China has built up thousands of new and high-tech development zones. In the 53 state-level new and high-tech development zones, a great many sci-tech research results have been put into use in production. Over 30,000 were identified as high-tech enterprises in these zones, 20 of which had annual production values over 10 billion yuan, more than 200 over five billion yuan, and 3,000 over 100 million yuan. In these zones, the average growth in major economic indicators has been maintained at 60 percent per annum for 13 years running, and they have become important engines of national economic growth. In 2005, with a growth of 31.8 percent than the previous year, the export value of high-tech products of China reached US$218.3 billion, exceeding US$200 billion for the first time.
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Private science and technology enterprises have also made great headway, some becoming group corporations with annual output values of several billion yuan. Their high-tech products now account for over half of the domestic market for such products.
Establishing export bases for new and high-tech products in selected high-tech industrial development zones is an important part of the government's plan for developing trade through science and technology. The first designated export bases, selected because of their rapid overall development, rich talent, excellent equipment, and rapidly growing export of high-tech products, include the Beijing Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park and high-tech industrial development zones in Tianjin, Shanghai, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shandong, Hubei, Guangdong, Shaanxi, Dalian, Xiamen, Qingdao and Shenzhen. The Pearl River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and the Beijing-Tianjin region have the greatest concentration of such export bases; consequently export volumes of new and high-tech products from these areas account for over 80 percent of the national total.
