Luoyang |
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Luoyang, located in western Henan, is a state-level historical and cultural city and a renowned ancient capital city. She is the starting point of the celebrated Silk Road in the  East. Luoyang covers a total area of 15,000 square kilometers and has a population of 6.41 million with 1 city, 8 counties and 6 urban districts under its jurisdiction.
Luoyang has served as the capital city of thirteen dynasties in Chinese history, including the Xia Dynasty, Shang Dynasty, Western Zhou Dynasty, Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Eastern Han Dynasty, Sui Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, etc. There are 11 key units of cultural relics under state protection, of which ruins of the 5 major ancient capitals of Xia Dynasty, Shang Dynasty, Zhou Dynasty, Han-and-Wei Dynasties, and Sui-and-Tang Dynasties are rare treasures of the world. The Longmen Grotto has been recognized as a piece of the world cultural heritage. The White Horse Temple was the first Buddhist temple established by the government after Buddhism started to spread in China. The Mangshan Mountain, where the first Museum of Ancient Tombs in the world was set up, preserves China's largest ancient tomb group that consists mainly of imperial mausoleums, with the oldest dating back to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. In the north of the city there lies China's key water conservancy project, the Xiaolangdi Reservoir on the Yellow River. In the south, there are such scenic spots as the Songshan Mountain, Baiyun (White Cloud) Mountain National Forest Park, Huaguo  Mountains, the spectacular Jiguanshan Karst Caves, Fengxue Temple and Lingshan Temple. The annual Luoyang Peony Fair held in April has served both as a stage to display the city and Henan, and as a window to help promote economic development and opening up to the outside world.
Minerals of 4 categories and 76 varieties have been discovered here, among which molybdenum ranks first in China in terms of output, and the molybdenum mine is one of the three largest mines of its kind in the world. Besides, the reserves of gold rank second nationwide and approximately 1,480 kinds of natural medicinal herbs are growing here.
Armed with a strong force of scientists and technicians, Luoyang has now become an industrialized city with 6 mainstay industries, namely, machinery and electronics, petrochemicals, metallurgy, building materials, light textile and foodstuff, 39 industrial categories and over 5,000 independent enterprises. There are a number of large-scale enterprises with strong competitiveness at domestic and international markets, such as Luoyang Petrochemical Plant General, China No.1 Tractor Group Co., Ltd., Luoyang Float  Glass Group Co., Ltd., etc. Luoyang New and High-tech Industrial Development zone is also developing vigorously since its setting up. The city enjoys convenient transportation: Lanzhou-Lianyungang Railway and Jiaozuo-Zhicheng Rail way meet in Luoyang; Luoyang North Railway Station is a large and modernized railway marshalling yard; Expressways run from Luoyang to Zhengzhou, Anyang, Xi'an and other cities; Luoyang Airport is an all-weather airport for large passenger planes to take off and land; Luoyang aviation port and second-class railway port have set up joint port inspection offices with complete inspection functions.
In 2004, Luoyang's GDP reached 111.15 billion RMB yuan, up by 15.9% over the previous year. Its total export and import value in 2005 reached US$ 960 million. Statistics show that it received 21.456 million tourists from home and broad last year alone. Luoyang has also established friendly city relationship with a number of foreign cities such as Okayama of Japan, Tours Commune in France, Provdiv City of Bulgaria, LaCrosse of USA, Tolyatti City in Russia, Sukagawa of Japan, and Puro of Korea. |
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