Nanjing

Nanjing ({{zh-cp|c=南京|p=Nánjīng}}; Wade-Giles: Nan-ching; Postal System Pinyin: Nanking), is the capital of China's Jiangsu Province and a city with a very prominent place in Chinese history and culture. Having served as the capital of China during several historical periods, Nanjing is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. Nanjing is also one of the fifteen sub-provincial cities in China's administrative structure, enjoying jurisdictional and economic autonomy only slightly less than that of a province.

Economy

Early Development

Since Three Kingdoms period, Nanjing has become an industrial center for textile and mint due to its strategic geographic location and convenient transportation. During Ming Dynasty Nanjing's industry was further expanded, and the city became one of the most prosperous cities in China and even the world. It led in textile, mint, printing, shipbuilding and many other industries, and was the busiest business center in the Far East region.

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Into the first half of the 20th century, Nanjing has gradually shifted from a production hub into a heavy consumption city, mainly because of the rapid expansion of wealthy population after Nanjing once again regained the political spotlight of China. A number of huge department stores such as Zhongyang Shangchang sprouted, attracting merchants all over China to sell their products in Nanjing. In 1933, the revenue generated by food and entertainment industry in the city has exceeded the sum of the output of manufacturing and agriculture industry. One third of the city population worked in the service industry, while sex, drug and gambling also thrived along.

Related Topics:
20th century - Department stores - Zhongyang Shangchang - 1933 - Service industry

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In 1950s, the CPC invested heavily in Nanjing to build a series of state-owned heavy industries, as part of the national plan of rapid industrialization. Electrical, mechanical, chemical and steel factories were established successively, converting Nanjing into a heavy industry production center of East China. Over-enthusiastic in building a ?world-class? industrial city, leaders of Nanjing also made many disastrous mistakes during the development, such as spending hundreds of millions of Yuan to mine for non-existing coal resource, resulting in the negative economic growth in the late 60s.

Related Topics:
Heavy industries - Industrialization

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Today

The current industry of the city basically inherited the characteristics of the 60s of last century, with electronics, cars, petrochemical, iron and steel, and power as the "Five Pillar Industries". Some representive big state-owned firms are Panda Electronics, Jincheng Motors and Nanjing Steel. The tertiary industry also regained prominence, counting for 44% of the GDP of the city. The city is also vying for foreign investment against neighboring cities in Yangtze River Delta, and so far a number of famous multinational firms, such as Fiat, Iveco, A.O. Smith and Sharp, have established their lines there. After China's entry into WTO, Nanjing has received increasing attention from foreign investors, and on average, two new foreign firms establish offices in the city everyday.

Related Topics:
Panda Electronics - Jincheng Motors - Nanjing Steel - Tertiary industry - Multinational firms - Fiat - Iveco - A.O. Smith - Sharp - WTO

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The city government is further improving the investing desirability of the city by building large industrial parks, which now totals to five: Gaoxin, Xingang, Huagong and Jiangning. Despite the effort, Nanjing is still falling behind other neighboring cities such as Wuxi, Suzhou and Hangzhou, which have an edge in attracting foreign investment and local innovation. In addition, the traditional state-owned enterprises find themselves incapable of competing with efficient multinational firms, and hence are either mired in heavy debt or forced into bankruptcy or privatization. This resulted in large number of layoff workers who are technically not unemployed but effectively jobless.

Related Topics:
Industrial parks - Wuxi - Suzhou - Hangzhou - State-owned enterprises - Bankruptcy - Privatization - Layoff workers

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