©ERINA

Location: 128.02 - 131.18 degrees east, 43.24 - 45.59 degrees north Area: 40,583 km2 Population: 2.6928 million (2000) Education: 3 universities: Mudanjiang University, Mudanjiang Medical College, Mudanjiang Teachers' College Ethnic groups: Ethnic groups include Han, Manchu and Korean.

	GDP	$2.309 billion (1999), $2.508 billion (2000)
	Per capita GDP	$866.24(1999), $934.48(2000)
	GDP growth rate	8.6%(1999), 10.2%(2000)
	Industrial structure (share of GDP):	12.9: 39.8: 47.2 (1999), 14.0: 42.8: 43.2 (2000)
	Fixed asset investment	$368 million (1999), $511 million (2000)
	Foreign trade (2000)	Exports: $48.97 million Imports: 76.877 million Total Exports & Imports: 125.877 million Exports to & Imports from Japan: 24.87 million Exports to Japan: 21.73 million Imports from Japan: 3.14 million
	Major exports
	Communications equipment and materials, plant equipment, linen, miscellaneous daily goods
	Major Imports
	Raw materials for the chemical and technological industries, plant equipment, communications equipment and materials, automobiles, electric trains, motorbikes and components
	Foreign Investment
	Number of Contracts Value of Contracts (million dollars) 1999 34 2000 48 82.79 (Contracts with Japan) 6 0.93

Position Within Heilongjiang Province (2000)
	Share of total area:	8.94%
	Share of population:	7.07%
	Share of total GDP:	6.38%

	Major industries
	Chemical engineering, cement, paper manufacturing, timber processing
	Major companies
	Mudanjiang Petrochemical Group, Mudanjiang Cement Group, Mudanjiang Hengfeng Paper, Hualin Tyre, Dayu Paper Co.Ltd.
	Industrial zones
	Suifenhe Sino-Russian Trade Zone: Suifenhe was approved as an open city on the border in 1992 by the State Council and the Suifenhe Sino-Russian Common Market and Trade Zone was established in June 1996 by the governments of China and Russia. Suifenhe is located in the central belt of the Northeast Asia Economic Subregion; its transport infrastructure, such as railways and roads, has been developed, with one railway line and two roads running as far as Russia, and it is just 210 km to Vladivostok, the biggest port in the Russian Far East. It is possible to reach Japan and the ROK directly by means of overland and marine transport from Suifenhe customs office (cuatoms)via Vladivostok or Nakhodka. In 2000, the total value of exports from and imports to Suifenhe reached $1.02 billion, accounting for 34.1% of Heilongjiang Province's total external trade. Of this, $700 million (a 16% rise) was small-scale border trade; 37 external technological cooperation agreements were implemented, with contracts worth a total of $25.68 million. Contracts for the dispatch of 900 staff were completed; 780,000 people passed through the customs checkpoint (a rise of 48.3%), as well as 3.16 million tons of cargo (an increase of a million tons). Income from the tourism industry reached $31.1 million, a rise of 11.1% on the previous year. In 2000, Suifenhe invested RMB 100 million in completing the second phase of renovation work on the railway customs checkpoint and the railway station, expanded the new railway customs station and the road customs checkpoint, and further improved facilities at the Suifenhe customs office.

	Sister cities
	Otsu (Japan, 1984) Jyvaskyla (Finland, 1987) Ussuriysk (Russia, 1993)

	International routes
	Mudanjiang - Vladivostok (Wed, Sat)
	Major domestic routes
	Mudanjiang - Beijing: at least one flight each day Mudanjiang - Shanghai: 3 flights per week (Mon, Thurs, Sat) Mudanjiang - Shenyang: 6 flights per week (Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun) Mudanjiang - Guangzhou: 3 flights per week (Mon, Thurs, Sat) Mudanjiang - Qingdao: 3 flights per week (Tues, Fri, Sun) Mudanjiang - Yantai: 3 flights per week (Mon, Wed, Sat)
	Rail routes
	Mudanjiang - Beijing Mudanjiang - Jinan Mudanjiang - Dalian Mudanjiang - Jilin

Covering an area of 40,600 km2, Mudanjiang is located in the southeast of Heilongjiang Province and has a population of 2.68 million. At present, it has jurisdiction over the four cities of Hailin, Ning'an, Suifenhe and Mulin, and the counties of Linkou and Dongning, and is the governmental, economic, cultural and transport hub of southeastern Heilongjiang. Mudanjiang has abundant mineral resources. Of the 78 types of mineral that have already been discovered there, 22 are currently being exploited. These include coal reserves totaling 1.6 billion tons, granite reserves totaling 2.7 billion m3, and graphite reserves of 1.2 billion tons, so the area occupies an important position both within the province and the country as a whole. Some products are already being sold to Japan, the ROK and countries in Southeast Asia. Mudanjiang is home to one of Heilongjiang's three largest forests. At present, the total forest area of Mudanjiang is 3.02 million hectares, which covers 68% of the total area of the city, and per capita forest area is 12 times larger than the figure for the country as a whole and 3 times larger than the figure for the province. Mudan Peak - a state-designated nature reserve - is another of Mudanjiang's famous scenic attractions. This forest park, which covers an area of 2,500 hectares and is crammed with the characteristic features of primeval forest, was protected 300 years ago as a hunting ground of the Qing emperors. Currently, as well as being a hub for scientific study, this abundantly verdant cornucopia is a summer retreat for tourists from within the country and overseas. Mudanjiang is the main transport hub of southeastern Heilongjiang. Within the city are the Harbin-Suifenhe, Mudanjiang-Jamusi and Mudanjiang-Tumen railway lines, national roads 301 and 201 and the Fangzheng-Hulin and Jixi-Tumen county roads, and international road freight transport links with Ussuriysk in Russia have been opened in full. Mudanjiang Airport has attained the level of class two national airport and has 10 domestic routes to such places as Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Dalian and Tianjin, as well as one international route. Mudanjiang was the first Chinese border city to be opened up, and of the six cities and counties that fall under its jurisdiction, three have sea links with Russia and four have national class one customs offices. The city is an important transport node for Heilongjiang, with transport links running as far as Vladivostok to the east and the Tumen River in the south, and occupies a position of paramount importance in Northeast Asia's international economic and trade corridors. In order to further bring to bear Mudanjiang's significant power in the Northeast Asia Economic Subregion, the city government has adopted a policy of simultaneously conducting import and export business, while also forging links to the south and opening up the north, and this policy is bearing fruit. In 1982, the State Council formally approved Mudanjiang as an open city on the border. In October 1987, Mudanjiang became the first city to revive regional border trade. In 1989, the state and the province gave Mudanjiang the right to manage its own exports. With regard to domestic transactions, the value of the city's total sales of social consumer goods reached RMB 8.44 billion; market transactions in cities, towns and villages are lively, with the value of trade totaling RMB 5.04 billion, an increase of 7.4% on the previous year. Total exports and imports were worth RMB 1.26 billion in 2000, increasing by 41.9%. The total value of border trade in the city was RMB 970 million, a rise of 32.5%. The total amount of foreign funding actually used in the city in 2000 was $20 million, while funding from outside the region into which it was introduced reached RMB 2.45 billion. In the tourism industry, 268,000 foreign tourists visited in 2000, a rise of 12.2% on the previous year. The figure for tourists from within China reached 2.276 million, an increase of 12.1% compared with the previous year, while income from the tourism industry totaled RMB 1.55 billion, up 17.6%.

Copyright The Economic Research Institute for Northeast Asia. All rights Reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.