GEOGRAPHY

    Jimei District is one of the seven districts under the administration of Xiamen. It is composed of Jimei, Qiaoying Neibourhood, and two towns, namely Guankou and Houxi. The district has a total area of 227 square kilometres and a population of 150,000 people. Linked to the island of Xiamen by Xiamen Bridge, Jimei is an important gateway to the Xiamen Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
    In December 1992, the district received approval by the State Council to build itself into a special investment zone for Taiwanese business people. Since then, Jimei has been a showcase for China’s economic reform, enjoying the prefer-ential policies granted to a Special Economic Zone.
    Jimei District is a well–known hometown for oversea Chinese. More than 60,000 overseas Chinese have their origins here. It is also a famous tourist resort, with beautiful scenery and rich cultural relics. Among places of historical and cultural interests are the former residence of Mr.Tan Kah-Kee, the Turtle Garden, the Returnees Garden, the Li Lin Park, and the Dragon Boat Lake, the Crocodile Park, and the Wanbaoshan Tourist Orchard. The School Village, built in the unique Southern Fujian architectural style, is another tourist attraction. Every year Jimei receives approximately one million Tourists.
    Jimei is a center of learning in Xiamen. The Jimei School Village, founded by the renowned patriot Mr.Tan Kah-kee, has had a long history of 90 years. It is well-known at home and abroad for its tradition of fine education, and for its ex-cellent facilities. Located in the Village are kindergartens, primary schools, middles schools, and colleges. The establishment of Jimei University, (composed of 15 colleges, embracing 8 disciplines and 34 sections) together with the setting up of the Chinese College of the Overseas University, has marked the area as one brimming with educ-ational talent. The district is also noted for its cultural strength. It offers several cultural and entertainment facilities, such as the Culture Centre, Cinema, Stadium, Library and Cultural Plaza.
    The prevailing cultural atmosphere, combined with its agreeable social conditions, has brought about a new image. Over the years, Jimei has been awarded, by both the Provincial and the Municipal authorities, the title of “A District with Model Culture and Ethics”.
    In the course of building their hometown into a special investment zone for the Taiwanese, the Jimei people have exerted every effort , taking as their motto: Be Open-minded, Reliable, Competitive, Pioneering and Committed. Over the past ten years, they have made remarkable progress, both in economic and social development. Pri-mary industry has been optimized, secondary industry consolidated and tertiary industry is becoming a hot spot for investment. By the end of 2001,379 foreign investment projects had been introduced, involving the use of US $1.116 billion of contractual foreign capital, and 200 foreign enterprises had set up their business.
    The district’s GDP totaled RMB2.359 billion, with per capita GDP reching RMB23,276, an increase to the factor of 11compared with a decade ago. Jimei has now completed its historical transition from a close, traditional agricultural economy to an open, foreign-oriented Economy with industry as its mainstay.
    It has been Jimei’s long-term development goal to accelerate its process of industrialization, urbanization, and modernization, so as to build itself into a modern light industrial district as well as a tourist resort with strong cultural appeal and seaside characteristics. The Jimei people are now striving for the fulfillment of their plan, designed to have a framework characterized by One Centre, (the Jimei town center), Two Lines (Donghai seashore for tourism and the tourist zone along the Xinglin Bay) and Four Areas (the developed urban area within the Jimei School Village, the Donghai area noted for cultural and educational strength, the area in the north specializing in development of science, technology and industry, and the Xinglin education Area).