The city of Changsha is Hunan province’s capital and its political, economic and cultural center and a crucial transport hub. The county, in the city’s eastern part, has developed its engineering machinery and auto and parts rapidly in recent years, and has become the “engineering machinery capital” and earned a provincial “auto and parts industrial base” award. Its 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015) calls for increasing the modern services industry by attracting investment, pushing agriculture with a “29811” project, and making optimal use of industrial layout to push the economy. Some recent achievements are as follows:

• The city ranked 9th among 200 Chinese cities in competitiveness, according to a Beijing International Institute for Urban Development report, in 2011.
• It also ranked 17th among 100 Chinese small to mid-sized cities, according to a scientific development report for 2011, and was at the top in central China. It was also one of China’s 10 Best “Dual-type” small to mid-sized cities.
• Changsha county was one of 100 best counties in driving neighboring areas, in 2011, and rose to 18th place on China’s 100 best counties list that year, in competitiveness, compared with 25th, in 2010. It also got the “Happiest cities” award for the third time.
• By the end of December 2011, the county had 29 joint ventures or wholly-owned firms with Fortune Global 500 enterprises, including Bosch, GAC Fiat Automobiles, the Mitsubishi Group, Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Coca Cola, and France’s Danone Group.

The county’s national Changsha Economic and Technological Development Zone has seen rapid growth in recent years, with total industrial output reaching 119.16 billion yuan ($19.1 billion), in 2011, up 37.3 percent from 2010, and foreign capital of $222 million, for a 16.2-percent year-on-year increase. It has contributed a lot to the county’s and city’s economy, with its business environment improving every day.

Changsha county tops the province in economic strength and has the Jinjing, Ansha, Huanghua, Langli, Ganshan Auto Parts, Jiangbei, Muyun, and Xingsha industrial parks. Its engineering machinery, auto and parts, and electronic information bring in foreign capital, where it gets a lot of support, with $338 million in foreign capital, in 2011, for a 15.8-percent year-on-year increase. From 2007 to 2011, it got $1.31 billion worth of foreign capital, with an annual compound growth rate of 15.5 percent. Its total output value for 2011 was 78.99 billion yuan, with an annual compound growth rate of 28.7 percent over previous four years.

It has 57 enterprises with 100-million yuan in sales annually, 10 of them doing 1-billion yuan, such as the Sany Group, Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology, Broad Group, and Tongxin International.

Over the next five years, the county will use its economic and technological development zone, especially the Xingsha, Ganshan, Langli, and Jiangbei auto parts parks, to accelerate development as the engineering machinery and auto industry capital. Its Songyahu, Huanghua airport, and Ansha logistics zones, and Huangxing modern market are used to attract investment.

Also, as a national agricultural demonstration zone, the county will push the “29811” project in two modern agriculture bases, nine demonstration belts and 10 parks, eight industries, and 100 modern farm villages. Its 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015) calls for tertiary industry to drive its economic development.