An ancient and young city: Hefei, situated between the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, near the Chaohu Lake to its south, is an ancient city with a history of more than 2000 years.

It was first officially established as a county during the reign of Emperor Ying in the Qin Dynasty. The city is also called “Luzhou”, because it was the site of the prefectural government of Luzhou in the dynasties of Qing and Ming. Historically, Hefei was a commercial and trading center of national importance. In the Western Han Dynasty, it was a famous business city. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the city was famous for its huge collection and distribution of grain and oil. Today it is the capital of Anhui province, the provincial center of politics, economy, culture, information, finance, commerce and trade. There are three counties (Feidong, Feixi, and Changfeng) and four districts (East, Central, West and Suburbs) under the jurisdiction of the city. Its total area is 7,498 square kilometers, among which 596 square kilometers are in the city limits (including the Suburbs District). Its whole population is 4,566,000, of which 1,559,000 are city residents. In the past 20 years, Hefei had a sustained and rapid economy growth. In 2003, its growth rate of GDP increased by 13.3%, 4.1 and 4.2 percentage points higher than that of Anhui Province and the nation respectively. Among the gross domestic product, the proportion of the primary industry, secondary industry and the tertiary industry accounts for 8.54, 49.88, and 41.58 respectively.

Important scientific and educational city:  Hefei is an important scientific research and educational base in China, one of the pilot cities of three technological innovations of the whole country, the member city of World Technopolis Association.. It boasts more than 200 of higher education and scientific research, including the University of Science and Technology of China and Anhui Branch of the Chinese Academy of Science, the proportion of all kinds of qualified and technical personnel in total population leaps into the front ranks among the like cities. In 2003, 2 prizes were rewarded on the China Eighth Patent Awards. At present, " China-Hefei Scientific Town " is under the construction.

Newly developed comprehensive industrial city: Hefei is a comprehensive manufacturing-based industrial city. Some pillar industries have taken shape, such as electrical appliances manufacturing which is capable of producing refrigerators, washing machines, TV sets, and air conditioners; chemical industry which is based on tire, daily-use chemical products, chemical fertilizer manufacturing; the equipment manufacturing based on the automobile, forklift truck, excavator and electric transform equipment making. Among the city’s many manufactured goods, some have national or provincial recognition and fame, including Meiling electrical appliances, Rongshida (Royalstar) electrical appliances, Haier electrical appliances, Giant tires, Heli forklifts, Huade liquid presser, Ankai passenger bus, JAC Refine commercial vehicle etc.

An garden city and an excellent tourist city with good environment: Hefei is one of the garden cities to be first confirmed in China, its air quality in Hefei has been quite good city afforestation rate is up to 35. 3%, the park greenery area of per capita is 8. 55 square meters, it is one of the most suitable cities in China for people to inhabit. Hefei was listed as one of the first excellent tourist cities of China. Here we have Xiaoyiaojin, an ancient battle field famous from the Three Kingdoms Period, the cenotaph of Zhangliao, a reputed general of the Wei Kingdom, the ancient Archer-Training Terrace, where Emperor Cao Cao of the Wei Kingdom once trained his soldiers, Mingjiao Temple, first built in the Tang Dynasty, Lord Bao’s Temple and Lord Bao’s Tomb, and the newly-built Refreshing Breeze Pavilion. Laoshan Mountain in the lake, Zhongmiao Temple and Siding Mountain by the lake are beautiful scenery spots attracting many tourists. Shushan Forest Reserves Park and Dongpu Reservoir in western suburbs are fascinating landscapes. If you go by cable car up to the top of the Great Shushan Mountain and look towards the east you will really feel there are so many beautiful things that you simply can’t take them all. Going north one can visit the ancient city of Shouxian and the tombs of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, going south by Hetong or He’an highways, one can get to visit the Huangshan Mountain, Jiuhua Mountain and Tianzhu Mountain. With the improvement of people’s life, the routes between Hefei and neighboring resorts will become hotter tourism lines.

Most suitable city for investment: Hefei has established a fast and readily accessed network of communications consisting of railroads, highways, aviation and information. It lies in the inland of East China linking the east to the west, an economic hub for the industry shifting from the coastal to the inland. Regard Hefei as the centre of a circle, within the radius of 500 kilometers, there are such important metropolis as Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, etc. with a combined population of 400 million. It is easily accessible and has the advantage of the abundant human resources, low comprehensive business cost, remarkable competitiveness, broad market prospects and outstanding economic development strategic position. The three major development zones such as Hefei National-level High-tech Industrial Development zone (APEC scientific and technological industrial park), Hefei Economic and Technical Development Zone and Hefei New Railway Station Comprehensive Experimental Zone as will as all the industrial parks have already grown to be the investors’ foremost investment destinations. At present, Hefei has become the sister city with 9 cities separately from U.S.A. Japan, Britain, Australia, S. Korea, etc. The end of 2003 has accumulated the contractual foreign capital of FDI and the actual utilized foreign investment accumulated to 2730 million dollars and 1740 million dollars. There are 11 world-top 500 enterprises based here. The total import and export value of foreign trade is 3002 million dollars; among them export 1820 million dollars.

Development goal: To implement four great strategies of " developing the city through science and education ", " urbanization ", " economic internationalization ", and " sustainable development " in a more effective manner, make great efforts to build up a outskirts type agricultural demonstration base of the whole province, an important manufacture processing base, an new and hi-tech research and industrialization base, an important tourist, cultural and educational base. By the year 2010, Hefei will become a big modern metropolitan city, with GDP of RMB 100 billion, urban population of 3 million, urban area of 280 square kilometers, new and high technology, booming economy, advanced science and education, favorable layout, perfect facilities and a pleasant environment.