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Foreword
Xu Guangchun
Director, Standing Committee of the People's Congress, Henan Province |
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To people in many countries in the world Shaolin Temple and Shaolin kungfu may sound quite familiar, but chances are they might not know much about Henan province. As a matter of fact, it is Henan province that gives birth to Shaolin Temple and Shaolin kungfu.
Here I would like to present to you a real, developing, charming and vibrant Henan which is regarded as the microcosm of China.
In terms of population China is the largest country in the world while Henan, with about 97 million people, is the largest province in China.
China is a large agricultural country while Henan is the largest agricultural province in China.
China ranks sixth among all the nations in terms of the economic aggregate and 73rd in per capita economic aggregate; Henan takes the 5th and 18th place respectively in China.
China is a country with an ancient civilization while Henan is a major cradle of Chinese civilization with 5,000 years of history behind. Among the eight famous ancient capital cities in China¡¯s history, four of them were located in Henan.
China has been developing rapidly, so has Henan. In recent years the speed of development of Henan slightly transcends the average national speed of development. And Henan Province has been taking the lead in the campaign of rejuvenating central China.
Located in the hinterland of China, Henan is called the "Central Plains". In the new century Henan has set a grand goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way and invigorating the Central Plains so as to grasp golden opportunities and speed up the pace of development. United as one, the people in the Central Plains are striving vigorously for the realization of that goal. In the year of 2005 the GDP of Henan Province made such a breakthrough as it amounted to over 1000 billion RMB RMB yuan, thus Henan has become one of the five provinces whose GDP has surpassed 1000 billion RMB yuan; the gross grain yields reached 45 million tons, ranking first in the country. The gross value of industrial product in 2005 was nearly 330 billion RMB RMB yuan, taking the sixth place in the nation. Large-scale industries in Henan Province made as much as over 60 billion RMB RMB yuan of profits in 2005, taking the lead in terms of growing rate. All the above indicates that the economy in Henan has stepped onto a new strategic starting point and moved into a new stage of enhancing industrial levels in an all-round way, speeding up the economic growth, promoting overall coordination and development. In the meantime, the cultural cause of Henan has also entered into an unprecedented period of development, transforming a province with a great cultural into one with a powerful culture. A civilized, open and harmonious province is displaying itself with a brand new stance to people under the sun.
There is an old Chinese saying which goes, "Those who conquer the Central Plains conquer China". This indicates the great significance of the area where Henan locates. Further opening to the outside world is highly necessary for Henan¡¯s development. And there are infinite commercial opportunities in Henan Province. In recent years a legion of domestic and international business firms have come to settle down in the Central Plains either to make investment or set up their own businesses, among whom 35 are on the list of Top 500 enterprises in the world. Besides, some other enterprises are seeing about and conducting business negotiations in Henan.
The people of Henan are noted for their nature of assiduity, simplicity and hospitality. The door is now open for the outside world. It is our sincere hope that this picture album will enable foreign parliaments, political parties, governments and overseas people to understand better and know more about Henan in an all-round way. We also expect foreign aspiring entrepreneurs and businessmen to make investments and do businesses in Henan since there is a broad market here which may help assure you a great success. And that is a common impression people have about Henan after they have been here.
I firmly believe that Henan will have a bright future with the help and care of friends from all over the world!
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