Zhuhai

Zhuhai 珠海
—  Prefecture-level city  —
珠海市
Location of Zhuhai City in Guangdong
Zhuhai Location in China
Coordinates: 22°16′37″N 113°34′04″E / 22.27694°N 113.56778°E / 22.27694; 113.56778Coordinates: 22°16′37″N 113°34′04″E / 22.27694°N 113.56778°E / 22.27694; 113.56778
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Guangdong
Government
– CPC Committee Secretary	Gan Lin (甘霖)
– Mayor	Zhong Shijian (钟世坚)
Area
– Total	1,653 km2 (638.2 sq mi)
– Water	690 km2 (266.4 sq mi)
Population (2010)
– Total	1,560,229
– Density	943.9/km2 (2,444.6/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Postal code	519000
Area code(s)	756
License plate prefixes	粤C
GDP
- Total	¥ 99.2 billion (2008)
- Per capita	¥ 67,591 (2008)
Website	http://www.zhuhai.gov.cn/ (Chinese)

Zhuhai
Chinese	珠海
Literal meaning	Pearl Sea
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Zhūhǎi Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping Zyu1 hoi2

Zhuhai (Chinese: 珠海) is a prefecture-level city on the southern coast of Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in the Pearl River Delta, Zhuhai borders Jiangmen to the northwest, Zhongshan to the north, and Macau to the south. Zhuhai was one of the original Special Economic Zones established in the 1980s. Zhuhai is also one of China's premier tourist destinations, being called the Chinese Riviera.

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Zhuhai administers 3 county-level divisions and 3 special economic districts, all of which are districts.

Map	#	Name	Hanzi	Hanyu Pinyin	Population (2003 est.)	Area (km²)	Density (/km²)
	City Proper
	1	Xiangzhou District	香洲区	Xiāngzhōu Qū	400,000	476	840
	Suburban
	2	Doumen District	斗门区	Dǒumén Qū	310,000	801	387
	3	Jinwan District	金湾区	Jīnwān Qū	110,000	376	293

• Special economic districts
  • Hengqin New Area (横琴新区)
  • Zhuhai National Hi-Tech Industrial Development District (珠海国家高新技术产业开发区)
  • Wanshan Marine Development Experimental Zone (万山海洋开发试验区)

Geography

Zhuhai borders the Macau Special Administrative Region (north and west), and 140 km southwest of Guangzhou. Its territory counts 146 islands and a coastline of 690 km.

The islands within the prefecture-level city of Zhuhai include a number of near-shore islands, often connected to the mainland by bridges or causeways (such as Hengqin, Qi'ao, or Yeli Islands), as well as some islands further away in the Pearl River estuary (such as the Nei Lingding Island) or the open South China Sea (the Wanshan Archipelago). Some of the latter are actually geographically closer to Hong Kong than to the Zhuhai mainland.

Zhuhai has a humid subtropical climate affected by the East Asian Monsoon (Koppen classification Cwa) and moderated by the South China Sea, with long, hot and humid summers with frequent thunderstorms, and short, mild and dry winters. Average highs in January and July are 18°C (65°F) and 32°C (90°F) respectively. It never snows and a frost has never been recorded in the city centre. Conversely, extreme heat waves do not occur as they do further inland.

Climate data for Macau
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	17.7 (63.9)	17.7 (63.9)	20.7 (69.3)	24.5 (76.1)	28.1 (82.6)	30.3 (86.5)	31.5 (88.7)	31.2 (88.2)	30.0 (86.0)	27.4 (81.3)	23.4 (74.1)	19.6 (67.3)	25.2
Average low °C (°F)	12.2 (54.0)	13.1 (55.6)	16.2 (61.2)	20.2 (68.4)	23.6 (74.5)	25.7 (78.3)	26.3 (79.3)	26.0 (78.8)	24.9 (76.8)	22.3 (72.1)	17.8 (64.0)	13.8 (56.8)	20.2
Rainfall mm (inches)	32.4 (1.276)	58.8 (2.315)	82.5 (3.248)	217.4 (8.559)	361.9 (14.248)	339.7 (13.374)	289.8 (11.409)	351.6 (13.843)	194.1 (7.642)	116.9 (4.602)	42.6 (1.677)	35.2 (1.386)	2,122.9 (83.579)
% humidity	74.3	80.6	84.9	86.2	85.6	84.4	82.2	82.5	79.0	73.4	69.3	68.8	79.3
Avg. rainy days (≥ 0.1 mm)	6	10	12	12	15	17	16	16	13	7	5	4	133
Sunshine hours	132.4	81.8	75.9	87.8	138.4	168.2	226.2	194.7	182.2	195.0	177.6	167.6	1,827.8
Source: SMG [1]

Economy

Gongbei Road

Zhuhai became a city in 1979, a year before it was named as one of the first Special Economic Zones (SEZ). The neighboring city of Shenzhen became the first Special Economic Zones of the Special Economy Zone in 1978. The implementation of this policy is logical as Zhuhai is located on the strategic position facing Macau, in the identical fashion by which Shenzhen faces Hong Kong. This enabled the Chinese Central Government to open another "window" in front of Macau. Even though the city is situated at the southern end of the Pearl River Delta area, Zhuhai acts as one of the central cities in the Pearl River Delta according to the new general urban plan approved by the State Council. The implementation of Special Economy Zone means that the city will grow as a powerful modern port city, science and education city, scenic and tourism city, and as a regional hub for transportation.

The outstanding geographic location, a wide range of supporting infrastructure and a deep-water port serve as a major attraction for foreign capital. Utilized foreign investment reached US$ 10.344 billion in 2008. Among the top 500 enterprises worldwide, 19 of them have investment projects in Zhuhai such as ExxonMobil, British Petroleum, Siemens, Carrefour and Matsushita. Hong Kong is the largest foreign investor in Zhuhai accounting for 22% of total utilized foreign investment in 2002.

Manufacturing industries

Entrance of the Zhuhai Free Trade Zone

Industrial development in Zhuhai focuses on 5 new high-tech and heavy industries including electronics, computer software, biotechnology and pharmacy, machinery and equipment as well as petrochemical industries. Aiming to strengthen the existing industrial base as well as to provide a better environment for the development of new high-tech industries, the local government has taken the initiative in developing five economic zones:

• Zhuhai High-Tech Industrial Development Zone

As one of the 4 earliest Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in China, Zhuhai SEZ was set up in the year 1980 and granted with a local legislative right. Zhuhai hi-tech zone is located in the north of Zhuhai, which is very close to downtown. Furthermore, technological resources are centralized in our zone; there is also a huge development in hi-tech industries which is leading by software and IC industries. Hi-tech zone is the show room where Zhuhai implements the scientific development.^[2]

• Zhuhai Free Trade Zone

Zhuhai Free Trade Zone (Zhuhai FTZ) was founded in 1996 with the State Council’s approval, occupying 3 square kilometers. Zhuhai FTZ Administrative Committee was set up in June 1997. By the end of 2006, there had been over 200 companies registered in the Free Trade Zone, including more than 150 foreign-funded enterprises, and the total investment amount was 1 billion US dollars. Industries encouraged in the zone includes Electronics Assembly & Manufacturing, Telecommunications Equipment, Building/Construction Materials, Instruments & Industrial Equipment Production, Medical Equipment and Supplies, Raw Material Processing, Research and Development, Shipping/Warehousing/Logistics, Heavy Industry.^[3]

• Harbour industrial zone (provincial level)
• Wanshan ocean development testing zone (provincial level)
• Heng Qin economic development zone (provincial level)

Transportation

Zhuhai Road

Air

Zhuhai Sanzao Airport (IATA: ZGSD, ICAO: ZUH) is located in Jinwan District.

Land

At present, there is an expressway linking Zhuhai and Foshan. Heavy traffic between Zhuhai and Macau has led to the construction of a new cross-border corridor, the Lotus Bridge, built in November 1999 to divert traffic away from the congested Gongbei Port of Entry. As part of the Pearl River Delta integration, a Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is projected.

Zhuhai presently lacks a railway connection, but, as of 2009, construction is under way on two rail projects: Guangzhou-Zhuhai Railway (which will be used primarily for freight transportation), and Guangzhou-Zhuhai Intercity Mass Rapid Transit. The first stage of this MRT opened on January 7, 2011 between Guangzhou South Station and Zhuhai North (also known as Jinding Station). Travel time is 49 minutes.

Sea

An attractive and clean environment and good deep-port condition are advantages of Zhuhai. Endowed by a long coastline, Zhuhai is the only city on the western Pearl River Delta with natural deep-water ports.

Zhuhai has two international seaports: Jiuzhou (九州港) and Gaolan (高蘭港). Gaolan Port is one of the leading ports in Guangdong province, while Jiuzhou Port focuses on heavy passenger sea transport.

Chu Kong Passenger Transport operates a ferry service between Zhuhai's Jiuzhou Port, Hong Kong and Shekou (蛇口,）which is the Shenzhen ferry port. A service between Jiuzhou Port and Hong Kong International Airport for air passengers using the airport began on 10 July 2007.^[4]

Tourism

Picturesque fishing harbor Xiangzhou, with the forested Yeli Island in the background

Zhuhai's attractive environment and surrounding landscapes help its reputation within China as a garden city and its quality of life. In 2002, the city attracted 1.3 million international tourists and 3.64 million domestic tourists. Following Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province, Zhuhai has the largest amount of foreign tourism, which amounted to US$0.5 billion in 2002.

Realizing the substantial benefits brought by tourism, the local government is constantly improving the existing tourist spots and exploring new tourist resources. The local government is developing new tourist spots such as Hengqin (橫琴島), Dong'ao (東澳), Hebao (荷包), Qi'ao (淇澳島) and Yeli (野狸).

Highlights

• The New Yuan Ming Palace (圓明新園) is a park of 1.39 km², including an 80,000 m² lake. It features a partial reconstruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, destroyed in 1860 by French and British troops during the second Opium War, which was never rebuilt on its original site.^[5]

• 

  The New Yuan Ming Palace in Zhuhai

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  The New Yuan Ming Palace in Zhuhai

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  The New Yuan Ming Palace in Zhuhai

• 

  The New Yuan Ming Palace in Zhuhai

Education

Strategic development

Developing a university park is Zhuhai's strategy to strengthen its high-tech and IT industries. Compared with Beijing and Shanghai, Zhuhai and other cities in Guangdong province face a serious shortage of talent and professionals, making this goal difficult. The local government is taking major initiatives to set up a university park with an area of 20 km², the only one in the western Pearl River Delta.

Colleges and universities

• Zhuhai College of Jinan University
• Beijing Normal University，Zhuhai
• Zhuhai College of Beijing Institute of Technology
• Zhuhai Campus of Sun Yat-Sen University
• Zhuhai College of Jilin University
• United International College

A number of other colleges and universities are also located in or near Zhuhai. Beijing Normal University Zhuhai Campus was created as a new model university in China.Besides its high quality of education，it is more international than general universities in China.Many students here prepare to go abroad to finish their junior and senior years.

Sports facilities

Zhuhai is the first city in China to have constructed a motor racing circuit. The Zhuhai International Circuit was built in 1996 and is located at Jinding, near the border to Zhongshan.

ZIC has held the BPR Global GT Endurance Series in 1996, the FIA GT Championship in 1997, 1999, 2004 and 2005. It hosted the championship's 2007 opening round on 24th and 25 March.

ZIC had planned to host a round of the Champ Car World Series on 20 May 2007, but agreement was not reached.

ZIC held an A1GP race in 2007 for the first time in series' history.

ZIC became the first venue in China to host the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup on 7 November 2010 when the 2010 1000 km of Zhuhai was staged.

Residential environment

Zhuhai's international accolades include "the Best Model of International Residential Environment Improvement" awarded by the United Nations.^{[citation needed]}

Sister city

Zhuhai is a sister city of:

• Surrey, British Columbia,^[6] Canada
• Castelo Branco, Portugal
• Redwood City, California,^[7] United States
• Kupang, Indonesia
• Atami, Japan
• Rio Branco, Brazil
• Suwon, South Korea
• Gävle, Sweden

See also

• Hengqin, an offshore island administered by Zhuhai.
• Wanshan Qundao, 104 island archipelago in the South China Sea
• Meizu, a famous portable device company located in Zhuhai

References

1. ^ "100 Years of Macao Climate". http://www.smg.gov.mo/www/smg/centenary2/index_four.htm. Retrieved 2011-02-16. 
2. ^ RightSite.asia | Zhuhai High-Tech Industrial Zone
3. ^ RightSite.asia | Zhuhai Free Trade Zone
4. ^ http://www.news.gov.hk/en/category/infrastructureandlogistics/070710/html/070710en06002.htm
5. ^ New Yuanming Palace at travelchinaguide.com
6. ^ "Surrey's Sister Cities". http://www.surrey.ca/Doing+Business/Business+Development/Community+Overview+-+New+Pages/Surreys+Sister+Cities.htm. Retrieved 2008-12-02. ^{[dead link]}
7. ^ "Redwood City's Sister Cities". http://www.redwoodcity.org/manager/initiatives/sistercities.html. 

External links

• Government website of Zhuhai (available in Chinese and English)
• Zhuhai to Hong Kong Ferry Schedule
• Ferry map with connections between Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong, HKIA, KH Kowloon, and Macao