Major Chinese Province Maintains Two-Digit GrowthEast China's Shandong Province, one of the country's economic powerhouses, generated some 854.244 billion yuan in GDP last year, up 10.5 percent from the previous year.This means the province has maintained an annual growth of at least 10 percent for 10 years running. The growth in 2000 was 2.5 percentage points more than the national average. The two-digital growth was attributed to Shandong's efforts to restructure the economy. Over the last decade, the province has carried out a comprehensive upgrading scheme in its traditional industries of textiles, paper making, machinery, and chemicals, bringing nearly half of the province's production lines up to advanced national or international levels. New industries of information technology, bio-pharmaceuticals, refined chemicals, and environmental protection have become major growth areas of the provincial economy. More than 1,500 high-tech enterprises have been created to help improve the economy. As more sectors are opened to overseas investment, the number of overseas-funded businesses in Shandong has increased to some 20,000, which takes up more than one-fifth of the province's GDP. |
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