外文名称: Kunming City (Yunnan)

The City of Spring

Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, is one of the nation's 24 historic and cultural cities designated by the State Council in 1982.It was built in 765 A.D. and called Tuodongcheng. It was named Kunming in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) and has since become the political, economic and cultural center of Yunnan Province.

Kunming is located in the central Yunnan Province, at between 102 degrees and 103 degrees east longitude and between 24 degrees and 26 degrees north latitude. With 140 kilometers from east to west and 220 kilometers from south to north, Kunming covers 15,561 square kilometers and has a total population of 3.749 million.

The annual temperature averages 14.5 degrees centigrade. The temperature averages 19.7 degrees centigrade in the hottest month, and 7.5 degrees centigrade in the coldest month. The annual precipitation reaches 1,035 millimeters, the frost-free period lasts for 227 days, the annual sunshine totals 2,448.7 hours, and the average relative air humidity is 74%. Such a climate is suitable for the growth of plants and flowers.

Kunming is known as a city of spring because its weather is usually like February and March and flowers are found in all seasons.

Rich in Resources

Kunming is rich in mineral resources, of which the reserves of phosphate rock and salt rank first in the country. The reserves of phosphate rock amount to 4.6 billion tons ranking first in the country and second in the world. The reserves of salt are second in the country.
Kunming is a beautiful city rich in lakes, hills, stones, caves, springs, waterfalls, flowers, ancient trees, gardens, and well known for cultural relics and ethnic customs. It has become one of China's ten major tourist attractions.

Striving Forward

Since 1990, Kunming has seized the opportunity to emancipate people's mind to deepen the reform and open wider to the outside world. Its economy and social undertakings have made rapid progress.
In 1995, the city's gross domestic product reached 33 billion yuan, averaging 8,802 yuan per capita, and the ratio of the industrial structure is eight percent for the primary industry, 51% for the secondary industry and 41% for the tertiary industry. Grain, flue-cured tobacco and rural industry have become pillars for the rural economic development.

The added value of the secondary industry was 16.8 billion yuan including 15 billion yuan for industry. The city has 35 large enterprises, which account for 52.3% of the city's industrial output value of 48.164 billion yuan.
The output value and taxes generated by tobacco, machinery and electronics, metallurgy, chemicals, building materials and food industries accounted for 76% and 80.7%, respectively.
The added value of the tertiary industry was 13.4 billion yuan thanks to the rapid development of commerce and trade, banking and insurance business and tourism. The city's retail sales climbed to 12.24 billion yuan. It has set up 379 markets with a combined turnover exceeding four billion yuan.

Economic Strength

The city's overall economic strength ranked 14th place in China's top 50 cities with a strong economy in 1992; and the country's top 21 cities with GDP exceeding 20 billion yuan. The living standard of urban and rural residents has been improved substantially, with urban resident's income averaging 4,385 yuan per capital and rural residents' income averaging 1,631 yuan per capita. Urban residents' spending on food accounted for 52.2% of their total consumption. Spending on durable goods, housing, medicine, culture and recreation and tourism was on the rise. Progress has been made in science and technology.

Sciences, Education and Culture

The city has 275 scientific research institutions employing 205,000 scientists and technicians. Included were 68,500 people with middle-level and senior professional titles.
In 1995, the city achieved 60 research findings, of which one reached the advanced international standard, 17 advanced domestic standard and 21 advanced provincial standard. The contribution by scientific progress accounted for 32% of the city's economic growth, 36.6% of its industrial growth and 36.4% of its agricultural growth.
The city has spent more improving teaching conditions and raising the standard of education. It provides 560,000 tons of tapped water a day. Altogether 195,000 households are supplied with piped gas for cooking and 170,000 families use liquefied gas to cook. The rate of the urban gasification reached 87%.

Telecommunications

The city has a 460,000-line telephone switching system with 270,800 customers, averaging 17.3 phones for every 100 people. It has 2,585 hectares of lawns, trees and flowers averaging 4.96 square meters per capita.
The green space rate is 21.7%. The city's smoke control area is 115 square kilometers and noise control area 87 square kilometers. It was chosen for the second time as a city with sound public health.

Opening Up Drive

In May 1995, the State Council approved Kunming as an open city. By the end of that year, the city had approved 929 overseas-funded enterprises with a total investment of 2.286 billion US dollars including 1.073 billion U.S.dollars of foreign capital. The investors came from 28 countries and regions. More than 40 projects each had an investment of more than nine million U.S. dollars.
The Kunming High-tech Industrial Development Zone and the Kunming Economic and Technology Development Zone have invested 2.03 billion yuan in development. So far, more than 500 projects have been completed in the zones, which generated industrial output value of 3.29 billion yuan.

The city has 12 enterprises with the authority to export products. In 1995, the city's foreign trade enterprises imported and exported 81.71 million U.S.dollars worth of goods, with exports reaching 61.18 million U.S. dollars. The city has 25 companies engaged in border trade, with their trade volume totaling 485 million yuan in 1995.The annual Kunming Export Commodity Fair has become a showcase for Southwest China to trade with Southeast Asian countries.

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