Country 2012
China
Beijing, Taiwan, Hong Kong
China’s economy is huge and still expanding rapidly. The past years, the country’s GDP has been maintaining a high growth rate of around 8%. China has already become world’s second biggest economy (chasing the United States) and most analysts predict China will take over this top position this century.
However, this wealth is unequally divided among the Chinese population. Especially cities grow very rapidly, whereas rural China remains very poor. The per capita income of China is only about 2.000 dollars, which is fairly poor against global standards.
Outsourcing
China’s mainland and Beijing
China’s large economic growth is largely due to outsourcing of business activities to China. In 1980, China opened its market to foreign investors. Mainly the production activities have been outsourced to this company. Since then, many companies worldwide have relocated some of their business to China. A lot of companies exploit the coastal location of Beijing, by outsourcing its activities to this city and its region. Also, Hong Kong has outsourced a lot of production to the mainland of China, often referred to as “one of the largest cases of increased outsourcing in world history”.
Taiwan
Because of its export activities, the Taiwanese economy is expected to grow by more than 10 percent this year. Even during the crisis, Taiwan realises this high growth rate by switching its target markets from the U.S. and Europe to emerging economies that include Brazil, Southeast Asia, Russia, the Middle East and the mainland of China.
Hong Kong
As a major gateway to trade in Asia, Hong Kong ranks second in the world (behind Singapore) for its port throughput and international air freight. Around the south-eastern city of Guangzhou, near Hong Kong, an entirely new industrial park built around Shenzhen is now home to hundreds of high-technology factories and assembly facilities designed around the outsourcing needs of foreign firms.
Culture
Beijing
Undoubtedly, Beijing is the cultural centre of China. The city remains an epicentre of tradition with the treasures of nearly 2,000 years as the imperial capital still on view—in the famed Forbidden City and in the city's lush pavilions and gardens. Also, the location of Beijing provides a good opportunity to visit the Chinese Wall. Beijing is also famous for its hutongs: traditional Chinese areas with small streets and alleys. Furthermore, Beijing was the proud hosting city of the Olympics of 2008.
Taiwan
Taiwan provides a large variety of beautiful nature, which can be explored easily because of its good infrastructure. As an island, Taiwan has beautiful coastline views and the inland is filled with mountainous scenes. Although the island has been affected by Western influences, Taiwan offers lots of culture and history, including temples and Dutch VOC ship wrecks.
Hong Kong
Once a glittering jewel of the British Empire's claim to the East, Hong Kong continues to sparkle as the world's fifth most global city. Situated on an island and surrounded by a beautiful environment, this city has developed itself into this world city where Asian culture meets Western culture. The skyline is very impressive, especially at night time when neon signs enlighten this lively city.
China in terms of numbers
Official name of mainland China: People’s Republic of China (PRC) (which excludes Taiwan)
Capital: Beijing
Language: Chinese (various dialects, mainly Mandarin)
Population: 1.339 billion
Surface area: 9.640.011 km2
Time: UTC/GMT +8 hours
National GDP (in 2010, excluding Taiwan): 5.878.629 million US $
Sources
http://www.economywatch.com/world_economy/china/
http://www.rau.ro/intranet/Aer/2005/9505/95051673.pdf
http://atkearney.com/index.php/Publications/global-cities-index.html
