Province to step into the limelight
WITH the recent induction of its party chief Jiang Chunyun into the Party's Central Committee Secretariat, China's eastern province of Shandong is beginning to glitter attractively.
Topping other Chinese provinces in gross economic production last year, Shandong has been transformed from a poor region to one of China's fastest growing economies in recent years.
The success story of Shandong, under the leadership of Mr Jiang since the 1980s, is considered by analysts to be the main reason behind the promotion of the 64-year-old heavyweight regional 'warlord'.
Official statistics show that growth of Shandong's Gross Domestic Product was 11.9 per cent last year, double that of seven years ago.
A dispatch of the semi-official Hong Kong China News Agency (HKCNA) said Shandong outpaced all other Chinese provinces in agricultural output, came second in industrial production and fourth in import-export trade last year.
Shandong's agricultural production in 1993 totalled 99.4 billion yuan (HK$90.45 million), a 7.4 percentage point increase from the previous year, while industrial output had a growth rate of 20.4 per cent.
In the first seven months this year, the amount of import-export trade stood at US$4.88 billion (HK$37.67 billion), a 32.7 per cent increase from the same period last year.
The eastern coastal province has also plans to develop the Yellow River Delta area into a 'dragonhead' region of its power, chemical, agricultural, fishery and animal husbandry industries, the HKCNA said.
So far, the Yellow River Delta, one of world's biggest delta areas, was still not fully developed, the HKCNA said.
