According to a more in-depth analysis of the figures, it was also Shandong’s 17th consecutive year of posting a double-digit growth, the province’s per capita GDP also firstly surpassed the 30,000-yuan mark.

Nevertheless, the provincial government is not taking the impressive figures as a mandate for relaxing their drive for economic expansion. On the contrary, it has released ambitious plans to sustain development across the whole province, particularly focusing on boosting the under-performing regions in Yellow River Delta and southern Shandong.

At present, some 72 percent of Shandong’s GDP is contributed by the province’s major cities like Jinan, Qingdao, Yantai and Weihai. Under the local government’s new strategy, growth of 10 major cities in Shandong will continue to be nurtured, though additional resources will be diverted into supporting the economically unsuccessful areas.

Even though they currently make comparatively small contributions to the province’s overall GDP, the local government has identified huge potential for future development among the natural resources and fine ecological balance in both the Yellow River area and the south of the province. Rich Coal reserves have already been identified in southern Shandong, whereas programs are already under way to develop the Yellow River Delta into both the nation’s second largest oilfield and one of most expansive wetland areas in China.

According to Jiang Daming, the governor of Shandong, the new development strategy will place an emphasis on integrating the major cities surrounding the provincial capital Jinan into a closely-linked city cluster, as well as developing a high-end manufacturing industrial zone in the eastern areas. The strategy also includes programs of building an ecologically-friendly economic zone in the Yellow River Delta and stepping up the development of the iron and steel industry in Rizhao, a port city in southern Shandong.

Jiang said a budget of 1.6 trillion yuan had already been earmarked to initiate the scheme with a majority of it being allocated to an infrastructure construction program. In spite of the ongoing uncertainties in global financial markets, the investment aims at ensuring the province maintains an annual GDP growth of at least 10 percent.

The program of urban facility construction, part of the initiative, will be accelerated in the two major cities of Jinan and Qingdao. 335 key construction projects, or a combined investment of 337.4 billion yuan, are expected to start in Qingdao alone in 2009. Another 204 projects, involving a total investment of around 166.1 billion yuan, are planned for Jinan. Furthermore, some 53 billion yuan will be used to improve port facilities in Qingdao, Yantai, Rizhao, Weihai and Jining. Meanwhile, 167.3 billion yuan will be invested in improving road and rail transportation facilities away from the cities, with the total length of railways in Shandong expected to reach 5,500 km by 2015.

As part of the national development plan, the proposed development of ecological-friendly economic zone in Yellow River Delta will also receive some 100 billion yuan of investment in 2009.

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The People’s Republic of China has received the grant from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) for implementation of Demonstration of Alternatives to Chlordane and Mirex in Termite Control Project. Anhui, as one of the demonstration provinces, intends to apply part of the grant to support Review and Revision of Policies, Regulations and Technical Standards of Termite Control in Anhui province. The duration of the assignment is from the third quarter of 2009 to third quarter of 2010. The consultant should be a consulting firm, institute, association or other organization with detailed understanding of termite control and proven experience in reviewing and drafting policies and regulations. Experience with similar assignments will have the priority. The firm/institute with interests shall deliver expression letter of interest and information concerning their qualifications to the address below by July 15, 2009. Further information may be obtained at the address below during office hours from 09:00 to 17:00.

Contact: Yao Liqun (Mr.)

Tel: 86 551-2649152; Fax: 86 551-2645645

Add: 14th floor, Renhe Plaza, No. 319, Yangzi River Rd, Hefei 230001, China

E-mail: hfbaiyi@mail.hf.ah.cn

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Best Life, a life style magazine, carried out the survey, interviewing 792 wealthy Chinese in 62 cities from 27 provinces with the help of local chambers of commerce. The interviewed people were private entrepreneurs possessing property of over 10 million Yuan, i.e. 1.4 million dollars. The magazine said in June, over four fifths of the interviewed also remarked that in the country the financial disparity between rich and poor was too large.

On June 17th, Li Wei, director of the social development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), told China Daily, “In the last few years, the great disparity between rich and poor in China has become self-evident.” He said, “We have noticed this phenomenon in research time and again, so it is understandable that the rich also feel this way.”

The interviewed in the latest survey had different definitions for the upper class. Some of them believed the yuppie group were included, while others commented that the term of upper class means connection with the high society, expensive lifestyles, and even more social responsibility, according to the report of the magazine. The CASS reported in its 2009 Blue Book on Chinese Society, the growing income gap in China is thought of as one of the country’s most urgent social problems.

The country’s fast economic development is a reason for the swift growing of the number of the rich. At the end of 2007, there were 415,000 rich people in China, 20.3 percent more than in 2006, according to the third annual Asia Pacific Wealth Report released by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini.

The rich people in the report referred to those with assets of over $1 million, not including their own residence. According to the report, rich Chinese on average own $5 million.

Still, in Li’s view, China’s upper class does not merely refer to the rich. “I agree that China has such a group of elites,” he remarked, “As long as there is equal opportunity for everyone to become rich, it can stimulate social development.” Some entrepreneurs admit that a wealthy class exists.

“I think an upper class exists in China but I don’t belong to it.” Kevin Zhou, a 31-year-old private entrepreneur in a large general motor manufacturer in Chongqing, told China Daily yesterday.

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In response to the publication of the release, CAEA official Song Gongbao dais, with the four NPP projects currently under construction, the scale of building nuclear power plants in China is “large and unprecedented.”

He said, “It shows China’s focus is clearly on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving sustainable development.”

The country’s aim of having 40 million kilowatts of installed nuclear capacity by 2020, which will take up 4 percent of the total generating capacity, will be achieved with the help of the new plants.

The CAEA release said, China’s existing 11 nuclear plants have a combined installed capacity of 9.1 million kilowatts, or about 1.3 percent of the total.

According to the Xinhua News Agency’s report, coal-based power, a major source of carbon dioxide emissions, contributes about 84 percent of the supply, in comparison.

Song said, “China needs to add 30 million to 50 million kilowatts of installed capacity over the next 15 years, and this means the speed of construction of nuclear plants has to be five times that of the past two decades.”

He did not say how much the plants would cost, but stressed that the cost will be worthwhile as they will “contribute to China’s sustainable development”.

The CAEA also said the AP1000 technologies imported from American firm Westinghouse will be used by six of the nine new plants.

AP1000 is third-generation technology and much more efficient and safer than its predecessors, Song said.

Homegrown second-generation technologies are used by the three other projects and the four currently under construction.

At the end of this year or early next year, the construction of the six plants in coastal provinces – two in Guangdong, two in Zhejiang, and one each in Fujian and Shangdong – will start.

The release said that the exact locations and construction start dates for the three projects in Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces are still in discussion.

Song said the plants in land are necessary to offer a buffer against bad weather conditions like this year’s snowstorms which led to havoc with power supplies.

“Inland provinces rely on the long-distance transmission of electricity from coastal areas and local coal-fired power plants, so when the blizzard struck, the electricity supply network and coal transportation were both paralyzed.”

He also pointed out that the new nuclear plants would be effective to solve that problem.

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