Chaohu City

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.

Chaohu is on the way to be a lakeside city, enjoying economic prosperity, civilized community, beautiful environment, and coordinated development of urban and rural modernization.