2014.[10]
In 1867 the Fuzhou seaport was the site of one of China's first major experiments with Western technology, when the Fuzhou Navy Yard was established: A shipyard and an arsenal were built under French guidance and a naval school was opened. A naval academy was also established at the shipyard, and it became a center for the study of European languages and technical sciences. The academy, which offered courses in English, French, engineering, and navigation, produced a generation of Western-trained officers, including the famous scholar-reformer Yan Fu (1854–1921).
The yard was established as part of a program to strengthen China in the wake of the country's disastrous defeat the second Opium War (1856–60). But most talented students continued to pursue a traditional Confucian education, and by the mid-1870s the government began to lose interest in the shipyard, which had trouble securing funds and declined in importance. Fuzhou remained essentially a commercial center and a port until World War II; it had relatively little industry. The port was occupied by the Japanese during 1940–45.
Since 1949, Fuzhou has grown considerably. Transportation has been improved by the dredging of the Min River for navigation by medium-sized craft upstream to Nanping. In 1956 the railway linking Fuzhou with the interior of the province and with the main Chinese railway system began operation. The port has also been improved; Fuzhou itself is no longer accessible to seagoing ships, but Luoxingta anchorage and the outer harbor at Guantou on the coast of the East China Sea have been modernized and improved. The chief exports are timber, fruits, paper, and foodstuffs.
| Year | GDP (billions of CN¥) |
Growth (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 172.000 | 9.8 |
| 2006 | 165.694 | 12.2 |
| 2007 | 197.459 | 15.1 |
| 2008 | 228.416 | 13.0 |
| 2009 | 252.428 | 12.8 |
| 2010 | 306.821 | 14.0 |
Industry is supplied with power by a grid running from the Gutian hydroelectric scheme in the mountains to the northwest. The city is a center for industrial chemicals and has food-processing, timber-working, engineering, papermaking, printing, and textile industries. A small iron and steel plant was built in 1958. In 1984 Fuzhou was designated one of China's "open" cities in the new open-door policy inviting foreign investments. Handicrafts remain important in the rural areas, and the city is famous for its lacquer and wood products.
Its GDP was ¥43,615 (ca. US$6,240) per capita in 2010, ranked no. 21 among 659 Chinese cities.
Fuzhou is undoubtedly the province’s political, economic and cultural center as well as an industrial center and seaport on the Min River. In 2008, Fuzhou’s GDP amounted to ¥228.4 billion, an increase of 13 percent.[12]
Manufactured products include chemicals, silk and cotton textiles, iron and steel, and processed food. Among Fuzhou's exports are fine lacquerware and handcrafted fans and umbrellas. The city's trade is mainly with Chinese coastal ports. Its exports of timber, food products, and paper move through the harbor at Guantou located about 50 km downstream.[13]
In 2008, exports reached US$13.6 billion, a growth of 10.4 percent while imports amounted to US$6.8 billion. Total retail sales for the same period came to ¥113.4 billion and per capita GDP grew to ¥33,615.[13]
During the same period, Fuzhou approved 155 foreign-invested projects. Contracted foreign investment amounted to US$1.489 billion, while utilized foreign investment increased by 43 percent to US$1.002 billion.[13]
The Fuzhou Economic & Technological Development Zone was established in Jan 1985 by State Council, with a total planning area of 22 km2 and now has 10.1 km2 built. It is located close to Fuzhou Changle International Airport and Fuzhou Port. Industries encouraged in the zone include electronics assembly & manufacturing, telecommunications equipment, trading and distribution, automobile production/assembly, medical equipment and supplies, shipping/warehousing/logistics and heavy industry.[14]
The Fuzhou Export Processing Zone was founded on June 3, 2005 with the approval of the State Council and enjoys all the preferential policies. It is located inside the Chang'an Investment Zone of the Fuzhou Economic and Technical Development Zone (FETDZ) with a planned land area of 1.14 km2.[15]
The Fuzhou Free Trade Zone was established in 1992 by the State Council, with a planning area of 1.8 km2. Industries encouraged in the free trade zone include electronics assembly & manufacturing, heavy industry, instruments & industrial equipment production, shipping/warehousing/logistics, telecommunications equipment, trading, and distribution.[16]
The Fuzhou High-tech Development Zone was set up in 1988 and approved by the State Council in March 1991. In 1995, the Fuzhou Municipal Government decided to build Baiyi Electronic Information City, which covers 1.2 km2 in the zone, making it the lead electronic industrial zone in Fuzhou. The Administrative Commission of Mawei High-tech Park was set up in the zone in 1999. It covers an area of 5.6 km2, and is in the area between Gushan Channel and Mawei Channel, Jiangbin Road and Fuma Road.[17]
The Fuzhou Science and Technology Park was established in 1988 and was approved to be a national-level zone by the State Council in 1991. The planned area is 5.5 km2 and is divided into 3 parts: the Mawei portion, the Cangshan portion, and the Hongshan portion. The main industries are electronics, information technology, and biotechnology. There are now more than 500 km2 standard factories. The zone is 7 km away from the 316 National Highway and 41 km away from the Fuzhou Changle International Airport.[18]
The Fuzhou Taiwan Merchants Development Zone was approved to be established in May 1989 by the State Council. The zone is located in the Fuzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone. The zone is a commercial base for Taiwan-related development. The current area is 6 km2. The main industries are IT, metallurgy, food processing, and textiles. The zone is 11.5 km away from the 316 National Highway and 52 km away from Fuzhou Changle International Airport.[19]
Its main hall is known as the oldest surviving wooden building in south China and was confirmed as an important heritage site under state protection in 1982.
Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.
Fuzhou is twinned with the following cities:[20][21]
| Country | City | County/District/Province/Region/State | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | Nagasaki | Nagasaki | October 20, 1980 |
| Japan | Naha | Okinawa | May 20, 1981 |
| USA | Syracuse | New York | August 25, 1991 |
| USA | Tacoma | Washington | November 16, 1994 |
| Brazil | Campinas | São Paulo | November 8, 1996 |
| Australia | Shoalhaven | New South Wales | October 15, 2003 |
| Guyana | Georgetown | Demerara-Mahaica | May 17, 2006 |
| Poland | Koszalin | West Pomeranian Voivodeship | May 19, 2007 |
| Kenya | Mombasa | Coast Province | May 19, 2008 |
Fuzhou has the following friendship cities:[22]
| Country | City | County/District/Province/Region/State | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Korea | Pyeongtaek | Gyeonggi-do | August 26, 2002[23] |
| South Korea | Gwangyang | Jeollanam-do | Sep 3, 2009[24] |
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