Our office's mission is to assist American businesses enter and succeed in the Southwest China market (the provinces Yunnan, Guizhou and Tibet, as well as the Chongqing and Chengdu municipalities).
- Our jurisdiction covers an area of 2,337,400 square kilometers (1.2M square kilometers of which is Tibet).
- 200 million people live in this region.
Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, is the most important commercial center in West China. This metropolis of 10.44 million lies 1,500 miles from China’s eastern seaboard. The city has a market reach of 200 million consumers and it is the distribution center for southwest China encompassing Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou Provinces, the Tibet Autonomous Region, and the Municipality of Chongqing. Sichuan Province boasts one of the most diversified industrial bases in the country and Chengdu is a key manufacturing center for the electronics, machinery, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, metallurgy and food processing industries. The IT industry has been designated as the Number One Project for growth in Sichuan Province. Sichuan is also the national headquarters for feed grain companies. In 2003, the city of Chengdu had a GDP of RMB 187.08 billion ($22.6 billion), a 13% increase over 2002.
Chongqing, the most recently established municipality directly under the Central Government since 1997, is the largest administrative municipality in China with a population of 30.9 million. Chongqing is strategically located in the upper reaches of the Yangzi River. According to current patterns of Chinese economic development, there are three economic belts: the eastern, western, and central belts. Chongqing has been identified as the connecting point between the eastern and western belts. Chongqing has received a great deal of financial and policy support from the Central Government, enabling its economy to grow rapidly and increasingly compete with Chengdu. Chongqing is famous for the scenic Three Gorges and the Three Gorges Reservoir. Once the construction of the Three Gorges Dam is competed, river navigation between Chongqing and Shanghai will become more reliable. Pillar industries in Chongqing are machine building, metallurgy, chemicals and pharmaceuticals. Since the early 1980’s, many companies in the national defense industry have shifted to manufacturing civilian products, playing an important role in the automobile and motorcycle industries in the city. With its strong heavy industry foundation, Chongqing is expected to become the automotive capital of western China. In 2002, Chongqing had a GDP of RMB 197.1 billion ($23.7 billion), a 10.3% increase over 2001. Southwest China’s economy has enjoyed relatively sustained growth in recent years and will continue to grow at 9 to 10% over the next few years.
U.S. Commercial Service - Chengdu
4 Lingshiguan Lu, Renmin Nanlu Section 4
Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, China
Tel: (86-28) 8558-3992/9642
Fax: (86-28) 8558-9221/3520
Email: Chengdu.Office.Box@mail.doc.gov
Please feel free to e-mail our U.S. Commercial Service contacts by industry.