1. Natural conditions

(1) Geographic location

Located in the southern border of China, between 104 ° 28 '- 112 ° 04' E and 20 ° 54 '- 26 ° 24' N, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region is adjacent to Guangdong, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan Provinces, across the sea from Hainan Province, bordering the Beibu Gulf in the south and facing Southeast Asia.

(2) Natural resources

The land area of Guangxi administrative region is 237,600 square kilometers, accounting for 2.5% of the total of the country, with a total supply of state-owned construction land about 19,000 hectares.

Guangxi has many kinds of mineral resources and large reserves, especially aluminum, tin and other nonferrous metals. It is one of the 10 key nonferrous metal production areas in China, where 145 kinds of minerals (including sub-minerals) have been found, accounting for 45.8% of the proven resource reserves in the country; where there are 97 kinds of proven reserves, of which 64 are standing in the top 10 and 12 are in the first place in the country.

There are many rivers and abundant water resources in Guangxi, with a total water resources of 237.73 billion cubic meters. The rivers in the territory are divided into four major water systems, including the Pearl River water system, the Yangtze River water system, the water system that flows into the sea independently in southern Guangxi, and the Baidu River system, among which the Pearl River water system is the major one.

Guangxi is rich in marine resources. The coastline of the mainland is about 1796 kilometers long, tortuous and with many drowned valleys and vast areas. There are many natural harbors, with 21 ports of various sizes that can be developed along the coast. The tidal flat area is about 100,000 hectares. Guangxi also has the largest area of mangroves in the country. The Beibu Gulf on the southern edge is not only a famous fishing ground in China, but also a treasure trove of marine biological resources in the world.

(3) Administrative division and population

Guangxi has jurisdiction over 14 prefecture-level cities, including Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, Wuzhou, Beihai, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou, Guigang, Yulin, Baise, Hezhou, Hechi, Laibin, and Chongzuo. Among them, Nanning, Yulin, Chongzuo, Qinzhou, Fangchenggang, and Beihai constitute the Beibu Gulf Economic Cooperation Zone, which is a key area for the country's western development and open cooperation to ASEAN. The total registered residence population of Guangxi is 56 million, with the permanent population of 48.85 million, of which the urban population is 24.04 million, accounting for 49.2% of the total, and the population aged 15-64 is 33.188 million, accounting for 67.94%.

(4) Ethnic groups

Guangxi is a multi-ethnic autonomous region with a population of minority ethnic groups of 20.4 million, accounting for 42.5% of the permanent population of the autonomous region. It is the province (region) with the largest minority population in China, where 12 people of aboriginal ethnic groups inhabit, including Zhuang, Han, Yao, Miao, Dong, Mulao, Maonan, Hui, Jing, Yi, Shui, Gelao, and 44 other ethnic groups including Manchu, Mongol, Korean, Bai, Tibetan, Li, Tujia. Of all the ethnic groups dwelling locally, Zhuang has the largest population that stands at 16.98 million, accounting for 36% of the permanent population of the autonomous region.

(5) Climate

Located in low latitude, with the Tropic of Cancer crossing the middle, Guangxi borders the tropical ocean in the south, Nanling Mountains in the north, and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau in the west, making it a subtropical monsoon climate zone. The warm climate offers abundant rainfalls and sufficient light. In summer, the sunshine time is long, the temperature high, the precipitation much, and in winter, the sunshine time is short, and the weather dry and warm. The annual average temperature is 17.5~23.5 ℃.

Accessibility

After years of construction, the three-dimensional transportation network framework of land, sea and air has been basically formed in Guangxi. 14 prefecture-level cities and 89% of counties (cities and districts) in the region have achieved the accessibility by expressways. The total mileage of railway, the operating mileage of high-speed railway and the total mileage of expressway have reached 5191 kilometers, 1771 kilometers, and 5259 kilometers respectively; The annual throughput of the Beibu Gulf port is more than 350 million tons, and the port has trade relations with more than 250 ports in more than 100 countries and regions, with 79 berths of more than 10000 tons and a container throughput of 3.19 million TEUs; At present, Guangxi has built seven civil aviation airports, namely, Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin, Wuzhou, Beihai, Hechi and Baise, with an annual passenger throughput of more than 27.66 million.

Ecological environment

 In 2019, the rate of days with good urban ambient air quality was 91.7%, and the average concentration of PM2.5 reduced by 2.9%. The excellent proportion of surface water quality was 96.2%, and the excellent proportion of offshore water quality was 90.9%. The water environment quality of six cities where districts are established entered the top ten in the country, and the elimination rate of urban black and odorous water was higher than 90%. The harmless treatment rate of urban domestic garbage was above 99%. The forest coverage rate was 62.45%. The effect of rocky desertification control ranked first in the country. Boasting 29 townships of longevity in China, Guangxi is the province with the largest number of lands of longevity in China.

2. Policy advantages

On January 16, 2008, the Chinese national authorities approved the implementation of the Guangxi Beibu Gulf Economic Zone Development Plan, which pointed out that the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone should be built into a logistics base, trade base, processing and manufacturing base and information exchange center for the China-ASEAN open cooperation, and become a strategic highland to drive and support the development of the western region of the country and an important international regional economic cooperation with high openness, strong influence, economic prosperity, social harmony and good ecology. To this end, the Chinese national government clearly provides policy support in five aspects: comprehensive supporting reform, major project layout, bonded logistics system, financial reform, and open cooperation. Accelerating the opening and development of the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone not only brings great opportunities to the development of the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone, but also injects strong impetus into promoting the comprehensive progress of economy and society and the overall development level of Guangxi.

In 2009, China’s central government State Council issued the Several Opinions of the State Council on Further Promoting the Economic and Social Development of Guangxi, which clearly specified that Guangxi should be cultivated as a new growth pole for China's coastal economic development and a new highland for international regional economic cooperation, that the investment of the central government financial transfer payment funds and the investment in the central government budget should be increased in Guangxi, with relevant tax policies implemented and improved, and that the relevant departments of the State Council should concurrently put forward specific policies and measures to support the economic and social development of Guangxi, with relevant plans improved.

In the Several Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on the Further Implementation of the Western Region Development Strategy issued by the Chinese national authorities at the Western Region Development Working Conference held in Beijing in July 2010, and in the speeches of the Party and state leaders at that time, 15 direct references were made to Guangxi, including the explicit proposal in infrastructure construction, which covers building and improving the "four vertical" channels from Linhe to Fangchenggang and the "four outbound" international channels in Southeast Asia; the ecological construction which covers the comprehensive treatment of rocky desertification in southwest part of the country with Guangxi as the key area; the industrial construction and improvement of petrochemical bases in Guangxi and other southwest regions; and the promotion of developing Guangxi Beibu Gulf Zone into the economic growth pole with national influence. The official document and the speeches cover all the areas of development in Guangxi, fully reflecting the great concern of the central government for  the development of the autonomous region, with new impetus injected into the efforts of enriching the people and strengthening the region.

In 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "13th Five-Year Plan" for the Western Region Development, which made a comprehensive deployment for the western region development during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, with a number of cities in Guangxi included in the overall spatial pattern of the "five horizontal, two vertical and one ring" western region development. Among the 10 key tasks and major projects clearly specified, a number of them involve the construction of railways, highways, airports, shipping, ports, emerging industries, new energy, biological medicine and other industries in Guangxi.

While many central policies have benefited Guangxi, the Party and state leaders of China also attach great importance to the development of Guangxi. In March 2015, when attending the deliberation of the Guangxi delegation at the third session of the 12th National People's Congress, Chinese President Xi Jinping asked Guangxi to give full play to the unique advantages of land and sea with ASEAN countries, build an international major channel connecting China with ASEAN, create a new strategic support point for the opening and development of the south-west and south-central regions of China, and form an important gateway for the organic connection of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the Silk Road Economic Belt. In April 2017, He also paid a special visit to Guangxi and stressed that Guangxi's development potential is opening up, that its future strength is also opening up, and that Guangxi is qualified to play a greater role in the "Belt and Road Initiative". The important instructions given by President Xi Jinping on Guangxi have pointed out the direction for Guangxi to participate in the "Belt and Road Initiative" in an all-round way, to fully implement a more proactive strategy driven by opening-up, and to enhance the level of opening up and development.

At present, staying in a critical period of multiple national policies and the superposition of multiple national development strategies, Guangxi is also placed in a major opportunity period to enter a new stage of development and maintain sustained and rapid economic development. Adhering to the five development concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing and the new mission of "Three Strategic Roles", Guangxi will continue to promote industrial transformation and upgrading, and promote the development of industrialization to the middle and late stages; At the same time, taking advantage of the unique advantages of its land and sea with ASEAN as its close neighbors, Guangxi will expand the opening up to the outside world and accelerate the formation of a new pattern of domestic and international opening up and cooperation.

3. Ecological advantages

Guangxi is located at the southeast edge of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the western part of the hills of Guangdong and Guangxi, with the Beibu Gulf in the south. There are many karst landforms in the territory, where mountains and forests are widely spread. With water, air, marine environment and other aspects maintaining a good level, the ecological environment is agreeable and pleasant.

In terms of water environment, the excellent proportion of surface water section water quality in Guangxi is 98.1%, and the proportion of water body with no use function is 0. Both indicators rank first in the country. The water quality of the Pearl River water system and the Yangtze River water system in the territory is generally "excellent", and the water quality of the water system flowing into the sea independently is generally "good".

In terms of marine environment, Guangxi currently has a coastline of 1769 kilometers and a tidal flat area of 833 square kilometers. The water quality in the coastal waters remains excellent, with the proportion of Class I and Class II seawater reaching 81.8%, ranking the top in the country. The rich marine biological resources not only cover diverse marine biological species and endangered animals such as Chinese white dolphins and dugongs, but also the typical marine natural ecosystems such as mangroves, coral reefs and seagrass beds. The area of mangroves reaches 7300 hectares, accounting for 40% of the total mangrove area of China, ranking first in the country.

In terms of air environment, with a forest coverage rate of 62.3%, Guangxi sees its quality and improvement degree of vegetation ecology rank first in the country; The number of excellent days of ambient air quality in cities where districts are established is 93.5%, ranking second in the country.

The beautiful ecological environment has created an environment of beautiful natural landscape in Guangxi, where a number of internationally famous tourist attractions have been formed such as Guilin International Tourist Attraction, Beibu Gulf International Tourist Resort, Bama Longevity Health International Tourist Attraction and other high-end tourism resources with international standards. At present, Guangxi has 136 AAAA-grade and above scenic spots, 71 four-star and above rural tourism areas, 3 national ecotourism demonstration areas, 10 national all-region tourism demonstration areas, and 3 smart tourism pilot cities. These resources distributed in various regions become an important factor in attracting visitors to Guangxi.

4. Resource advantages

In terms of natural resources, Guangxi has plenty of mineral resources and large reserves, especially aluminum, tin and other nonferrous metals. It is one of the 10 key nonferrous metal production areas in the country, accounting for 45.8% of the country's proven resource reserves, of which 64 kinds of reserves rank the top 10 in the country, and 12 kinds rank the first in the country. Among the 45 pillar mineral deposits for national economic development, 35 are resource reserves proven available in Guangxi. Guangxi is rich in hydropower resources due to the many rivers in the region. The river basin area of the whole region reaches 23.67 square kilometers, and the reserve of hydropower resources reaches 21.33 million kilowatts. Among them, the Hongshui River which is 658 kilometers long, with many beaches and rapid water, is known as the rich mine of hydropower resources in China. In 2017, the amount of surface water resources and groundwater resources in Guangxi reached 217.7 billion cubic meters and 52.9 billion cubic meters respectively, and the per capita water resources was up to 3375 cubic meters, 43% higher than the national average. The forest area in the whole region reached 14.79 million hectares, with the forest coverage rate of 62.3%.

In terms of human resources, Guangxi is rich in labor resources, with a permanent population of 48.38 million and 28.41 million employed in the region, with an average of 1.6 million new labor force each year, including more than 400,000 graduates from tertiary and secondary schools each year. Among the total population, the population aged 15-59 has stayed at about 68% for many years, which forms a relatively reasonable age structure that supplies abundant labor force. At the same time, the number of the population receiving higher education has gradually increased every year, with the proportion of the population above junior college rising to 9.21% in 2016 from 2.6% in 2000.

In terms of innovation resources, Guangxi currently has 2 national key laboratories, 3 national engineering technology research centers, 3 national engineering laboratories, 11 national and local joint engineering research centers (laboratories), 8 national enterprise technology centers, 641 national high-tech enterprises, and 7 national science and technology enterprise incubators. In terms of high-level talents, there are a total of 1.53 million professional and technical talents in the region, and 36 candidates for the National Hundred and Ten Million Talents Project.

Source: Investment Promotion Agency of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

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