Longyan, or Minxi, is located in the west of Fujian Province. With Quanzhou and Zhangzhou to the east, Sanming to the north, Ganzhou City of Jiangxi Pro vince to the west, Meizhou City of Guangdong Province to the south, it exercises an immediate jurisdiction over Xinluo District, Zhangping City at county level and other five counties including Yongding, Shanghang, Wuping, Changting and Liancheng, with a total area of 19,000 km2 and a population of 2.88 million.

　　Longyan is the nation's renowned revolutionary base. Among the national 23 central soviet bases during the Second Chinese Revolutionary Civil War, 7 were in Longyan. In December 1929 Mao Tsetung presided over the famous Gutian Congress in Gutian Town, Shanghang County and Decision of Gutian Congress, a programmatic document came into being. Gutian Congress is an important landmark in the construction of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Zhongfu Village of Nanshan Town, Changting County, is one of the four starting points of the Long March of the Red Army in October 1934. Among all the revolutionary bases in China at that time, there were only two revolutionary bases, namely Minxi and Qiongya of Hainan Province, where the "red flags never fall down".

　　Longyan, a major ancestral home of the Hakka, is recognized as one of the hometown of Hakka people residing around the world. The residents in Longyan's five counties are basically composed of Hakka people reaching more than 2.2 million, accounting for over 80% of the city's total population. Changting County is called the "Capital of Hakka" and Ting River the "Mother River of Hakka". Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore Senior Minister in Prime Minister's Office, and Mr. Li Ka-shing Hong Kong tycoon claim Shanghang County their ancestral home.

　　Among the eight key tourism brands of Fujian, the top two are the sacred place of revolution-the venue of Gutian Congress and the Hakka earthen buildings in Yongding, known as "world's architectural miracle". Other tourism resorts are Guanzhai Mountain, key national scenic resort and 4A grade tourism area, Meihua Mountain and Liangye Mountain, two national nature reserves, four national forest parks (Longyan, Shanghang, Wangshou Mountain in Yongding, Tiantai Mountain in Zhangping), Longkong Cave in Xinluo District, the "No. 1 Cave in East China", South China Tiger Garden, Peitian ancient mansion complex and Jiupengxi Creek Tea Village.

　　Longyan boasts 64 types of minerals, among which the reserves of 16 minerals including gold, silver, copper, iron, coal, Kaolin and limestone rank first in the province. Makeng Iron Mine is the largest iron mine in East China. Zijinshan Copper Mine is the second largest copper mine discovered in China in recent years. Donggongxia Kaolin Mine is one of the four largest Kaolin mines in China. 78% of the city is forested, ranking top of the cities with districts in the province. The city enjoys a desirable natural ecological environment and is endowed with abundant water resources.

　　Over the recent years, Longyan's economy and social development has achieved remarkable results and its comprehensive strength has ceaselessly boosted up. The city's GDP reached 55.6 billion Yuan in 2007, up by 16% and the aggregate economy increased to No. 5 of the province. Its financial revenue stood at 9.65 billion Yuan, up by 21%, realizing the target of doubling the economic growth in three years.

　　Traffic conditions are improving daily. Guanzhai Mountain Airport has been completed and air routes to Shenzhen, Shanghai (with a stopover in Xiamen) and Fuzhou have been opened. Expressways of Longyan-Xiamen and Longyan-Changting as well as railways of Longyan-Meizhou and Longyan-Ganzhou have been built and Yong'an-Wuping Expressway and Longyan-Xiamen Railway are under construction. It is estimated that a modern and comprehensive 3-dimensional transportation network with an airport, four expressways, four railways and eight national and provincial highways will have been established by 2010.

　　The pillar industries of Longyan are growing rapidly and a "10+3" industrial development pattern has taken shape.

　　Tobacco industry: Longyan Cigarette Factory, No. 1 tax payer of Fujian Province and one of the Top 100 Enterprise Tax Payers of China, is one of the 36 key enterprises of tobacco industry in China; its core brand "Septwolves" is one of the country's 36 famous cigarette brands.

　　Machinery industry: Environmental protection equipment, engineering machinery, automobiles and accessories are the city's three pillar industries. Large enterprises are Longjing Environmental Protection Co., Ltd. and Longgong Group.

　　Steel and iron industry: There are about 50 steel and iron enterprises such as Zhuolong Steel Co., Ltd., Zhuoying Iron Making Co., Ltd., Makeng Iron Mine, Panluo Iron Mine.

　　Copper industry: Over 2.20 million tons of copper reserves have been verified by Zijinshan Copper Mine. Zhongliao Copper Mine and Zijin Mining Co., Ltd. possesses up to 16.70 million tons of copper reserve.

　　Building materials industry: A building materials industrial chain covering cement and slabstone material, Kaolin and other novel building materials has been formed.

　　Textile industry: There are more than 240 textile enterprises, 2 Chinese brands (Jialice and Xique) and 1 Chinese well-known trade mark (Jialice).

　　Electricity industry: The installed power capacity is 2.72 million kw, moving the city to an important electricity generation base from a region with a relatively poor power supply in the province.

　　Coal industry: The area with coal reserve in Longyan covers 1671 km2 and coal is produced in five counties (cities and districts); the verified coal reserve is 670 million tons including 340 million tons of ensured reserve.

　　Processing industry of agricultural products: A group of leading processing enterprises such as Senbao, Mucun, Panpan and Chaoda have been founded.

　　Tourism industry: A total of 4.83 million tourists have been received in 2007, realizing a tourism income of more than 4.8 billion Yuan.

　　Progress has been made in various social undertakings including science, education, culture, public health, sports, broadcast and television. Construction of democracy and legal system as well as ethnic and moral building has been strengthened. The city enjoys a stable and harmonious atmosphere. Over the recent years, Longyan has won the titles of National Excellent City for Comprehensive Management of Public Order, National Model City for Mutual Support between the Civilians and the Armed Forces, Provincial Garden City, Provincial Sanitary City. Its investment environment has been improved, moving Longyan from 8th in 2002 to 2nd in 2005 in the province.

（Editor:ShenJiaju）