Fengdu-Building on Its History.docVIP

Fengdu-Building on Its History 　　EENGDU County is located inthe center of Chongqing Mu-nicipality, a two hours drivefrom Chongqing InternationalAirport, on the banks of the YangtzeRiver. It has a long history, with evidenceof human occupation as long as 100,000years ago. During the Zhou Dynasty (C1100-256 B.C.) Fengdu was the capitalof the mysterious Ba Kingdom, and laterevolved into a eultural center for Con-fucianism, Taoism and a number of folkcustoms. 　　However, in the 1990s when otherplaces in China were developing rapidly,Fengdu was preoccupied with prepara-tions for a mass relocation. The originalcounty seat was to be submerged by ris-ing water levels brought about by theThree Gorges Dam. In 2001 the entirecounty began the move to higher groundand when the relocation was completedin 2005, all sectors of its economy otherthan agriculture lagged far behind. Tomake up for lost time, the people ofFengdn have since toiled away at rebuild-ing a prosperous city almost from scratchand brought new vitality to this age-oldconnty. 　　 　　Longing for Investment 　　 　　Transportation is a primary con-cern for businessmen when choosing aplace to invest, and, deep in a mountain-ous area, Fengdus ability to attract in-vestors is severely limited by its windingand bumpy roads. A motorcycle companyonce considered setting up a factory inFengdu, but the plan was aborted after theinspecting manager saw that local roadscould not accommodate their trucks. 　　To change this situation an improvedtraffic network is currently under con-struction. High-speed rail betweenFengdu and eastern China will meanthat Shanghai can be reached in justseven hours. By 2012, it will be pos-sible to travel by train from Fengdu toChongqing in 4o minutes, and express-ways will cut the journey by road down toone hour. Fengdu can also take advantageof the Yangtze River for transport. Thecounty now has 20 piers and 30 berths,and several more cargo terminals areexpected to be constructed, handling mil-