[Location]
Gaochun County is located in the southwest part of Jiangsu Province, borders on Liyang and Lishui in the east and north and abuts on Dangtu, Xuanzhou and Langxi in the southwest. Founded in 1491, Gaochun covers an area of 802 square kilometers administers one provincial economic Development Zone, eight towns, and 134 administrative villages and has a population of 421,700. With water net polder area in the west and hilly ground in the east, the whole county is surrounded by Gucheng Lake, Shijiu Lake and Shuiyang River and listed in the fist Nationally Designated Eco-Demonstration Regions. Directly connecting to Ninggao Expressway, it is about 45km to Nanjing Lukou International Airport and Ningwang Arterial Road and Wutai Road lead to Ningbo-Hangzhou Expressway; in addition, there are also a water route leading to the golden waterway of the Yangtze River in the west and to Taihu Lake in the east.
Gaochun has a long history and rich and profound cultural reserves. Its Xuecheng Ancient Ruins reveal the human civilization which is 6,000 years ago; ancient Gucheng used to be the Laizhu city of Wu State in the Spring and Autumn Period, which is 208 years earlier than ancient Jinling City; Xu Canal, dug by Wu Zixu, is the earliest man-made channel of our country, even the world, and still in service now; the martial arts, such as “Dashuihu” and “Human Pyramid”, has been flourishing for a long time and the county is ranked as “Hometown of Martial Art”; Clam Dance and Mulian Drama are long-standing cultural traditions and the Nuo Dance –Tiaowuchang is derived from the Western Zhou Dynasty and has been selected into the list of UNESCO; and its dialect remains the features of Tang Dynasty and is the only living ancient Wu dialect. Emperor Qianlong endowed Gaochun the honor of “Holy Land of Jiangnan” when he went on a fact-finding mission to the south of China.
In recent years, Gaochun has seriously implemented the Scientific Outlook on Development, speeded up to build a unique Gaochun and dedicated to forging export-oriented industries, green city, ecological condition featured with green water and blue sky and Wu and Chu cultures to explore a practicable and distinctive road for development. Since 2005, it has ranked among National Top hundred Counties for twice; and according to the Public Satisfaction Survey for Well-off Construction conducted by the Provincial Opinion Research Center in 2008, Gaochun is expected to reach to the mark of Well-off County. Till now, it has formed three leading industries: mechanoelectronics, new materials and green foods, been in procession of three listed companies: Red Sun Group – a Top 500 Enterprise in Chinese Manufacturing Industry, Jiangsu Gaochun Ceramics Co., Ltd. – a big foreign-currency earner, and Nanjing Hongbaoli Co., Ltd. – a national major hi-tech enterprise. With ecological agriculture brands, Gaochun is Jiangsu Provincial Advanced Ecological Agriculture County, Provincial/Municipal Comprehensive Experimental County of Pollution-free Agricultural & Aquatic Product, Provincial/Municipal Major Aquatic Product Base and Green Food Product Area. With the booming development of construction, shipbuilding and aquaculture, the county is well-known as Construction Land of Jiangsu Province, and honored as the First County of China for Folk Shipbuilding (Wujiazui, a specialized shipbuilding producer, has been elected as the Richest Village of Nanjing for 14 years); it also owns the biggest crab wholesale market of China and Gucheng Lake Crab enjoys six “Firsts” including National First Crab and Chinese First Brand; besides, Gaochun belongs to Jiangsu Provincial Top 10 Trade Counties (Cities).
[Economic Situation]
In 2008, the county’s gross product totaled RMB16.821 billion, RMB1.509 billion of which came from primary industry, RMB9.750 billion from secondary industry and RMM5.562 from tertiary-industry, forming the proportion of 9:58:33. Fiscal revenue amounted RMB1.458 billion, among which, RMB902 million were general budget revenue. Gross output of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery was also RMB902 million. Total industrial added value reached RMB8.1 billion, total domestic retail sales of social consumables amounted RMB5.669 billion and export amount reached RMB170.02 million.
In 2008, the added value of transportation sector totaled RMB230,200, contributed by passenger traffic volume of 4.8 million people, 58 million tons of freight volume, 8,926 civil vehicles, RMB234 million turnover of post and telecommunication business (RMB26 million were from postal business ), 128,100 fixed telephone users, 204,000 mobile phone users, 13,400 internet users, and RMB755 million of domestic tourist income from 1.2 million tourists.
In 2008, the number of secondary schools in the country was 15, with 22,100 students, and the number of primary schools was 32, with 19,400 pupils. Other cultural resources included: one professional performance group, one public library, one public art center, one cultural center, two museums and two archives. In the aspect of health care, there were 23 hospitals and health centers, one disease prevention and curing institution, and one maternity and child health center, and the total numbers of beds and health technicians were 1,222 and 1,355 respectively. There were five stadiums, and the area constructed in compliance with national environmental noise standard totaled 11.7 square kilometers. The harmless treatment rate of urban waste was 100%. For urban residents, per capita disposable income was RMB20,908, per capita consumption expenditure was RMB12,964, and per capital housing area was 41.5 square meters; while for rural residents, per capital net income was RMB8,982, per capita consumption expenditure was RMB6,824 and per capita housing area was 47.7 square meters. In terms of insurance, 123,900 people invested in endowment insurance, 47,400 in basic medical insurance, and 26,200 in unemployment insurance. There were a total of 2,351 beds in various welfare institutions. The number of employed urban residents was 20,800, with average annual salary of RMB30,661, and a registered unemployment rate was 3.1%.
There are many sightseeing places in the region, such as Gaochun Old Street, Youzi Mountain, Yinghu Peach Garden, ecological zone and Yinlin Resort etc. Every year, the big event “China-Nanjing Gucheng Lake Crab Festival” is held from mid-September to early October.