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| Introduction |
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Yunfu is seated in the central-western part of Guangdong Province and on the south bank of the Xijiang River. At the juncture of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guangdong Province, the city adjoins Zhaoqing to the north, Foshan to the east, Jiangmen to the southwest, Yangjiang to the south, Maoming to the southwest, and Guangxi to the west. It covers an area of 7,799 sq km and has a population of 2.4 million.
The city serves as an important transportation hub in western Guangdong. Yunfu is situated 60 km from Zhaoqing and 160 km from Guangzhou, the provincial capital. Hong Kong is about 177 nautical miles from the city. Yunfu has four ports, namely Liudu Port, Ducheng Poert, Nanjiangkou Port and Duqi Port. Liudu Port is the largest port among them. It has an annual cargo handling capacity of 3.5 million tons.
Yunfu has a subtropical monsoon climate, with plentiful rainfall and sunshine. The average temperature in this city is about 22°C. It has rich mineral resources, such as sulfur and sillimanite. Yunfu has the largest ilmenite reserve and the second largest sillimanite reserve in Guangdong Province.
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| Economic Features |
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Yunfu is the smallest economy in Guangdong Province in terms of GDP in 2009. The city's GDP rose 10.5% from a year earlier to RMB 34.7 billion in 2007, ranking the last among the 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong. The agricultural sector, the industrial sector and the service sector comprised 25.7%, 41.4% and 32.9% to the city's economy, respectively.
Yunfu is a traditional agricultural city. In 2009, Yunfu produced 664,900 tons of grains, 43,000 tons of oil plants and 357,400 tons of vegetables, up 3.7%, 0.6% and 8.3% year on year, respectively.
In 2009, the value-added industrial output was RMB 12.9 billion, up 9.7%, while the enterprises with designated size and above rose 10.5% to RMB 9.5 billion. Metallurgy, equipment manufacturing, waste water recycling, electric power production and supply, and textiles are the pillar industries. In 2009, the city produced 5.1 billion kw of electricity and 1.9 million tons of sulfuric iron ores.
Wens Group and Guangdong Link Fair Group are the top industrial companies in the city. Wens Group, set up in 1983, specializes in food processing and feed production. A leading private company in Yunfu, it gained sales revenue of RMB 11.7 billion in 2007. Guangdong Link Fair Group was set up in 1993 as a stainless steel products maker. It has annual output value of RMB 550 million in 2005.
The service sector in the city gained RMB 11.4 billion in value-added output in 2009, with an increase of 13.5% from the previous year. The added value from the logistic sector was down by 0.9% to RMB 0.946 billion, making up 8.3% of city's value-added output from the service sector.
The foreign trade value in the city fell 17.7% to US$951 million,, comprising export value of US$616 million and import value of US$335 million. Mechanical and electronic products, stainless steel products and garments are the major export products in Yunfu. The U.S., Hong Kong and Germany are the largest export destinations of Yunfu.
In 2009, the city attracted 38 foreign-funded projects, with contractual foreign investments amounting to US$116 million. Secondary industry attracted over US$78 million contractual investments, comprising 66.5% of the city's total. The utilized FDI in the city was US$71 million in 2009, with a rise of 3.1% year on year.
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| Cultural Highlights |
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Yunfu has a long history. In ancient times, the Yunan County of Yunfu at the meeting point of Nanjiang River (South River) and Xijiang River (West River) was an important place connecting the land way and sea way of the Silk Road. Yunfu got its current name during the Tang Dynasty (AD618-907), when the Yunfu Shire was set up in this region. It was called Dong'an County during the Ming Dynasty (AD1368-1644). In 1914 it was re-named Yunfu. In 1994, Yunfu was promoted to be a prefecture-level city by the State Council. It governs 1 district, 3 counties and 1 county-level city.
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| Tourist Attraction |
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The most popular scenic spots in Yunfu are Panlong Cave and the Longshan Hot Spring. Panlong Cave is situated in the Shizishan Mountain (also known as Lion Mountain) in the northern part of Yunfu. The cave is a karst cave with stone flowers. It has three layers, and mammal fossils have been discovered in the cave. Longshan Hot Spring is located in the Longshan Mountain (also known as Dragon Mountain) in Xinxing County of Yunfu. Guo En Temple is also located in this area. Built in AD683, it has a history of over 1,300 years. There is a 10-meter-high dragon sculpture in this temple.
Yunfu has many characteristic local snacks, such as Preserved Plum in Xingxing, Sweet Date in Yunan, Maiji Peanut (soaked with aniseed, preserved bean curd, garlic and scallion in pork soup, then stir-fried) and Yunfu Luoding Fish Cake (made with mashed fish meat).
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