Night scene of Qingyuan (CHEN WENWEI)

Located in central Guangdong Province, Qingyuan is called the "back garden" of the Pearl River Delta owing to its abundant tourist attractions and a beautiful natural environment.

Qingyuan has a convenient location and is easily accessible by road. Being the prefectural-level city in Guangdong Province located nearest to the capital city, Qingyuan is only 60 km away from downtown Guangzhou and 30 km from the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. Its distance to Hong Kong and Macao is only about 200 km. Its land and water communication networks extending in all directions make Qingyuan an important economic corridor connecting the Pearl River Delta and the other parts of the Chinese mainland.

Qingyuan is committed to upholding the strategy of both transforming its growth model and accelerating economic development. Its economy has developed in a sound and sustainable way.

In 2013, the city's total GDP was 109.3 billion yuan ($17.8 billion), a year-on-year increase of 8.2 percent. Its per-capita GDP rose by 7.4 percent to 28,900 yuan ($4,700). In addition, key construction projects at both the municipal and provincial levels hit a record high. Of the total, 29 provincial-level key projects were finished with a total investment of 16.37 billion yuan ($2.66 billion), which was 108.2 percent of the annual investment plan. Furthermore, 200 municipal-level key projects were completed with an aggregate investment of 29.03 billion yuan ($4.72 billion), fulfilling 96.2 percent of the annual investment plan and accounting for 57.8 percent of the city's total fixed-asset investment. Qingyuan also introduced 420 industrial projects, surging 65.4 percent over a year ago, with a planned investment of 154.95 billion yuan ($25.21 billion), soaring 203.2 percent over the previous year. The paid-in capital stood at 16.26 billion yuan ($2.65 billion), 54.6 percent higher year on year. Of the total, Chimelong Group announced plans to invest 30 billion yuan ($4.88 billion) in building a world-class forest tourism complex, Tian'an Group planned to invest 5 billion yuan ($810 million) in building a regional sci-tech industrial complex, and Kingfa Scientific and Technological Co. Ltd. declared its decision to set up its production base for high-performance modified plastic in the city with an investment of 3.8 billion yuan ($620 million).

Tanhu Lake

The appearance of the city has significantly improved. Qingyuan has done a solid job in both expanding the acreage and improving the quality of urban areas. It has reformed the city's investment and financing mechanism. The construction of Yanhu New Town has started. Last year, Qingyuan successfully held the Eighth Guangdong International Tourism and Cultural Festival, and significantly improved the city's urban infrastructure and public service facilities. The overall appearance of the city has also been ameliorated, ensuring that the city can now "put its best foot forward." Qingyuan was also awarded the title of National Garden City, its environment has been improved and it now enjoys a higher profile and exerts a greater influence on the rest of China. The construction of its beautiful countryside has also commenced, and 31 villages have been selected for the demonstration project.

In 2013, the municipal government invested 13.1 billion yuan ($2.13 billion) in improving people's well-being, accounting for 70.3 percent of the general budget expenditure, up 2.3 percentage points over the previous year. Great achievements have been made in basic public service equalization, and the expenditure in basic public services accounted for 42.2 percent of the budget expenditure, up 5.2 percentage points over the previous year. The government has also tried every possible means to increase resident income. Per-capita income of urban and rural residents reached 21,368 yuan ($3,476) and 9,689 yuan ($1,576), representing increases of 9.5 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively. Public security was enhanced also, maintaining the stability and harmony of the city. Policy targets for newly increased jobs in urban areas, reemployment of unemployed people and transfer of rural labors were solidly met. The registered employment rate of college graduates reached 98.3 percent.

Solid steps have been made in deepening reform. Qingyuan has set up a leading group of experts, whose aim is to formulate guidelines in order to comprehensively deepen its reform. The reform of Qingyuan Daily has been almost completed, and primary achievements have been made in the reform of other media organizations too. The city has deepened reform of administrative examination and approval systems, reducing 305 items subject to administrative approval by the municipal government. Qingyuan has fully carried out the reform of its commercial registration system, with 22,700 companies of various types newly registered, rising 15.8 percent over the previous year.

During the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) period, Qingyuan is, with the aim of building itself up as a demonstration area for balanced development between regions and a famous ecologically livable city, makes all efforts to advance its economic development in a better and more sound way.