International Metropolis

Beijing is an epitome of modern culture. The four districts of Chaoyang, Fengtai, Shijingshan and Haidian are bringing vitality and activity to the city and are home to various venues of the 29th Olympic Games. With the completion of 11 new Olympic venues and 11 existing venues which need renovating or expanding, more opportunities for the districts to showcase themselves to the world will be created.

 

    These opportunities will be seized upon by businessmen, scientists, engineers and technicians working in the Beijing Central Business District (CBD), Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area (BDA) and Zhongguancun Science Park, which are located in the four districts.

 

    There was a rapid increase in the number of companies coming to the CBD in 2005. Newly built office buildings in the district, including the Fortune Centre, the Spaces, Wanda Plaza, Jianwai SOHO, are playing important roles in attracting new companies, with service companies in the lead. Along with the progress made in the construction of the new home of China Central TV Station (CCTV) and the Beijing TV Station (BTV), more enterprises engaged in advertising and cultural arts came to the area. A cluster of new cultural media companies is forming around the CCTV Tower, Wanda Plaza and the Oriental Media Centre, specializing in movie and television production and other media-related activities. The financial industry in these districts has made rapid progress, and it is already prompting a clustering effect in the CBD. The CBD is a top recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI), one of the biggest in the city. The CBD has already become a citywide and nationwide centralized place for international finance and intermediary services, and it is one of the most active, most spacious areas for business transactions and development.

 

    By the end of 2005, 3,674 legal-person-entities of various industries had come to the CBD, an increase of 1,057 companies over that of 2004. Among these, 2,181 were companies providing services, accounting for 59.36 percent of the total, with the international finance industry in the leading position and the modern services industry as the backbone of the industrial structure. Obvious progress was shown in the CBD's infrastructural construction, industrial development, in its business environment and investment levels and in its urban internationalization and modernization. In 2005, the CBD's realized FDI rose to US$690 million, accounting for 19.5 percent of the city's. Companies contributing to these results, with investments totalling US$656 million, 95 percent of the realized foreign direct investment in the CBD, were: Panasonic; Shell (China); Capitaland Business China; Samsung Air China Life Insurance Company, Limited; the Beijing New Jincheng Property Managing Company, Limited; Itochu Company, Limited; Toyota Automotive Financial Company. In the same year, five of the world's top-500 companies, including Nissan Automotive, Spain Telecommunication, HSBC and Fedex settled in the CBD, bringing the number of world's top-500 enterprises in the CBD to 101.

 

    By the end of 2005, the Beijing Economic and Technological Development Area (BDA) had made rapid progress, including forwarding plans for expansion. Thus, the area's infrastructural and investment environment was optimized, even as it absorbed numerous well-known domestic and foreign companies, bringing 2,363 companies to the area. About 942 of these companies had begun operations, reporting total incomes of 126.7 billion yuan (US$15.84 billion), an increase of 73.4 percent over that of 2004. Their export sales revenues were reported to be 44.46 billion yuan (US$5.56 billion), 1.3 times that of 2004. Profits rose to 8.59 billion (US$1.07 billion), an increase of 30 percent over 2004. Along with the rapid development of the BDA's economy, its high-tech industry is increasing speedily with companies in the fields of technological consultancy and services establishing a good development trend for the whole BDA. In the General Urban Layout for Beijing(2004-2020), Yizhuang, the administrative seat of the BDA, is designated for development as a new town. The BDA's promising opportunities for development are attracting more residents and investors. The extent of its internationalization is becoming more obvious and widespread. Therefore, it is creating many more jobs for this area's residents. Yizhuang's development function is oriented toward the environmental protection industry, and the companies that came to the BDA were "smokeless, "high-tech-oriented firms. Together, they help make the BDA a mature community in which to live and work.

 

Beijing is a cultural centre of China, but it is also the birthplace of the modern Chinese high-tech industry. Its high-tech representative-the Zhongguancun Science Park (Zhongguancun), know as "China's Silicon Valley" is leading the transition from "Made in China" industries to "Created in China," innovative firms. In recent years, a group of new companies engaged in research and development (R&D) appeared in Zhongguancun. Their arrival demonstrated a high potential for development, and they brought new features to Beijing's high-tech sector. In 2002, the Tech Faith Wireless Incorporation was established, with a staff of 14 focused on cellular phone design. In 2005, Tech Faith was listed on the NASDAQ and collected US$142 million as a result. In 2000, with an investment from Haier Group, the Haier (Beijing) IC Design Company, Limited was founded. It developed Aigo-brand digital audio-video chips which quickly seized a 50 percent market share. At a time when the companies in Zhongguancun are becoming increasingly innovative, they are also getting involved in the configuration of international high-end resources, disseminating information and leading other areas nationwide by way of technique transference, creating industrial chains and investing in stock shares.

In addition to celebrated Chinese companies, such as Lenovo, Founder, Vimicro and Capitel, leaders in world scientific development, well-known multinational companies such as Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Siemens, AMD, Hitachi, NEC and Oracle have already established their own R&D groups. It is estimated that 95 of the world's top-500 companies have established 148 branch offices in Zhongguancun, among which 65 are for R&D.

 

Using market-based mechanisms, Zhongguancun is continuing to work to integrate its "knowledge" and "capital," creating immense values while engaging in technological innovation. In 2005, 21,257 companies in Zhongguancun were operational and had generated total incomes of 481.93 billion yuan (US$76.28 billion), an increase of 30 percent more than in the previous year. Of these sales, the export sales component was valued at 73.03 billion yuan (US$9.13 billion), 1.2 times more than in 2004. A profit of 27.02 billion yuan (US$3.38 billion) was realized, increasing 5.8 percent over that of 2004. Zhongguancun realized a sales volume of 457.8 billion yuan (US$57.23 billion), twice as much as that under the city's Tenth Five Year Plan, accounting for one-seventh of the country's high-tech-park total sales volume.

 

By the end of 2005, 28 development zones in Beijing were home to 34,630 companies, 25,723 of which were operational, representing increases of            5,271 and 1,839 companies over that of 2004. The total income of the various development zones rose to 644.84 billion yuan (US$80.6 billion), increasing by 29.9 percent over that of 2004, including an export income of 99.51 billion yuan (US$       12.44 billion), representing an increase of 68.9 percent. Profits totalled 35.72 billion yuan (US$4.47 billion), an increase of 13 percent. Taxes paid rose by 22.2 percent to 26.75 billion yuan (US$3.34 billion).