Advantageously located on the southeast coast of China, Xiamen City has economic and industrial strength, a top-class business environment and a sophisticated transport network, making it an ideal place for investment and doing business.

Xiamen, one of the major cities of Fujian Province, has received numerous accolades and awards over the years, including a national civilised city for six consecutive times, a national model city for “double support” (the local government supporting the People’s Liberation Army and families of the soldiers, and the army supporting the local government and citizens) for two consecutive times, a model city for building a law-based government, a benchmark city for national business environment, the United Nations Habitat Scroll of Honour, an international garden city, a liveable Chinese city, a national forest city, a national demonstration city for tourism and leisure, a national ecological garden city, a national innovative city, Fujian–Xiamen–Quanzhou National Original Innovation Demonstration Zone (Xiamen) and the World Bank’s “Gold Medal City” for its investment environment. Xiamen is proud to be named a benchmark city for national business environment.

Top-tier business environment

Chinese President Xi Jinping once praised Xiamen as a city with high-quality innovation and entrepreneurship and a beautiful ecological garden city. Xiamen has morphed from a small seaside town into a high-quality, beautiful, modernised and international city. More and more enterprises are choosing Xiamen and calling it home. Coupled with sufficient capital, advanced technology and enormous talent, Xiamen is where enterprises and people come to create values and make their dreams come true. It is a pleasant and vibrant city to live and work, a fair and honest platform for doing business and a hotspot for makers.

Advantageous location

The port of Xiamen has a long history. It serves as an important port for Mainland China, a fulcrum of exchange and co-operation with Taiwan, a major hub for international shipping and a strategic pivotal city of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. All of this have become Xiamen’s distinctive advantages.

Growing comprehensive economic strength

Xiamen’s comprehensive economic strength continues to build. Forty-two years of reform and opening-up have seen Xiamen’s GDP increase at an average annual rate of 15 per cent. In 2020, the city ranked first among all sub-provincial cities in the country in terms of GDP (RMB638.402bn) and the two-year average growth rate. Its disposable income per capita was RMB58,140 and total public budget revenue was RMB135.1bn. There were 2,282 hi-tech enterprises. The total import and export value was RMB691.6bn and the foreign trade dependence was 108.3 per cent.

Highly convenient transport hub

Xiamen is an international and comprehensive transport hub, which is of the highest level in China. The city is also one of four major international shipping centres in the country, with container throughput exceeding 10 million TEUs and 36 international air routes. In addition, international freight trains to Europe, Central Asia and Russia have commenced service to form three new international logistics routes to Central Europe, Central Asia and Russia.

A complete ancillary support system

Xiamen has 16 colleges and universities and 1,484 whole-day schools of various types to provide the city’s industries with different levels of labour force. The city has a sufficient supply of power, gas, water, as well as high-end office space. Many accounting firms, law firms and financial and arbitration institutions are operating in Xiamen. Moreover, the city has convention and exhibition venues that are equipped with advanced and complete facilities, which can accommodate large-scale, high-level and international business events.

An ideal place for investment and doing business

Four industry clusters in Xiamen have been prioritised for development: electronic information; culture, tourism, conventions and exhibitions; modern logistics; shipping, finance and trade. Xiamen strives to build 12 billion-dollar industry chain clusters.

1. Panel display industry: Xiamen is the only pilot city of the national optoelectronic display industry cluster, and the largest R&D and production base for touchscreen modules in the world. In 2020, the industry realised an output value of RMB150bn.
2. Computer and communications equipment industry: Integrated manufacturing enterprises and ancillary and supporting enterprises aggregate in Xiamen, including globally influential brands of complete computers. In 2020, the industry had an output value of RMB121.5bn.
3. Semiconductor and integrated circuit industry: The industry covers various sectors including design, manufacturing, packaging and testing, equipment and materials, and application. It is the largest production and export base for LED chips and lighting products in China. In 2020, it realised an output value of RMB43.6bn. In 2019, the output value of the Xiamen lighting industry accounted for 70 per cent of the country’s total. The attributes of the Xiamen LED industry are widely referred to as the “Xiamen Model”. In 2022, the Xiamen lighting industry will enter a new era and drive more market demand for the city’s lighting products. A variety of cross-sector integration means that, in addition to mere illumination, lighting will be used in more disruptive ways than ever before. The innovative developments of “Internet +”, “smart city”, “healthy lighting” and “metaverse” are making a positive impact on the industry.
4. Software and information services industry: Xiamen is a famous software city in China. A number of sectors is at the forefront of the country in terms of their level of development, including healthcare, animation, comics and games, information security, Internet, big data and artificial intelligence. In 2020, the industry generated a revenue of RMB197.2bn.
5. Machinery and equipment manufacturing industry: The industry covers various sectors including automobiles, electricity and electric appliances, aviation maintenance, general equipment manufacturing and specialised equipment manufacturing. In 2020, the industry recorded an output value of RMB105.5bn.
6. New materials industry: The industry is centred around special metal materials, inorganic non-metallic materials and advanced polymer materials. It covers a number of sectors, including optoelectronic information materials, new energy materials and advanced carbon materials. The new functional materials sector has been selected as a national strategic emerging industry cluster. In 2020, the industry’s output value was RMB87.9bn.
7. Tourism, convention and exhibition industry: There are more than 100 tourist attractions in Xiamen, 23 of which are Level A tourist attractions. In 2020, Xiamen welcomed a total of 69.94 million domestic and foreign visitors, generating a revenue of RMB104.6bn.
8. Cultural and creative industry: Xiamen is among the first batch of national cultural export bases and national smart audio-visual industry bases. The city has long been the home of the China Golden Rooster & Hundred Flowers Film Festival. In 2020, the industry achieved a revenue of RMB145bn.
9. Modern logistics industry: Xiamen has become a regional land, sea and air hub port along the southeast coast of China. It is expediting the construction of an international comprehensive transport hub and a port-based national logistics hub. In 2020, the industry had a revenue of RMB130.1bn and a foreign trade import and export value of RMB691.6bn.
10. Financial services industry: Xiamen endeavours to become a financial powerhouse. It is accelerating the development of a regional financial centre, actively bringing all kinds of financial institutions in to the city and developing specialised sectors, such as fintech. Xiamen is building itself into a modernised and international fintech city. In 2020, the industry’s total revenue was RMB172.2bn.
11. Bio‑pharmaceutical and healthcare industry: Xiamen is a pilot city for the regional agglomeration of the national strategic emerging industry of bio‑pharmaceutical. In 2020, the industry’s output value was RMB77.6bn and there were more than 1,000 bio‑pharmaceutical and healthcare enterprises in the city.
12. Modern agricultural industry: The industry includes crop and animal husbandry, agricultural by-products and food processing, rural tourism and ecological and leisure agriculture. In 2020, the modern agricultural industry achieved a revenue of RMB102.1bn.