Geographical Location
Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone (WETDZ) is situated in southwest Wuhan beside the Yangtze River. It lies between the city's middle and outer ring and at the juncture of Beijing-Zhuhai and Shanghai-Chengdu expressways. Wuhan as the capital city of Hubei Province and the largest metropolis in central China, is covers an area of 8,467 square kilometers and a population of 7.23 million.

Climate
Lying in a sub-tropical moist monsoon climatic zone, the city has distinct four seasons with an annual average temperature of 16.8 centigrade and an annual average rainfall of 1093.3 milimeters. Its total green belts amount to an area of 359.56 square meters, covering 34.88 percent of the city.

Communication and Transportation
Situated at the juncture of Beijing-Guangzhou and Beijing-Jiujiang Railway Arteries as well as major Yangtze River courses, Wuhan has always been reputed as a city extending and accessible in all directions. The city extends eastbound to Shanghai, westbound to Chongqing, southbound to Guangzhou, and northbound to Beijing, each within a distance of 1,000km, making it a key transportation hub that integrates railways, highways, water and air transportation.

Road
A highway network is formed by such trunk state highways as No. 106, 107, 316, and 318. Main roads and branches of up to 43km that constitute the road network inside the zone have been build in WETDZ. The viaducts of state highway No. 318 run across the whole zone from the north to the south. So does Beijing-Zhujiang expressway.

Railway
From the north to the south runs Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, and from the east to the west Shanghai-Sichuan Railway. These railways, together with other railways such as Wu-Xun, Han-Dan, Wu-Da, and Jing-Jiu, converge in Wuhan, forming a railway network that channels China's north, southwest, central south, and east. In addition, special railway lines and freight stations joined to both Beijing-Jiujiang and Beijing-Guangzhou Railways have been built in the zone.

Harbor
Wuhan Harbor, the largest of its kind in inland China, has an annual freight-handling capacity of 40 million tons. The harbor has direct shipments to 14 countries and regions including Russia, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Macao. 6.5km from the zone is the Wuhan Container Dock with an annual handling capacity of 10 million tons. The new fuel wharf inside the zone has come into use and an automotive-loading and freight dock is being planned inside the zone.

Airport
Wuhan Sky-River International Airport, the fourth largest in China, operates more than 50 domestic flight routes reaching major Chinese cities. There are daily direct flights to Hong Kong and Macao, and international flights to cities in Japan and Korea.

Human Resources
Wuhan ranks the nation's 3rd in terms of overall scientific and technological capability, after Beijing and Shanghai. The city now features 35 institutions of higher education, 736 research institutes, and 10 key state laboratories. Wuhan also boasts rich labor resources of high quality, with 450,000 well-trained professionals, and 300,000 university students. In addition, Wuhan has more than 230 technical and vocational schools turning out 60,000 diversified technicians annually.

Industrial Structure
The following six dominant pillar industries have taken an initial shape: automotive; electronic information; food and beverage; papermaking, printing and packaging; electric appliance and equipment; biomedicine. The following industrial chains have been initially formed: an automotive industrial chain with Magic-Dragon as the leader; a paper-making and packaging chain with Chenming-Hanyang Paper Works as the leader; a food and beverage and packaging chain with Wuhan Coca-Cola Co., Ltd., Dingjin and Dingyi companies as the leaders; and a high-tech chain with Hengguan and Tongji pharmaceuticals as the leaders. In 2001, 23 enterprises enjoyed an annual industrial value of over RMB 100 million.

Investment Priorities
Motor vehicles: automotive and parts manufacturing and supporting industries

Electronics and information: computer, telecommunications and electronic information facilities, and micro-electronics and components manufacturing; optical-electronic, magnetic-recording, and software products development

Bio-engineering and medicine: bio-reagents for medical diagnosis, genetic engineering vaccines, new medicines, new vaccination agents, pharmaceutical cell-engineering products, and other new reagents and biological medicines

Integrated electric machinery: Numerical control machine-tools, laser processing devices, industrial robots, intelligentized apparatus and instruments, and numerical control detecting devices

New materials: information storage materials, plastic alloys and engineering plastics, semi-conductors and optical-electronic materials, electronic porcelain, biological and medical materials, fire-retarding, erosion-proof, anti-acid and anti-alkali building and decorating materials
High-tech agriculture: productive, efficient, and high-quality vegetable bases, fresh-water fishery bases, floristic bases and fruit and tea bases, warehousing and fine processing of agricultural and side-line produce, agricultural and biological engineering, service network building for agricultural technology, and ecological and agricultural tourism

Tertiary industry: large commercial supermarkets, outward freight transportation, car exhibitions and trade, auto entertainment projects development, finance and real estates, cultural and recreational facilities building, and economic and technological information consulting

Administration Committee
Tel: 86-27-84898121
Fax: 86-27-84891004
Email: infor@wedz.com.cn
Website: http://www.wedz.com.cn/English/

(Source: Ministry of Commerce)