District chief's Speech
    Governor¡¯s Address     Made by Mr. Wangzhong, Head of Zhifu District, Yantai Municipality Dear friends,     Welcome to Zhifu Website! Through the internet, we¡¯d like give you a brief introduction of Zhifu, an open and civilized district with abundant resources, beautiful scenery and also exquisite wines.

    Zhifu is a center district, which also belongs to a older urban area in the city- Yantai. Yantai is a beautiful costal city located at the northeast tip of Shandong Peninsula, bordering on the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea. It faces East Liaoning Peninsula, Korea and Japan across the sea. Yantai governs 4 districts, 1 county, 7 county-level cities and 1 national level economic & technology development Zone. The whole area of Yantai is 13,7000 square kilometers and the urban area is 2,436 square kilometers; The total population is 6.458 million including 1.708 million urban population. Enjoying a temperate zone oceanic climate, Yantai is nether too hot in summer nor too cold in winter, with an annual average temperature of 12 ?, an annual rainfall of 737 mm. The climate here is characterized with distinct seasonal changes. The humid and fresh air, pleasant sunlight here make a weather more preferable for living. It¡¯s also a tourist resort known home and abroad. More than 580 species of aquatic organisms and 805 species land organisms are living here, Yantai¡¯s products, such as Yantai apples, big cherries, grapes, prawns, sea cucumbers, abalone, saxicolous clams, etc, have been famous home and abroad. The abundant products here generated profound catering culture and advanced brewing industry, which give Yantai good fame and such reputation as ¡°a Land Rich in Seafood and Fruits¡±, ¡°an Origin of Shandong Style Food¡± and ¡°Iinternational Wine City¡±, an unique title in Asia.

    Yantai is a key city in the economic circle around Bohai Sea, which has highest priority in development by the state. It¡¯s also a city hosted a series APEC activates as well as a city holding regular meetings of International Fruits and Vegetables Expo.     Zhifu is the political , economical and cultural centre of Yantai. Its name is derived from Zhifu Island, the biggest land-tied island in China. Since Yantai was upgraded from a municipal region to a city in 1983, Zhifu has been established as a district in Yantai. Zhifu District covers an area of 174.43 square kilometers. There are 12 subdistrct offices under its jurisdiction, including 67 residential areas of the suburbs and 75 urban communities with total population of 688000.     As a civilized and flourishing land from ancient times, Yantai Zhifu has a very long history. Traced back to 7000 years ago, the ancestors are living here, exploring and creating with their great intelligence and laborious hands. As early as 4000 years ago, Zhifu has had advanced farming and fishing industries. After the first empire of Qin unified the country, he had ascended Zhifu island three times. After Zhou and Qin Dynasty, Relying on favorable geographical position in a bay, Zhifu people had begun to make trade exchange, ¡° transporting salt and fishes from the East Lai(a state lies in the east tip of Shandong Peninsula at that time ) to Qi state¡±(according to historical record). During Tang and Song Dynasty, Zhifu port had become a transhipment port for various cargos. To Yuan Dynasty, the number of ships into and out of the port for grains transportation and other businesses reached 1000 every year. To Daoguang years of Qing Dynasty, Zhifu had been already developed into a trade town in East China. In August, 1861, Yantai port officially imposed tariff to external cargos, and then Yantai became one of the earliest port-cities opening to outside world in Chinese history.

    In 1984, Yantai was approved by the State Council as the first of opening coastal cities in the country. Since then, Zhifu people are charting a new geography of Zhifu with their intelligence and sweat, economy and social works were all developing in a good way.Especially in the new century, Zhifu takes effort to develop export-oriented ecnomy, opening to the outside world in and all around way, maintaining a good momentum of growth in the national economy. Nowadays, Having a much more developed transportation network, Yantai Zhifu has become an important transportation center for the land and water communication lines at Shandong Peninsula. Highway, railway, marine transportation and aviation link up each other and then form a stereoscopic transportation system. Zhifu has excellent postal service and advanced telecommunication networks, which makes its communication services up to the most advanced level in the world. The service facilities and institutions in Zhifu are all complete, all kinds of which, such as residential quarters, financial institutions, schools, hospitals, shopping, culture and sports, leisure and amusement facilities, are all ready, providing homelike and thorough business and daily services for guests. More than 100 colleges and universities, technical secondary schools and vocational schools locate in and around Zhifu, with over 200000 enrolled students, which can fill the requirement for technical manpower. About 700 foreign funded enterprises from more than 20 countries and regions, including U.S.A, Canada, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Australia, Germany, France, Taiwan, Hongkong, Macao and etc., have been set up in Zhifu with total investment of more than 1 billion USD. The foreign resident population has reached 10000.

    Persisting on organizing the economy and social affairs rationally, making every effort to foster a harmonious expansion of mental, material and political civilization, Zhifu goes all out to work for ¡°Common prosperity in Zhifu¡±, ¡°Honesty and credibility in Zhifu¡±, ¡°Safe and well in Zhfu¡± and ¡°civilization and manners in Zhifu¡±, creating a favorable investment environment for investors, which based on the principal: ¡°kindness to Merchants¡±, ¡°Reassuring merchants for business development¡± and ¡° helping merchants get profit soon¡±. Facing the future, Zhifu, a booming place, is more vibrant and full of hopes. We sincerely welcome you to Zhifu for sightseeing and doing business. We shall further develop friendship and cooperation faithfully for a co prosperity future!