Guzhen Town

Guzhen Town (Chinese: 古鎮鎮 Pinyin: Gǔzhèn Zhèn) is situated at the northwest periphery of the city of Zhongshan with a distance of 23 km from the city. The town is famous for its lighting fitting and equipment industries. The population of Guzhen Town is of an estimation of 63,000 permanent residents and 20,000 outsiders.

Administration

Within the 47.8km² of total area, Guzhen town is subdivided into twenty administrative districts (管理區) and one resident committee (居民委員會).

Geography

The west of Guzhen Town is facing a sub-stream of Xi Jiang (西江), which forms part of the Pearl River basin. Jiangmen is on the other side of the river. Foshan is next to Guzhen Town to the north, while Xiaolan Town is to the east and Henglan Town to the south.

Economics

Lighting and fitting equipment industry

Dubbed China Lighting Capital by China Light Industry Council and China Association of Lighting Industry. Guzhen Town is the largest production base of lighting fittings in China and one of the top four distributing centres of lighting fittings worldwide. In 2001, Guzhen's lighting fittings products controlled 60% of the national market while its exports rocketed to US$ 250 million. The production of lighting fittings is such a pillar industry in Guzhen that the total outputs reached RMB 5 million in 2001, accounting for nearly 88% of the total industrial outputs of the whole town.

The development of the lighting fittings industry in Guzhen can be tracked back to the late 1970s when products such as table lamps and emergency lamps produced by TVEs were sold in the western region of China. Nevertheless with the support of the government in terms of capital, land and policies, the first wave of development took place from the mid-1980s to early 1990s. Following the great success of the first China (Guzhen) International Lighting Fair held in 1999, Guzhen's lighting fittings industry has undergone an unprecedented growth in the years around the year of millennium.

Comparing with only 975 enterprises engaged in lighting fitting production in 1999, there were 1,432 enterprises by the end of 2001, employing about 40,000 people. Between 1999 and 2001, the total export also increased dramatically from US$ 40 million to US$ 250 million.

A wide variety of lighting fittings products, ranging from crystal lamps, table lamps, wall lamps, ceiling lamps, palace lamps, pendant lamps and garden lamps to spotlights for stage lighting, are produced in Guzhen. These made-in Guzhen lighting fitting products are not only sold in domestic market, but also popular worldwide, with large markets in the U.S., the Middle East, South Africa, and Europe. Awarded ISO 9002 and other quality certificates issued by China, the U.S., the European Commission, and Canada, Guzhen's lighting fittings products are guaranteed with high quality and considered to be very competitive at home and overseas. Nevertheless, further development of Guzhen's lighting fitting industry, to a very large extent, depends on a sizable creative, innovative professionals, and more and more new product designs, which are in short at present.