GuangZhou has historically been china’s leading commercial port. The city has a 2,000 year history of open trade. Following the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy, the economic development of Guangzhou became vigorous and has scored remarkable achievements. Since 1992, Guangzhou’s overall economic strength has risen to the third position among the country’s 10 largest cities.

Guangzhou has become a city with relatively strong secondary industry and developed tertiary industry. The city has experienced a concerted economic development and, in the past 20 years, Guangzhou’s average annual economic growth rate has been more than 14% per annum. In 2006 the GDP of the city reached RMB 623.6 billion and, according to current exchange rates versus registered population, the per-capita GDP of Guangzhou will exceed 11,000 U.S. dollars. With this achievement Guangzhou becomes the first city in China Mainland with a per capita GDP of over 10,000 U.S. dollars.

Agriculture

Taking “high quality, high yield and high efficiency, professional, commercial and social development” as working principles, Guangzhou’s agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline production and fishery have all been developing rapidly. Township enterprises have also developed rapidly becoming a pillar of the rural economy With Guangzhou’s agriculture changing to modern urban agriculture.

Industry

Guangzhou is an important industrial base in China and a comprehensive industrial manufacturing center of South China. Through years of development the city has established itself as an export-oriented modern industrial system with a complete range of specialties, a relatively developed light industry, and a heavy industry of certain scale. It boasts comprehensive capabilities, a highly developed scientific research capability and the ability to develop new products rapidly. Of China’s 40 major categories of industrial sectors, Guangzhou has 34. Industry plays an important role in the city’s contribution to the national economy. This added value accounts for more than one third of the city’s GDP. The industrial output value of the three pillar industries–Automobile manufacturing, electronic communications and petrochemical industries–accounts for about one-third of the city’s industrial output value. With the introduction of advanced technology and the upgrade of light textiles, food, medicine, building materials and other traditional industries, many new industries and high-tech industries represented by electronic communications, electrical appliances, fine chemical industries and petrochemical products are developing rapidly.

Tertiary Industry

Guangzhou is the largest commercial and communications center in South China. The tertiary industry sector has been developing so rapidly that it is being called “industrialized”, having many levels, offering high-quality services, and presenting local color. At present, Guangzhou’s tertiary industry has developed into such an important industrial structure including the communications and transportation industries, commerce and trade, social services and tourism, the real estate industry, and the financial and insurance industries are classed as the main industries in the area.

Foreign trade

With a long history, and being China’s earliest foreign trading port, Guangzhou has a quite important position in the world. From the 1950s to now, the world-renowned chinese Export Commodities Fair has been held in Guangzhou. It won the title of “China’s First Exhibition “, for it has the largest scale, the longest exhibiting time, the highest grade of participants and the largest turnover of all fairs in China. In 2007, with the important change in China’s foreign trade strategy, the Chinese Export Commodities Fair was renamed the China Import and Export Commodity Fair, and for the first time an import gallery was set up.

In four consecutive years from 2003 to 2006, every year, Guangzhou’s Foreign Trade realized an increase of 10 billion dollars, totaling 63.767 billion U.S. dollars in 2006. As of January 2007, among the world’s top 500 multinational enterprises, 151 have come to Guangzhou for investment with 329 foreign direct investment enterprises have been established and with a total investment of 11.244 billion U.S. dollars. Most multinational companies take Guangzhou as part of its regional processing and manufacturing bases in their global strategy. Some enterprises have set up research and development centers and as well as maintenance test centers in Guangzhou.

In the past, Guangzhou’s major export commodities were textile products and primary products but now, with industrial upgrading, the export product structure has changed. Guangzhou’s major export products now also include high-end manufacturing products, high-tech products, biotechnology, aerospace technology, materials products, software, automobiles etc. Its major export markets are the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the United States, the EU, Japan, and ASEAN.

Commerce

Guangzhou owns lots of commercial outlets selling a variety of commodities and has smooth, well-developed distribution channels. The City has more than 100,000 commercial outlets, ranking in first place among the top 10 Chinese cities. Large shopping malls, large storage-on-demand wholesale and retail centers, bazaars and other types of outlets diversify its commercial network.

Tourism

Guangzhou has a “multi-purpose, multi-level, complete-service” tourism industry integrating travel service, catering, accommodation, shopping and entertainment. It is a city with more than 2,200 years of history and culture, as well as being a thoroughly modern international metropolis. Its historical relics, scenery, convenient traffic, comfortable shopping environment and first-class services are bound to attract tourists from all over the world. People say “Guangzhou is a gourmet paradise” for here you can find local Guangdong style food, featuring rich color, smell, taste and form, as well as other Chinese and foreign foods. Guangzhou also has a number of five-star hotels and many well-regarded guesthouses, hotels of different grades and other types of accommodations. The “One Day Tour” has become a distinctive mark of Guangzhou.

Finance

As a regional financial center, the workings of Guangzhou’s financial system are being improved. Financial networks are developing quickly. Many domestic and foreign financial institutions take Guangzhou as their first choices among places for business expantion. Banks, rural cooperative financial institutions, securities companies and other financial institutions are developing rapidly. Foreign financial institutions have set up more than 60 branches in Guangzhou. More than 2,800 various financial outlets are distributed in the city. Financial businesses have a wide coverage, showing the important position of Guangzhou in the domestic financial structure of China. Guangzhou is both a regional financial hub and a regional financial management and control center.

Information Industry

With perfect transportation and telecommunication infrastructures. Guangzhou is one of the top three Communication Hubs, top three Internet Core Nodes, top three Network Access Points and top three Internet Gateways in China.

As one of Guangzhou’s three pillar industries, information industry is continually expanding, keeping pace with the sound development tendencies of clusterization, internationalization and high quality levels. In 2007, Guangzhou’s information industry realized an added value of RMB 53 billion, accounting for 7.52% of Guangzhou’s GDP. The information service industry is developing at a high speed with total revenues in the sector in Guangzhou totaling RMB 70 billion, with an added value of about RMB 36 billion, and accounting for 68% of the added value of the information industry category and about 5% of the GDP.

In 2008, the National Development and Reform Commission granted Guangzhou the honor of being named a National Information Industrial Base.