Huizhou, Guangdong province

The city of Huizhou [Photo/VCG]

Major social and economic indicators (2018)

Area: 11,347 sq km
Population: 4,777,000
Gross domestic product (GDP): 410.3 billion yuan ($61.21 billion)
GDP per capita: 85,000 yuan
Value of total merchandise trade: 333.47 billion yuan
Value of export: 220.89 billion yuan
Value of import: 112.58 billion yuan
Industrial structure (% of GDP):
Primary industry (agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery): 4.3% of GDP
Secondary Industry (industrial and construction): 52.7% of GDP
Tertiary industry (service industry): 43% of GDP
Port cargo throughput: 74.53 million tons
Passenger throughput:
Visitors received: 58.93 million passenger trips
Huizhou Pingtan Airport: 957,000 passenger trips

Note: the above figures are provided by relevant Guangdong provincial and municipal government departments.

Overview

Huizhou is located in the southeastern part of Guangdong Province, and is widely known as the "gateway of eastern Guangdong." Huizhou has the second largest area among the mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area. It has rich land resources and a good living environment. It also has ample tourism resources. 

Huizhou is a land of abundance. There are more than 30 kinds of mineral resources underground, such as iron, coal, tungsten, and titanium. Huizhou is also noted for agricultural products including rice, sugarcane, peanuts, lychees, and more. There are up to 840 types of aquatic products. High-quality salt is produced along the coastal areas. Local specialties, including "mei cai" (dried pickled vegetables), glutinous rice wine, tangerines, chicken, herbal oils, calamari, abalones, "South China Sea pearls," and bamboo shoots are popular.

Huizhou boasts a beautiful natural environment. The forest cover rate has reached 62.4 percent. Huizhou has consistently been ranked the top ten in terms of air quality among major cities in the country. Its green development index ranks first in Guangdong province.

Industries

Electronic information and petrochemicals are pillar industries of Huizhou. Together with automotive and equipment manufacturing, as well as clean energy industries, they form the modern industrial system of Huizhou.

Daya Bay Petrochemical Zone has reached an oil refining capacity of 22 million tons per year and ethylene production capacity of 2.2 million tons per year, ranking first in the country in terms of the scale of petrochemical-refining integration. For five consecutive years, it ranked in the top 20 among chemical industrial parks of the country.

Huizhou Zhongkai Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone is the country's first national electronic information industrial base, with relatively complete supply chains of mobile communications, panel display, automotive electronics, LED, and new energy. Huizhou is also the country's production base for women's shoes and is famous for menswear. It is also an important production base for clean energy.

Transport

Regarding transportation infrastructure, Huizhou will accelerate the development of "two ports, three networks." With seaports, airports, high-speed railways, and expressways, a modern comprehensive transport network has gradually taken shape. Since 2013, Xiamen–Shenzhen Railway has been in full operation. There are two stations in Huizhou, namely Huizhou South and Huidong railway stations.

Major development areas

National level:
Daya Bay Economic and Technological Development Zone
Huizhou Zhongkai High-Tech Industrial Development Zone

Provincial level:
Daya Bay Petrochemical Industrial Park
Huizhou Industrial Park
Huiyang Economic Development Zone
Bolou Industry Transfer Industrial Park
Huidong Industry Transfer Industrial Park
Huizhou Industry Transfer Industrial Park

Major platforms:
Pan Daya Bay New District
Tonghu Ecological and Smart Zone
China-South Korea (Huizhou) Industrial Park

Role in the Greater Bay Area

According to the development plan of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Huizhou is positioned as one of the seven key node cities of the area. It is expected to: fully leverage its strength, deepen reform and innovation, enhance its composite strength, and develop itself into a city with distinct characteristics, complementary positioning and strong competitiveness, to enhance coordination in development, strengthen interaction and cooperation with the core cities, drive the development of towns nearby with distinct characteristics, and jointly raise the development quality of the city cluster.

Key words for Huizhou in the Greater Bay Area

Entrepreneurship & employment:

Push forward the development of the Hong Kong-Macao youth entrepreneurial base in Zhongkai of Huizhou.

Food safety:

Develop a high-level production and supply base for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao green agricultural products in Huizhou.

Tourism development:

To explore tourism itineraries involving Macao with neighbouring cities and islands, and explore opening up a Hong Kong-Shenzhen-Huizhou-Shanwei sea travel route.

Information about overview, industry and transport is courtesy of bayarea.gov.hk.