An Overview of Weifang

Weifang is renowned as the World Kite Capital, a national civilized city, a national environmental protection model city, a national health city, a national garden city, an excellent tourist city of China, a national science and technology advanced city, a national circular economy demonstration city and a national civilized city and also the winner of China Habitat Environmental Award.

Economic and Social Development Situation

In 2018, the city’s Gross Regional Product (GDP) reaches RMB 615.68 billion yuan, with an increase of 6.5% based on comparable prices. The GDP in the first, second, third and fourth quarters increases by 4.8%, 6%, 6.6% and 6.5% respectively. Among them, the added value of the primary industry reaches RMB 51.16 billion yuan, with an increase of 1.6%; the added value of the secondary industry reaches RMB 274.24 billion yuan, with an increase of 6.2%; the added value of the tertiary industry reaches RMB 290.28 billion yuan, with an increase of 7.7%. The three industrial structures are adjusted from 8.4:45.6:46 in 2017 to 8.3:44.5:47.2. The contribution rate of the first, second and third industries to economic growth is 2%, 46.1% and 51.9% respectively, driving 0.13, 3 and 3.37 percentage points of GDP growth respectively. Based on the permanent population, the per capita GDP reaches RMB 65,721 yuan (converted to 9,620 US dollars at the exchange rate at the end of the year), with an increase of 6.4%.

The GDP of the counties and cities and the municipal development zones is RMB 30.25 billion yuan in Weicheng District, RMB 25.03 billion yuan in Hanting District (including Economic Development Zone), RMB 17.91 billion yuan in Fangzi District, RMB 28.11 billion yuan in Kuiwen District, RMB 70.4 billion yuan in Qingzhou City, RMB 87.77 billion yuan in Zhucheng City, RMB 90.27 billion yuan in Shouguang City, RMB 35.27 billion yuan in Anqiu City, RMB 67.38 billion yuan in Gaomi City, RMB 47.04 billion yuan in Changyi City, RMB 30.55 billion yuan in Linqu County, RMB 32.99 billion yuan in Changle County, RMB 48.02 billion yuan in High-tech Industrial Development Zone, RMB 33.72 billion yuan in Binhai Economic Development Area and RMB 3.41 billion yuan in Xiashan Ecological Economic Development Zone respectively.  

There are 938 thousand market entities in the city, with an increase of 11.8%, and 1665.02 billion yuan of registered capital, with an increase of 25.3%. There are 158 thousand newly registered market entities, with an increase of 10.4%, including 51 thousand newly registered private enterprises, with an increase of 26.9%; 105 thousand newly registered individual businesses, with an increase of 4.5%. The newly registered self-employed private enterprises brought about 253 thousand jobs.

The development of non-public economy is steady and rising. The number of non-public economic households in the city is 925 thousand, with an increase of 12%; the number of employees is 6,684 thousand, with an increase of 6.1%; the registered capital is RMB 1,344.16 billion yuan, with an increase of 27.9%. Based on the preliminary calculation, the city’s non-public economic added value is RMB 360.1 billion yuan, of which the private economic added value is RMB 324.14 billion yuan.

Weifang took the lead in establishing the fund for the New and Old Kinetic Conversion in the province, supporting 7 provincial key projects, 36 provincial preferred projects and 54 municipal key projects. 16 enterprises have been listed in the national and provincial integration and implementation pilot, and more than 3,000 enterprises have been listed in the cloud. 14 enterprises are shortlisted among the top 100 private enterprises in the province. 21 enterprises are selected into the list of”Gazelle Enterprises” demonstration and cultivation enterprises in the province, and 42 enterprises are awarded the first batch of “Invisible Champion” enterprises in the province.

There are 1,269 newly developed farmers’ professional cooperatives and 500 family farms. RMB 580 million yuan of municipal agriculture-related funds has been integreted and 26 rural complexes are under construction. With a total investment of RMB 370 million yuan, 30 key poverty alleviation projects at the municipal level have been put into operation, which can drive 54 thousand poor people out of poverty and increase their incomes. The national agricultural opening and development comprehensive experimental zone has been approved by the State Council, the national vegetable quality standard center officially opened, the main project for Modern Agricultural Research Institute of Peking University completed, and Weifang awarded the city of agricultural product quality and safety.

　　Location and Area: Weifang is located in the center of Shandong Peninsula, and in the central position of peninsula city group, spanning the east longitude 108 ° 10 '~ 120 ° 01', and latitude 35 ° 41 '~ 37 ° 26'. It is connected with Qingdao and Yantai in the east, Zibo and Dongying in the west, Linyi and Rizhao in the south, and Bohai Bay and Laizhou Bay in the north, covering a total area of ​​16,100 square kilometers.

　　Establishment of Weifang: Weifang has a long history. As early as 6,000 years ago, there were people inhabiting along the road of Mi River. April 27, 1948 marked the liberalization of Weihsien County. On April 29, Weifang special city (directly under the jurisdiction of Shandong Provicne) was established. The municipal government was situated in Weicheng district, with 6 districts under its jurisdiction, including Weicheng district, Dong Guan, Xi Guan, Nan Guan, Bei Guan and Fangzi. In June 1949, Weifang special city was renamed Weifang City, and was still under provincial jurisdiction. In June 1948, Changwei Prefecture was established in Changle, consisting of and managing 5 counties of Changle, Weihsien, Anqiu, Shou Nan, and Yilin. In December 1948, Yidu County under direct jurisdiction of Shandong Province was assigned to Changwei Prefecture. In the following year in July, the organs of the county were relocated to Yidu County. On May 25, 1950, Changwei Prefecture was relocated to Weifang from Yidu County. On March 13, 1967, Changwei Prefecture was changed to Changwei district. In July 1981, Changwei district was renamed Weifang district, with the counties under its jurisdiction of the county (city) unchanged. In October 1983,the district regime of Weifang was changed into provincially administered municipality, following the original name of Weifang and city management county system was implemented. Weifang Binhai Economic and Technological Development Zone was established in 1995; in 2008, the ecological economic development zone was established; in 2011, Weifang Comprehensive Free Trade Zone was established. At this point, Weifang City has jurisdiction over 4 Districts, 6 Cities, 2 Counties, and 4 municipal development zones.

Administrative Division

[Administrative Division] Under its jurisdiction, Weifang has such 4 districts as Kuiwen, Weicheng, Hanting and Fangzi, 6 cities as Qingzhou, Zhucheng, Shouguang, Anqiu, Gaomi and Changyi, 2 counties as Linqu and Changle, 4 municipal development zones as High-tech Industrial Development Zone, Binhai Economic and Technological Development Area, Xiashan Eco-economic Development Zone, and Comprehensive Bonded Zone. There are altogether 62 townships and 56 subdistrict offices under its jurisdiction.

Transportation

In 2018, the investment in transportation construction is RMB 11.23 billion yuan, including RMB 9.87 billion yuan in highway construction, RMB 1.16 billion yuan in port construction, RMB 40 million yuan in railway construction, and RMB 160 million yuan in urban public transportation and stations. There are 6 expressways, 7 ordinary national roads and 14 provincial roads in the city, with a total mileage of 28,000 kilometers and a highway density of 179 kilometers per 100 square kilometers. There are 45 berths in Weifang Port, including 20 berths above 10,000 tons, with the designed throughput capacity of the port exceeding 40 million tons. Weifang Airport has 7 passenger routes and 2 freight routes, with 138 passenger and freight flights per week and 13 cities accessible. 

 The passenger volume of road transport is 60.89 million person-times, with an increase of 2%, and the passenger turnover is 4.72 billion person-kilometers, with an increase of 3.2%; the road freight volume was 293.34 million tons, with an increase of 8%, and the freight turnover is 58.54 billion ton-kilometers, with an increase of 3.2%. The total volume of water transportation is 31.536 million tons, with an increase of 30%, and the turnover of goods was 23.59 billion ton-kilometers, with an increase of 34%. Weifang Port has completed 46.566 million tons of cargo throughput, with an increase of 11%. Weifang Airport has completed 725 thousand person-times, with an increase of 21.2% and 24 thousand tons of air freight, with a decrease of 9.1%. There are 1,423 buses in the city, including 855 new energy buses and 102 bus lines, with a total length of 2,024.4 kilometers and daily passenger flow of 345 thousand person-times.

Population 

[Population] As of the end of 2018, the city’s permanent residents are 9,141,521, with 61,418 more than that of last year. The annual average population is 9,110,812, with an annual population growth rate of 6.76‰. The natural growth of population is 74,486, with a natural growth rate of 8.18‰; the mechanical growth of population is -14,198 (including 36,533 people who moved in and 50,731 people who moved out). Among them, 4,608,787 are male, and 4,532,734 are female with sex ratio of 101.68:100. The city’s total number of households are 2,894,569, with 26,478 more than those of the last year and an average of 3.16 people per household. The city’s registered population is 136,630 people, with a birth rate of 15‰. With a total of 62,144 deaths, the mortality rate of 6.82‰. Among the total number of registered births, 71,157 are male, 65,473 are female, with the birth sex ratio of 108.68:100. Among the total number of registered deaths, 34,580 are men and 27,564 are women, making the death sex ratio at 125.45:100. Weifang has 1,798,365 people aged 0-17, accounting for 19.67% of the total population; 1,948,154 people aged 18-34, accounting for 21.31% of the total population; 3,378,118 people aged 35-59, accounting for 36.95% of the total population; 2,016,884 people aged 60 and above, accounting for 22.06% of the total population. There are 4,856,231 urban population in the city, and the urbanization rate of registered population is 53.12%. The population of each county is as follows:　　 

1. Population of the municipal area: 358,187 in Weicheng District, 354,683 in Kuiwen District, 183,719 in High-tech Development Zone, 78,867 in Economic Zone, 12,846 in Bonded Zone, 311,993 in Hanting District, 326,820 in Fangzi District, 87,614 in Binhai Area, 226,992 in Xiashan District.

2. Population of counties and cities: 925,567 in Linqu County, 638,556 in Changle County, 954,835 in Qingzhou City, 1,118,684 in Zhucheng City, 1,103,110 in Shouguang City, 975,816 in Anqiu City, 896,444 in Gaomi City and 586,788 in Changyi city.

Geographic Features

[Geography] Situated in the western part of Shandong Peninsula and in the central position of peninsula city group, Weifang lies between 35°41′and 37°26′ N latitude and 108°10′ and 120°01′ E longitude. It is connected with Qingdao and Yantai in the east, Zibo and Dongying in the west, Linyi and Rizhao in the south, and Bohai Bay and Laizhou Bay in the north.  

[Land Resources] The city’s total land area is ​​16.2 thousand square kilometers (1,616.7 thousand hectares), of which 1,158.8 thousand hectares are agricultural land (792.7 thousand hectares of cultivated land and 694.6 thousand hectares of basic farmland), accounting for 71.8% of the total area; 306.4 thousand hectares are construction land, accounting for 19% of the total area; 149.1 thousand hectares are unused land, accounting for 9.2% of the total area.

[Mineral Resources] A total of 80 kinds of minerals (including sub-minerals) have been found in Weifang, among 46 kinds are identified as mineral reserves. Reserves of 13 minerals that rank first in Shandong Province are brine, sapphire, oil shale, barite, glass quartzite, cement limestone, bentonite, perlite, zeolite, ceramic soil, dolomite, diatomite, and Mica, with brine and sapphire reserves ranking first nationwide.

[Climate] In 2018 (January to December 2018, the same below), Weifang has relatively higher temperature, more precipitation, and more-than-normal light. The general climate is characterized by a little high temperature in the winter (2017.12~2018.2), less precipitation and light; high temperature in spring with great rainfalls, less light and agreeable climate; high temperature in summer with higher precipitation, abundant light and hot climate; in autumn, the temperature is high with excessive precipitationand abundant light. The main meteorological disasters are strong wind, hails and rainstorms. In general, this year’s precipitation resources are sufficient, and the impact of meteorological disasters is more than that of previous years. According to the comprehensive evaluation, the weather and climate conditions of Weifang in 2018 are on average in agriculture.

The city’s annual average temperature in 2018 is 13.8 ℃, 0.8 ℃ higher than normal, while 0.5 ℃lower than that of last year. The city’s average rainfall is 1009.7 mm, 408.2 mm and 68% more than normal and 396.5 mm and 65% more than the previous year, a value second to the highest in the meteorological record. The city’s average annual sunshine hours are 2434.7 hours, 22.9 hours more than normal, and 16.6 hours more than that of last year.

Annual climate characteristics: the annual average temperature is higher than normal, with extremely higher precipitation, and enough light.

[Rivers] There are five principal river systems running from west to east in Weifang, including Xiaoqinghe River, Mihe River, Bailang River, Weihe River, and North Jiaolai River. They all flow into Bohai Sea, witha a basin area of 10,509 square kilometers, accounting for 66.3% of the total area of Weifang.