Introduction to Sanming

History and Nature
Geographical Location:
Sanming is situated in the northwest of Fujian Province, Specifically, it is located at 116.22~118.39 degrees east loggitude and 25.30~27.07 degrees north latitude,with more than 230 kilometres from the east to the west and over 180 kilometres from the south to the north.
History:
The history of Sanming dates back the ancient Spring and Autumn Period(770~476 B.C.) by the year 1936 the Sanyuan Special Administration Zone was establised.In 1940,the Sanyuan County was formed by taking one part of governing regions of Yong-an,Mingxi and Shaxian.In 1956,Sanming County was established by integrating the county of Sanyuan and that of Mingxi.In May 1960,the county was promoted into the city and in July 1983 it was further promoted into the municipality directly under the province.
Administration Region:
Under the jurisdiction of Sanming there is a city of Yong-an,two districts of Sanyuan and Meilie and nine counties of Mingxi,Qingliu,Ninghua,Datian,Youxi,Shaxian,Jiangle,Taining and Jianning.
Natural Appearance:
Sanming has a total area of 22.9 thousand square kilometres,including the urban area of 1178 square kilometres,among which the hilly land accounts for 82%,farm land accounts for 7.3%,river accounts for 8.7% and others accounts for 2%.It belongs to subtropical mansoon climate with rich rainfull,mild climate,long non-frost period and clear division of the four seasons.
Population:
By the end of 1997,Sanming has a total population of 2.63 million among which the urban population is 254 thousand.It is a region inhabited by various nationalities with Han as the main one.
Enterprise Reform:
Since reform and opening up to the outside world,Sanming has attached great importance to increment of enterprise vitality,especially that of large and medium-sized State-owned enterprises.The contract responsibility system was pushed forward on an all-round way in 1987.After the 14th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party,Sanming started to conduct the experiment of establishing the modern enterprise system.In 1994,the city approved the establishment of 89 joint-stock enterprises,thus pushing the State-owned large- and medi- um-sized enterprises to make the system reform.Meanwhile,351 industrial and commercial enterprises practised the arrangement of leasing,23 enterprises were auctioned,47 enterprises were merged and 10 enterprises were declared bankrupt.At the same time,great development in township enterprises was witnessed.For the same year,the number of township enterprises increased to 102.4 thousand,among which 3726 took the system of joint-stock co-operative enterprises.For 1994,the total output value of township enterprises amounted to 18.9 billion yuan,including rural industrial output value of 12 billion yuan,which were 4.8 times and 8.57 times respectively as compared with those of 1988.
Collective Forestry Region Reform Experiment:
On April 22,1988,the State Council approved to list Sanming collective forestry region into the national rurual reform experiment region.Since then,20 comprehensive reform experiment projects were carried out,greatly promoting the development of productivity in the forestry zone.By the end of 1990,Sanming had taken the lead in the whole province to wipe out barrent mountains and hills,realizing the afforestation target two years ahead of schedule.In 1994,the total output value of forestry(including tea,fruit,edible fungus,paper making and other forestry-related industry) reached 6 billion yuan,accounting for 23.81% of the total output value of industry and agriculture for the whole city.
Opening Up to the Outside World:
Being the economic opening region approved by the nation,Sanming has gradually formed the new multi-layer and all-dimentional opening pattern,which consists of Yong-an Comprehensive Reform and Opening Experiment City,Sanming Hi-Tech Development Zone,the three provincial border trade experiment counties of Ninghua,Jianning and Taining,and the urban districts of the 12 subordinated counties enjoying the favourable policies provided by the central government for the caostal economic zone.There are 2 foreign trade and 42 manufacturing enterprises having the direct imp/exp right and there is 1 enterprise designated to engage in the business of the international economic and technical co-operation.At present,the city has totally approved the establishment of 599 foreign-funded enterprises with a total contracted foreign investment of 347.04 million US dollars,involving the foreign investment of 109.82 million US dollars.Totally,there are 1128 domestic joint ventures with outside investment of 1.432 billion yuan.Last yera,the value of the provincial border trade reached 590 million yuan,doubling that of two years ago.
Economic Development:
Agriculture in Sanming is mainly the farming or the planting of rice,soya bean,tobacco,fruit,edible fungus,tea,sugar-cane and fresh-water fish while the backbone of industry is metallurgy,chemical,electronics,light & textile,dyeing & printing,building materials machinery,garment,and forestry processing.Since reform and opening,the industrial and agricultural output value,international and domestic trade amount and financial revenue have all been increased at the remarkable rate.
People's Life:
Since reform and opening,the people's standard of living in Sanming has been improved significantly.
Social Progress:
The poplarity rate of the elementary and junior high school education in Sanming has reached 100% and 81.8%.The literate rate is 94.7%.There are 65 thousand specialised personnel including 18.6% of the senior and medium-level personnel,whose percentage has reached 2.66% among all population.And there are 28 hospital beds for each 10 thousand people.
Education:The school conditions have been remarkably improved.157 elementary and high schools have been up to the qualified standards. 15 elementary schools have been designated by the province as the domenstration rural elementary schools.150 villages under Sanming's jurisdiction have declared to practise the junior high school compulsory education.The 4 counties(city) of Shaxian,Yong-an,Mingxi and Qingliu have received the title of the advanced compulsory educational county(city) by the province.The professional education have been developed swiftly. 5 professional schools have been disignated as the key ones by the province and the city.In May 1992,Sanming received the glorious title of the advanced educational development city from the State Education Commission.
Broadcast & TV: For the whole city,there are 1849 TV relay stations,692 satellite TV receiving stations,4 medium-wave radio stations,21 TV micro-wave stations,and 38 radio broadcast transmission or relay stations.
Science & Technology:Since reform and opening,Sanming has spared no efforts to practise the strategy of promoting the city by developing the scientific and technological cause.During the decade starting from 1984,Sanming has totally carried out 788 research programs and torch projects,among which 428 achievements have passed the specialised examination and appraisal and 328 projects have been awarded by the related departments at the municipal,provincial or State level.
Forest Resources:
The forest area of the whole city is 28.26 million mu,including 2.6 million mu of bambon.The forest coverage rate reaches 70.38%.The timber reserve is 121 million cubic metres.The supply capacity each year is 2 million cubic metres of commodity timber,12 million sticks of commodity bamboo and 10 thousand tons of dried bamboo shoots.Therefore,Sanming has received the nick name of the green treasure in Northwest Fujian.
Mineral Resources:
There are 79 proven metal mines.The reserve of coal accounts for around 46% of the whole province,and the reserve of lime stone accounts for 47.9%.The barite mine is the only major one in Fujian and one of the rich mines in China.For the moment,the mining resources processing industry,especially that of coal,lime stone,iron ore,clay and barite has turned out to be the column industry in Sanming.
Hydraulic Power Resources:
The hydraulic power resources are rich as there are 875 hilometres of rivers including Shaxi with the total runoff flow rate of 22.88 billion cubic metres.The developable installed capacity reaches 1.7 million kilowatt,among which 0.55 million kilowatt has been developed.
Development Potential:
In the whole city,there are 167 thousand hec of farm land,6 Statelevel and 3 provincial level commodity grain each year.Ninghua and Qingliu are the major flue-tobacco production counties in Fujian.As compared with 1989,the output of fruit,tobacco,lotus seed and meat in 1994 increased by 2.1 times,1.3 times,88% and 53.4%.And the output of aquatic products and edible fungus increased by 175% and 3 times respectively.After over three decades development,Sanming has established the complete industrial system.The production capacity of Qingzho Papers Mill,has reached 250 thousand tons.The comprehensive production scale of Sanming Iron & Steel Complex is 700 thousand tons each year.And the production capacity of Sanming Chemical General Plant is 240 thousand tons of urea.In the whole city,there are totally 439 provincial or ministrial level quality products and 7 products have won the national level silver prize.In 1994,the industrial output of steel,chemical fertilizer,synthetic fibre,paper & paper board,yarn,cloth,plastics,cement and electric energy production accounts for 80.87%,44.3%,47.89%,28.9%,32.32%,41.6%,37.4%,42.9% and 24.89% respectively.Based on the existing capacity and the rich resources,good economic returns can be expected by grafting the Stateowned large or medium-sized enterprises for technical transformation or developing new processing projects.
Tourism Resources:
In Sanming, There are quite a number of places of historic interest and scenic beauty which include the State-level Taining Jinhu Lake,Yong-an Taoyuan Cave--------Linying Stone Forest,and the provincial level Jiangle Yuhua Cave,Shaxian Qixian Cave,Ninghua Tian-er Cave and Meilie Ruiyun Mountain.The natural reserves in Jiangle Longxi mountain,Xingkou Geshikao,Shaxian Nanmu Forest and Yong-an Tianbao Rock have been well-known for the rare animals.The ancient architectural structure in Taining,Shibi Village,the originating place of the Hakkas in Ninghua and the birthplace of Zhu Xi in Youxi have all been noticeable both in China and overseas.
Taining Jinhu Lake-------- the lake of gold situated inside Taining County at the south end of Wuyi Mountain is the major State-level place of scenic beauty with the length of 60-plus kilometres and water area of more than 50 thousand mu.The best tour season of Taining Jinhu Lake is from April to October each year.
Yong-an Taoyuan Cave,situated by Yanjiang River on the north of Yong-an City,is a major State-level place of scenic beauty with an area of 10 kilometres.
Linying Stone Forest,a marvellous spectacle located in Dahu Village 13 kilometres northwest of Yong-an City,is a State-level major place of scenic beauty with a total area of 1.21 square kilometres.
The architectural structure group built in the ancient Ming Dynasty situated at the center of the urban district of Taining County is a State-level cultural relics under protection,having a high value in studying the ancient Chinese architecture,especially that in the Ming Dynasty.
Infrastructural Facilities:
The electrified Yingtan--Xiamen Railway runs across Sanming,from here you can travl to Fuzhou,the capital of the province and Shanghai,the largest and most industrialized city in China,as well as to Xiamen,the special economic zone in South Fujian.The highway mileage within Sanming's boundary has reached 10,000-plus kilometres.Across Sanming,there is 1 national highway and 7 provincial ones.The total length of all the rivers is 328 kilometres.
Developed Telecommunication:Sanming has been equiped with the modern telecom means such as the IDD phone,portable phone,radio paging,etc.by which you can easily talk to people in 180 countries and regions around the world.The capacity of telephone exchange for both urban and rural areas has reathed 244 thousand ways,or nine telephones for every 100 people.
Rich Power Supply:By the end of 1994,the total power installed capacity for the while city was 825 thousand kilowatt.For satisfying the rapid economic development,the city is now concentrating in grasping a batch of key power projects.It is expected that by the turn of the century,the total power installed capacity will be more than 1 million kw.
Highway Construction:The city is now stressing the expansion and transformation engineering of the National Highway No. 205 and Provincial Highway No. 212, so that theor sections inside the city's boundary will reach the standard of the second class highway.According to the construction schedule,the above-mentioned expansion and transformation engineering will be completed by 1997.
Shaxi River Comprehensive Development:Shaxi Riveris one of the major sectios of Minjiang,the largest river in the province.Based on the development program, 7 navigation and power generation comprehensive stair power stations will be built,bringing endless wealth to the people on both sides of the river.For the moment,the engineering of 5 stairs out of the 7 have started,among which two stair power stations of Guanxie and Gaosha will take the lead in generating electricity within two years,and the river secton starting from Shaxian to the lower reaches will be ready for navigation.
Shaxian Airport,Sanming:The airport is located near Fenghuang Mountain in Shaxian and has been designed at 4C standard,capable to accommodate the medium-sized civil aircraft such as MD-82 and B737-300.The project,after approved by the State Council and the Central Military Commission,completed its engineering feasibility study in Nov 1993,which passed the examination and evaluation by specialists and departments concerned in Jan 1994 and received the approval from the State Planning Commission in April and al the other work including construction of the access road is well on the way.
Spiritual Civilization:Sanming is the well-known civilized city in China.Alll of the guests,either from China or from foreign countries and regions,will have a deep impression after visiting Sanming.Sanming is also a State level hygiene town, a national environment city and a national model city in supporting the army and giving preferential treatment to families of armymen and martyrs.

[ Home Page ]