CONSULTANCY STUDY ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC-POLITICAL TRENDS IN PAN-PEARL RIVER DELTA REGION ELEVENTH MONTHLY REPORT PART II COVERING GUANGXI, YUNNAN, GUIZHOU, AND SICHUAN SEPTEMBER 2005 CENTRAL POLICY UNIT HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION Socio-Economic-Political Trends in Pan-Pearl River Delta Region Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan (11th Monthly Report) 2 Socio-Economic-Political Trends in Pan-Pearl River Delta Region Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan (11th Monthly Report) Table of Contents I. Executive Summary ----------------------------------------------------------------- 5 II. Topical Analysis --------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 “Pan-PRD Cultural and Technological Cooperation and Exchange: Opportunities for Hong Kong” Part Two: South-western Region Cinema Circuits Boost Guangxi’s Movies Industry -------------------------- 10 Yunnan’s Cultural Endowment Embodies Significant Economic Value -- 14 Guizhou Striving to Modernise Its Chinese Medicine Industry ------------- 18 Chengdu Develops A Digital Entertainment Industry Base ----------------- 23 Industry Views on Mainland-Hong Kong Cultural and Technological Exchange and Cooperation ------------------------------------------------------ 27 III. Trends & Updates on the Four South-Western Provinces/Region ---------- 31 Nanning Adopts Strategy to Become an Industry-Strong City -------------- 32 Guangxi Adopts Measures to Optimise Its Investment Environment ------ 34 Yunnan Improves Investment and Financing Environments and Encourages Enterprises to Go Global ------------------------------------------ 36 Yunnan Plans to Develop 60 Tourism Towns -------------------------------- 38 Economic Development Trends of Guizhou in the First Half of 2005 ---- 40 Guizhou Strives to Form a New Industrial Pattern in 2010 ----------------- 42 Sichuan to Become the Largest Logistics Centre in South-western China 44 Sichuan, Guizhou and Chongqing Invest Rmb1 Billion to Build the Golden Triangle for Tourism ---------------------------------------------------- 46 Memorabilia of Pan-PRD Regional Cooperation --------------------------- 48 3 Socio-Economic-Political Trends in Pan-Pearl River Delta Region Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan (11th Monthly Report) Table of Contents (continued) IV. Data and Trends ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 53 Guangxi --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 54 Yunnan ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 55 Guizhou --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 56 Sichuan --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 57 Major Economic Indicators of Nine Pan-PRD Provinces/Region (Jan-Jun 2005) -------------------------------------------------------------------- 58 Nine Pan-PRD Provinces/Region: 10-Year Economic Trend (1995-2004) - 59 Nine Pan-PRD Provinces/Region: Statistics at a Glance (2004) ------------ 60 V. English-Chinese Glossary of Terms ----------------------------------------------- 63 4 Socio-Economic-Political Trends in Pan-Pearl River Delta Region Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan (11th Monthly Report) I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. There are over 80 county level cinemas in Guangxi. Because of strict requirements on market entry, most of these cinemas operate outside the region’s three largest cinema circuits and make up a secondary film market. These cinemas find it difficult to source films and their showing schedules often lag behind the major cinemas. Most of them are thus unprofitable. To promote the development of its film market, Guangxi needs to develop this sizeable secondary film market. This would mean ensuring a steady supply of films to these cinemas. According to Mainland reports, income generated by Hong Kong movies in the Mainland has declined in the past two to three years. Hong Kong movie producers could consider taking this opportunity arising from Guangxi’s efforts to supply movies to the secondary film market, and introduce their movies to these county level cinemas through qualified Mainland distributors, to effectively expand the market of Hong Kong movies in the Mainland. 2. Yunnan is among the world’s few places with rich ethnic and cultural treasures. It enjoys abundant unique, beautiful and colourful natural and cultural resources. These conditions provide a solid foundation for the development of Yunnan’s cultural industries. To turn Yunnan’s rich cultural resources into competitive advantages for its cultural industries to gain a wider share of the market in the Mainland and even overseas, the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government of Yunnan offer an accommodating environment and relevant policy to protect these industries. It is Yunnan’s objective to develop a multi-faceted cultural industry cluster that enjoys high turnover by 2010. At present, the arts, film and television industries of Hong Kong and Yunnan have their own strengths and development needs. The two sides could consider active participation in cultural festivals and arts performances hosted by each other to foster stronger cooperation in techniques, talents and resources. 3. Guizhou is one of the nation’s four largest production bases of Chinese herbal medicines. Leveraging on its unique Chinese medicinal resources, Guizhou has stepped up the development of modern Chinese medicinal technology industry in recent years. A complete system of Chinese herbal medicine production, Chinese medicine research and development, as well as Chinese medicine manufacturing has begun to take shape. As at the end of 2004, all backbone enterprises in Guizhou’s Chinese medicine manufacturing industry have received the State’s certification of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) in medicine. In its next move, Guizhou will aggressively attract both domestic and foreign pharmaceutical manufacturing enterprises to participate in the modernisation of its Chinese medicine industry. It will also explore more financing channels to provide sufficient funding support for the development of enterprises in the industry. In as early as 2000, Hong Kong already had intention to develop the Chinese medicine industry. Hong Kong enterprises may ride on Guizhou’s initiatives and take part in the construction of Guizhou’s modern Chinese medicine industry. They may find business opportunities herewith. 5 Socio-Economic-Political Trends in Pan-Pearl River Delta Region Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan (11th Monthly Report) 4. Chengdu is among the earliest in the country to develop digital entertainment industry. In order to achieve its target of raising the share of digital entertainment industry to GDP to above 15% by 2014, Chengdu will adopt a strategy that will shift the focus of the digital entertainment industry from Internet games to cyber society in stages over the next nine years. To achieve such a transformation, Chengdu must expand investment into the digital entertainment industry, reasonably reduce the tax burdens of enterprises and further liberalise its market to attract investment and to encourage the local enterprises to go global. Hong Kong has a good knowledge of the market for various types of electronic games, and has a lot of talents in games development. Moreover, it has a good grasp of international consumption trends. Leveraging on these strengths, Hong Kong can cooperate with Chengdu enterprises and explore business opportunities herewith. 5. According to the Secretary General of a Hong Kong major sports association, since Hong Kong’s handover in 1997, there has been more attention in strengthening Mainland-Hong Kong cooperation in sports. However, while a lot has been said, neither comprehensive plan nor actual measures of implementation has been adopted. Taking the training of athletes as an example, it was considered that for the long term, Hong Kong could consider making more use of the training programmes of the Mainland to increase the exposure of Hong Kong athletes to the Mainland’s sports culture and training environment. This would be conducive in improving the standards of Hong Kong athletes, and in building a training mechanism viable in the longer term. 6. According to the Executive Director of a Hong Kong orchestra, it is currently difficult for individual art performers of the Mainland to apply for performing in Hong Kong. This is mainly because these individuals do not belong to a Mainland’s arts organisation. Their applications therefore involve more complicated procedures and entail a longer period of processing. 7. According to the Director of Administration at the School of Chinese Medicine of a local tertiary education institution, the major problems faced by the development of Chinese medicine industry in Hong Kong are related to clinical training and career prospects of the graduates. This is because Hong Kong has not yet established any hospital for pure Chinese medical practice or for integrated Chinese and western medical practice. Students mainly rely on the Chinese medical hospitals in the Mainland to gain clinical experience, which means they need to take their internship and residence training in the Mainland. Moreover, students are also faced with insufficient opportunities for development in Hong Kong after they graduate. These situations need to be dealt with seriously so as not to stall the long-term development of Chinese medicine industry in Hong Kong. 8. According to an industrialist, in terms of new