Currently, a multi-level social security system has been initially formed in Guangzhou(Canton). The numbers of urban and rural citizens who are covered by pension insurance, unemployment insurance, medical care, and minimum subsistence allowances are increasing yearly.

Guangzhou(Canton) has shut down rock quarries and replaced them with green lands. It has carried out an over-bridge greening project, upgraded the city’s green project, and improved the parks’ eco-system, forming a grid-shaped multi-dimensional eco-structure.

To improve the air quality, Guangzhou(Canton) has put effective controls on the emission of sulfur dioxide. It has transferred the polluting enterprises in the downtown area to its suburbs according to the policy of “phase out the secondary industry and promote the tertiary industry”. Guangzhou(Canton) has adopted the National Standard III since Sept 1, 2006. It has pushed forward the “gas instead of oil” program in the catering and service industries, effectively curbing air pollution from the source.

The Guangzhou Government has made great efforts to control the pollution of the Pearl River and inland rivers. Its sewage handling capacity grew from 580,000 tons/day in 2001 to 1.533 million tons/day in 2005. The Swimming across the Pearl River Campaign, which has been suspended for decades, was re-launched on July 12, 2006. A dream has finally been realized.

At the World Conference on Water in 2006, Guangzhou(Canton) was awarded China’s Best Living Environment Prize ( Demo-city for water management) , a testimony to the years of efforts building an “eco-friendly city” and a “green Guangzhou”.

City authorities have also launched a program to improve traffic conditions in major nodes of central urban area. Moreover, the construction of the four new major sewage treatment systems and domestic garbage treatment facilities is progressing rapidly.

Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport

On August 5, 2004, the new Baiyun International Airport was officially put into service. As the mainland’s first large-scale modernized airport built with hub airport concepts and one of China’s top three hub airports, the Baiyun Airport can accommodate the world’s largest airplane taking off or landing at full

capacity. It is already one of the world’s busiest airports.

Expressways and Throughways

City authorities are accelerating the development of an urban transportation network and a system of high-grade expressways linking Guangzhou(Canton) to the cluster of cities in the Pearl River Delta. A throughway ring network is emerging, comprised of four rings, 15 radial lines, and eight approach roads. City authorities are making strong efforts to improve the regional highway structure, step up the renovation and construction of existing arterial roads, and implementation of the program to improve urban transportation systems.

Ports

City authorities are planning a new port at Nansha, which will shorten the distance between the city center and its nearest seaport by 112 km and accelerate the city’s strategic transformation from a river port with

limitations to a seaport with all modern facilities. A number of modern terminals for international logistics, including 56 standard berths, are also planned for Nansha Port.

Road Development

Elevated roads: The eastbound Xiaobei and westbound Dabei Elevated Roads above Huanshi Road, the Renmin Elevated Road, and Liu Ersan Elevated Road are effective in diverting vehicular traffic to related throughways, alleviating transportation pressure on nearby roads.

River-Spanning Bridges: Guangzhou(Canton) has 15 bridges spanning the Pearl River, linking together the northern and southern areas of the city.

Inner Ring Road: The inner ring road located in the city center is Guangzhou(Canton)’s largest municipal infrastructure project after Metro Line 1, and provides an elevated road above the city’s major roads, linked to the expressway that passes around the city through seven approach roads. It circles the city

center and spans seven districts, with 12 flyovers and 11 ramps. It has greatly improved the city’s traffic conditions.

Under-river Tunnels: In the near future Guangzhou(Canton) will have a total of six tunnels connecting the two banks of Pearl River. One of the six tunnels, the Zhujiang Tunnel, is already in service; another two, the Luntou-Bio Island Tunnel and Bio Island-HEMC (Higher Education Mega Center) Tunnel, are under construction; three more are being planned.

Subway

Guangzhou(Canton) Metro Lines 1, 2, 3 and 4 are in operation, and construction of additional lines is underway. By the time the Asian Games open in 2010, Guangzhou(Canton) will have nine metro lines, bringing most suburban residential communities and satellite towns (excluding Nansha) with a population of more than half a million to within a 30-minute ride of the city center. The metro lines will also be connected to the Guangzhou(Canton)-Foshan intercity track transportation system, bringing Foshan, Donguang and other neighboring cities within an hour’s ride from Guangzhou(Canton).

Parks

Guangzhou(Canton) has nearly 200 parks, most of which are open to the public for free or with low admission prices.

Agriculture

Taking "high quality, high yield and high efficiency, professional, commercial and social development" as working principles, Guangzhou(Canton)’s agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, sideline production and fishery have all been developing rapidly. Township enterprises have also developed rapidly becoming a pillar of the rural economy With Guangzhou(Canton)’s agriculture changing to modern urban agriculture.

Industry

Guangzhou(Canton) is an important industrial base in China and a comprehensive industrial manufacturing center of South China. Through years of development the city has established itself as an export-oriented modern industrial system with a complete range of specialties, a relatively developed light industry, and a heavy industry of certain scale. It boasts comprehensive capabilities, a highly developed scientific research capability and the ability to develop new products rapidly. Of China’s 40 major categories of industrial sectors, Guangzhou(Canton) has 34. Industry plays an important role in the city’s contribution to the national economy. This added value accounts for more than one third of the city’s GDP. The industrial output value of the three pillar industries–Automobile manufacturing, electronic communications and petrochemical industries–accounts for about one-third of the city’s industrial output value. With the introduction of advanced technology and the upgrade of light textiles, food, medicine, building materials and other traditional industries, many new industries and high-tech industries represented by electronic communications, electrical appliances, fine chemical industries and petrochemical products are developing rapidly.

Tertiary Industry

Guangzhou(Canton) is the largest commercial and communications center in South China. The tertiary industry sector has been developing so rapidly that it is being called "industrialized", having many levels, offering high-quality services, and presenting local color. At present, Guangzhou(Canton)’s tertiary industry has developed into such an important industrial structure including the communications and transportation industries, commerce and trade, social services and tourism, the real estate industry, and the financial and insurance industries are classed as the main industries in the area.

Foreign trade

With a long history, and being China’s earliest foreign trading port, Guangzhou(Canton) has a quite important position in the world. From the 1950s to now, the world-renowned Chinese Export Commodities Fair has been held in Guangzhou(Canton). It won the title of "China’s First Exhibition ", for it has the largest scale, the longest exhibiting time, the highest grade of participants and the largest turnover of all fairs in China. In 2007, with the important change in China’s foreign trade strategy, the Chinese Export Commodities Fair was renamed the China Import and Export Commodity Fair, and for the first time an import gallery was set up.

In four consecutive years from 2003 to 2006, every year, Guangzhou(Canton)’s Foreign Trade realized an increase of 10 billion dollars, totaling 63.767 billion U.S. dollars in 2006. As of June 2009, among the world’s top 500 multinational enterprises, 170 have come to Guangzhou(Canton) for investment with 329 foreign direct investment enterprises have been established and with a total investment of 11.244 billion U.S. dollars. Most multinational companies take Guangzhou(Canton) as part of its regional processing and manufacturing bases in their global strategy. Some enterprises have set up research and development centers and as well as maintenance test centers in Guangzhou(Canton).

In the past, Guangzhou(Canton)’s major export commodities were textile products and primary products but now, with industrial upgrading, the export product structure has changed. Guangzhou(Canton)’s major export products now also include high-end manufacturing products, high-tech products, biotechnology, aerospace technology, materials products, software, automobiles etc. Its major export markets are the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the United States, the EU, Japan, and ASEAN.

Commerce

Guangzhou(Canton) owns lots of commercial outlets selling a variety of commodities and has smooth, well-developed distribution channels. The City has more than 100,000 commercial outlets, ranking in first place among the top 10 Chinese cities. Large shopping malls, large storage-on-demand wholesale and retail centers, bazaars and other types of outlets diversify its commercial network.

Tourism

Guangzhou(Canton) has a "multi-purpose, multi-level, complete-service" tourism industry integrating travel service, catering, accommodation, shopping and entertainment. It is a city with more than 2,200 years of history and culture, as well as being a thoroughly modern international metropolis. Its historical relics, scenery, convenient traffic, comfortable shopping environment and first-class services are bound to attract tourists from all over the world. People say "Guangzhou(Canton) is a gourmet paradise" for here you can find local Guangdong style food, featuring rich color, smell, taste and form, as well as other Chinese and foreign foods. Guangzhou(Canton) also has a number of five-star hotels and many well-regarded guesthouses, hotels of different grades and other types of accommodations. The "One Day Tour" has become a distinctive mark of Guangzhou(Canton).

Finance

As a regional financial center, the workings of Guangzhou(Canton)’s financial system are being improved. Financial networks are developing quickly. Many domestic and foreign financial institutions take Guangzhou(Canton) as their first choices among places for business expantion. Banks, rural cooperative financial institutions, securities companies and other financial institutions are developing rapidly. Foreign financial institutions have set up more than 60 branches in Guangzhou(Canton). More than 2,800 various financial outlets are distributed in the city. Financial businesses have a wide coverage, showing the important position of Guangzhou(Canton) in the domestic financial structure of China. Guangzhou(Canton) is both a regional financial hub and a regional financial management and control center.

Information Industry

With perfect transportation and telecommunication infrastructures. Guangzhou(Canton) is one of the top three Communication Hubs, top three Internet Core Nodes, top three Network Access Points and top three Internet Gateways in China.

As one of Guangzhou(Canton)’s three pillar industries, information industry is continually expanding, keeping pace with the sound development tendencies of clusterization, internationalization and high quality levels. In 2007, Guangzhou(Canton)’s information industry realized an added value of RMB 53 billion, accounting for 7.52% of Guangzhou(Canton)’s GDP. The information service industry is developing at a high speed with total revenues in the sector in Guangzhou(Canton) totaling RMB 70 billion, with an added value of about RMB 36 billion, and accounting for 68% of the added value of the information industry category and about 5% of the GDP.

In 2008, the National Development and Reform Commission granted Guangzhou(Canton) the honor of being named a National Information Industrial Base.

It had a registered population of 7.7348 million in 2007. There were approximately 3.91 million migrants by the end of 2006. The downtown population density is 1627 people per square kilometers.

According to rough statistics, the permanent foreign residents in Guangzhou(Canton) total over 50,000, which would increase with the coming years. The temporary foreign residence registrations reached nearly 900,000, involving over 180 countries and regions.

There are 160,000 people of 52 minority ethnic groups in Guangzhou. The Hui and Man ethnic groups have been living in Guangzhou(Canton) generation after generation.