Street Landscape

Taicang, bordering the Yangtze River to the east and adjacent Shanghai to the south, is a new port city in the intersection of Yangtze River Economic Belt and Coastal Opening Area. It has an area of 823 km 2 and a population of 451,100. It administers 7 towns and 1 district.

Taicang is the first county-level city in China to realize the well-to-do living standard. Its economy ranks among the top 10 counties in China in the past successive years. 2003 saw a GDP of 21 billion yuan, the local budget revenue registered 890 million yuan, registered foreign capital of 1.218 billion USD, actually used foreign capital of 602 million USD. The average annual salary of employees and the net income of rural citizens were 16,193 yuan and 6,687 yuan respectively. Its market agriculture, urban agriculture and export agriculture are developing rapidly. Its mainstay industries include: petrochemical, energy, raw materials, precision machinery, electronics & information, textile, clothing, light industry and foodstuff. 16 out of the Fortune 500

Dock in the Port

enterprises such as Mobil, Nike have investments in Taicang. New service industries such as port logistics, information and real estate are booming. Taicang is carrying out the strategy of “vitalizing the port to rejuvenate the city”and “interlinking with Shanghai”so as to make full efforts to take the lead in building a well-to-do society by 2005.