General Economy

Gross domestic product (GDP)

GDP for 2004 was 655.6 billion yuan, up 12.7% from the previous year.

GDP ratio (primary, secondary and tertiary industries)

The primary industry yielded a value added of 139.42 billion yuan, 5.9% more than that of the previous year; the secondary industry, 269 billion yuan, a growth of 17.7%; the tertiary industry, 247.18 billion yuan, a growth of 10.9%. The proportion of the three sectors is 9.5: 57.9: 32.6.

Consumer price index (CPI)

CPI was up 4.9% from the previous year.

Investment in fixed assets

Fixed asset investment was valued at 264.85 billion yuan, up by 22.7% from the previous year.

Major Industries

Agriculture

In 2004, the province's total grain output was 33.265 million tons, an increase of 4.5% from the previous year.

Industry

The industrial added value totaled 216.52 billion yuan, an increase of 18%.

High-tech

The output value of high-tech industries in the province was 95 billion yuan.

Construction

Its profits and taxes paid totaled 7.48 billion yuan, up by 13%.

Transportation

The annual volume of goods handled by highway, railway and air was 27.2 billion tons, 50.64 billion tons and 270 million tons respectively. These figures were respectively 6.9%, 9.5% and 23.6% up from the previous year. The annual passenger flow by highway, railway and air increased by 9.2%, 17.6% and 37.2% respectively to reach 51.7 billion, 12.4 billion and 14.2 billion.

Postal and telecom services

The annual turnover of postal operations and telecom service totaled 33.61 billion yuan, 28.7% up from the previous year.

Retail

The annual turnover from retail sales reached 238.4 billion yuan, an increase of 14% from the previous year.

Tourism

Revenue from tourism totaled 56.62 billion yuan, up by 34.6% from the 2003 figure.

Continued Effects of Market Reform

Imports & exports

The annual value of imports and exports totaled US$6.87 billion, 22% up from the year before.

Economic and technological cooperation

A total of 436 overseas project and labor contracts were signed during the year, valued at US$1.11 million. Business turnover for the year totaled US$490 million.

Foreign investment

The foreign direct investment which was materialized during the year stood at US$1 billion, up by 8.1%.

Urban Construction and Management

Road transport

By the end of 2004, a total of 113,000 km of highways, including 1,758 km of express highways, had opened to traffic. The railways open to traffic totaled 2,867 km in length.

Social Undertakings

Science and technology

The annual R&D inputs totaled 9.5 billion yuan, accounting for 1.45% of the GDP.

Education

There are 68 institutions of higher learning in the province. The number of students enrolled in postgraduate schools and institutions of higher learning during the year stood at 16,000 and 215,000 respectively.

Culture

By the end of 2004, the province had a total of 83 arts performance organizations, 194 cultural and arts centers, 137 public libraries, and 55 museums.

Public health

At the end of 2004, there were 24,002 health and medical institutions staffed with 245,000 people and equipped with 177,000 beds. The number of centers for disease control and prevention reached 212 in the province.

Sports

The sports lottery reaped sales of 620 million yuan, A total of 13.78 million yuan were invested in the construction of 29 new gymnasiums and stadiums and renovation of 26 existing sports facilities.

Welfare and aid

A total of 1,456 townships had established social security network for rural residents. The urban community centers amounted to 420. The funds raised through selling welfare lottery totaled 22.85 million yuan in 2004. Public donations totaled 32.23 million yuan.

Population, Employment, Social Security and Living Standards

Population

The year 2004 saw births of 788,000, or a birth rate of 9.1‰, and deaths of 546,000, or a mortality rate of 6.3‰. The natural growth rate of the population stood at 2.8‰. At the end of the year, the total population stood at 87.246 million.

Employment

The employed population stood at 46.91 million, an increase of 75,000 from the previous year-end.

Registered unemployment rate

The registered urban unemployment rate was 4.4%.

Social security

In 2004, insurance plans for endowments, unemployment, and industrial injury covered a population of 5.296 million, 3.986 million and 1.908 million respectively.

Residents' income

The disposable income of urban residents was 7,710 yuan per capita, up by 9.5% from 2003. Rural residents' per capita net income was 2,580 yuan, up by 15.7%.

Residents' consumption

Urban residents' per capita expenditure was 6,371 yuan, up by 10.6% from the previous year while that of rural residents was 2,011 yuan, up by 15.1%.

Geography and Natural Conditions

Elevation extremes

Sichuan is high in the west and low in the east in terms of its topography. Generally speaking, the west are plateaus and mountainous regions some 4,000 meters above the sea level while the east are the basin and hilly land with an elevation between 1,000 and 3,000 meters. The Sichuan Basin, covering an area of 165,000 sq km, is one of the four largest basins in China. The elevation within the basin is between 200 and 750 meters, sloping down from north to south.

Natural resources

The reserves of hydropower resources in Sichuan come to 150 million kw, second only to Tibet, and the exploitable potential is over 100 million kw, more than any other area in China.

Sichuan boasts of 132 verified mineral resources. It leads the country in reserves of vanadium, titanium, calcium, mirabilite, fluorite, natural gas, and sulfur iron, and leads the world in reserves of titanium. Its reserves of vanadium ranks third in the world.

The pleasant climate provides a favorable environment for plants and animals. The forests cover a total area of 7.46 million ha. Sichuan is home to one-fifth of the country's dawn redwoods and Cathaya argyrophylla, two species so old they are regarded as living fossils. It is also rich in animal resources. There are over 1,000 kinds of vertebrates, accounting for 40% of the country. Among them are 55 kinds of rare animals. The well-known giant pandas inhabit mainly in 36 counties and natural reserves of four mountain ranges within the territory of Sichuan.

Tourism resources

Sichuan has three World Cultural and Natural heritages: the Jiuzhaigou Scenic Area, the Huanglong Scenic Area, and Emei Mountain with the Leshan Giant Buddha; nine state-class scenic areas, including the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, Qingcheng Mountain, the Sea of Bamboo in southern Sichuan; 11 national forest parks; 40 nature reserves, 44 provincial-class scenic areas. Almost every variety of tourist resources is available here: plateaus, mountains, ravines, basins, hills, plains, rivers, lakes, hot springs, waterfalls, limestone caves, and even danxia formation.