(1)外文名称: Xining City
    (2)中文名称: 西宁市
    (3)内容:
                         Xining City
    Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province, is the province's political, economic, scientific and cultural center. It is situated in the east part of Qinghai, lying in the Huangshui Valley at the eastern foot of Riyue Mountain on the Qinghai Plateau.
    Xining is located at 101.76 degrees of east longitude and 36.37 degrees of north latitude, 2,261 m. above sea level. With its high altitude, low pressure, wide range of temperature, little precipitation and long days, it belongs to the highland continental climate. Its temperature within one day varies about
15 degrees centigrade.
    The city proper lies on a vast silt plain. It is walled in by undulating mountains interspersed with numerous lakes and rivers and is geographically described as "a small inland basin."
    Xining in Chinese means "peace in the western lands." As early as 121 B.C., the city was called Xipingting, or "peaceful western pavilion." After that, its name was changed several times until 1104 (Northern Song Dynasty) when it was named "Xining Administrative Prefecture." In the middle of 1940s, it became Xining City. Xining administers four districts and one county with a total area of 3,650 sq. km. and a population of nearly one million. The urban area of Xining covers 350 sq. km. and has a population of more than 620,000.
Xining is a city with many minority groups. Nearly 30 ethnic groups live there, including the Han, Hui, Tibetan, Tu, Mongolian and Sala.
TRANSPORT  Xining is the hub of communications of Qinghai Province. It has two railways: the Lanzhou-Qinghai Railway and the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. The Lanzhou-Qinghai Highway (220 km) and Qinghai-Tibet Highway (2,100 km) run through the province. Air routes also connect Xining to other cities in China, such as Lanzhou, Taiyuan, Xi'an and Beijing.
    AGRICULTURE  Vegetable and grain are main crops in Xining.
    BUSINESS  Factories, mines and other enterprises are mainly
Distributed along the four waterways of the city. Xining has more
than 500 enterprises in industries such as machinery, textiles,
metallurgy, coal, electric power, chemicals, food processing, timber, leather and fur, plastics, hardware, paper, stationery, arts and crafts, and medicines.
    Investment Policies and Rules
    In 1994, Xining was opened to overseas trade and investment, with the State Council approval. It has established an economic and technological development zone - the Qiaotou Economic and Technological Development Zone -- to further improve investment conditions and attract more foreign funds. The Qinghai Provincial Government and Xining City Government have drawn up documents to encourage foreign businesses to invest in Xining and other areas in the province.
    The city gives overseas-funded enterprises priority in eight areas: supply of energy resources, distribution of raw materials, land use, capital construction, transportation, installation of communications equipment, bank loans, and choice of staff. The specific policies are: to provide exclusively overseas or joint ventures with construction sites, the same favorable terms as for local enterprises; and to allow enterprises established with sole overseas capital to have their own management.
    Overseas-financed enterprises may be exempted from the local income tax during the periods when the state regulates a general reduction or remission of income taxes. After such a period expires, the enterprises may pay only half the local income tax for three years.
    If the industrial and commercial consolidated taxes that
should be paid by overseas-financed enterprises are at a higher
rate than that for state-owned enterprises, they can be collected in the same way as those of the state-owned enterprises. Export products, except for crude oil, end-product oil and products for which the state has separate regulations, are exempted from the industrial and commercial taxes.
    Overseas-funded enterprises can independently export their products and set prices. They can also sell their products to overseas trade enterprises according to state regulations or entrust an overseas trade enterprise to export their products.
    Products of overseas-financed enterprises that cannot be sold abroad may partially or totally be sold on the Chinese market upon application and approval.
    The Xining Branch of the Bank of China can provide for overseas-funded enterprises services for cash flow, foreign currency mortgages, and priority in loans of Renminbi capital.