Handan

Located in the south of North China’s Hebei province, Handan city is nestled between the three provinces of Shanxi, Shandong and Henan and bordered by the Taihang Mountains to the west and the North China Plain to the east. It administers six districts, 11 counties, and one county-level city, with a total of 242 townships (towns, streets) and 5,849 villages (communities). Covering 12,000 square kilometers, it has a registered population of 10.57 million and a permanent population of 9.55 million. It has been named a national historical and cultural city, a national civilized city, a national-level excellent tourist city, a national garden city, a national green model city, a national excellent city for overall control of social order, a national double support model city for nine consecutive years, and a sanitary city of Hebei province. Handan is positioned as a regional center in accordance with both the "Outline Plan of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Integrated Development" and the "Planning for the Central Plains Economic Zone".

Handan has a long history and splendid culture. It has been a home to civilization for more than 8,000 years and a city for over 3,100 years. During those long periods of time a variety of cultures formed, including the Nuwa Culture, Cishan Culture, Zhao Culture, Jian’an Culture of the Wei Dynasty, Grotto Culture of the Beiqi Dynasty, Grand Canal Culture, Dream Culture, Kiln Culture in Cizhou, Taiji Culture, and an idiom-themed culture. These cultures have broad and profound variations of style.

Handan has a superior location and convenient transportation. Situated at the junction of the four provinces of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan, it is an important node connecting east to west, and south to north. A large number of railways, national highways, expressways, and air routes make up its comprehensive three-dimensional transportation. The Handan Airport has opened 22 routes to cities including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Chengdu, Shenyang, and Qingdao, with the third phase of expansion project to be put into use this year. It has a Beijing-Guangzhou railway, a Handan-Changzhou railway, a Han-Jinan railway, and a Handan-Huanghua railway. During the "14th Five-year Plan" period, construction of the projects of the Liaocheng-Handan-Changzhi passenger line, the intercity railway that connects Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Handan, the alternate railway line between Handan and Huangha, and some other urban rail transit projects is planned. The city also has trunk highways, including the Beijing–HongKong–Macao Expressway, the Daqing-Guangzhou Expressway, the Taihang Mountain Expressway, the Qingdao-Lanzhou Expressway, the Hanguan expressway, and the belt highway, in addition to seven national highways and 17 provincial highways; together they form a crisscross trunk highway network. It takes only two hours to travel from Handan to Beijing by railway and to Shanghai by air. The one-hour economic circle covers more than 60 million people in 13 cities in the Central Plains Economic Zone.

Handan boasts rich resources and diverse industries. Known as the "Steel City", "Coal City", the "Granary of North China", and the "Cotton Sea of South Hebei Province", Handan is one of the old key industrial bases in China. Deposits of 29 types of minerals have been discovered in the city, with coal and iron ore reserves reaching 5.38 billion tons and 470 million tons, respectively. It is also well-known for production of coking steam coal and high-grade iron ore. As a dominant production area for five major agricultural products, including wheat, cotton, and corn, it has 477 leading agricultural enterprises above the municipal level, including seven at the national level and 96 at the provincial level.

Handan has 36 of the 41 major industrial categories in the national economy. Adhering to the high-quality economic development led by the new development concept, Handan focuses on its "532" industrial strategy by developing the five competitive industries of high-quality steel, equipment manufacturing, food processing, modern logistics, and cultural tourism, and is cultivating three major strategic emerging industries of new materials, new energy, and biological health and planning two future industries of security and emergency response and electronic information networking. The city is accelerating construction of a modern industrial system.

Handan has beautiful scenery. The splendid history and culture, magnificent natural vistas, and gorgeous folk customs make Handan a beautiful and pleasant tourist attraction. In addition to the world cultural heritage the Grand Canal, Handan has the Wahuang Palace in Shexian County and Guangfu Ancient City, two 5A-level scenic spots, and 15 4A-level scenic spots such as Congtai Park, Chaoyanggou scenic spot in Wu'an, Jingniang Lake, East Taihang scenic area, and Taihang Wuzhi Mountain in Shexian County. It also has two national scenic spots (Fengfeng Xiangtang Mountain and Wahuang Palace in Shexian County), two national forest parks (Wu'an National Forest Park and Fengfeng Xiangtang Mountain), five national water conservancy scenic areas (including Dongwushi Reservoir in Cixian County), three national wetland parks including that on the Fengfeng Fuyang River, five Chinese historical and cultural towns such as Boyan Town in Wu'an, seven Chinese historical and cultural villages (including Huatuo Village in Cixian County), 40 national key cultural relics protection units (including Zhao State site), and the Wu'an National Geopark and Qingyazhai national nature reserve. The city has welcomed more than 80 million Chinese and foreign tourists.

Handan has a superior business environment. It has won many titles and awards for its innovative performance, outstanding services of open government, good financial environment, overseas influence, and top business environment. More than 50 Fortune 500 companies such as Wal-Mart in the United States and Saint-Gobain in France have settled in the city. To date Handan has established economic and trade cooperation relationships with more than 130 countries and regions.