![Zhou Weixia, a gem shop owner, shows a man a rough sapphire stone in Changle, Shandong province. The county now abounds with 450 square kilometers of sapphire-rich land with deposits totaling more than one billion carats. [Photo/China Daily]](U365P886T1D7549F12DT20120206105122.jpg "Zhou Weixia, a gem shop owner, shows a man a rough sapphire stone in Changle, Shandong province. The county now abounds with 450 square kilometers of sapphire-rich land with deposits totaling more than one billion carats. [Photo/China Daily]")
Zhou Weixia, a gem shop owner, shows a man a rough sapphire stone in Changle, Shandong province. The county now abounds with 450 square kilometers of sapphire-rich land with deposits totaling more than one billion carats. [Photo/China Daily]
The local government has also unveiled a range of favorable policies to stimulate the local jewelry industry, including startup funds, financial services and tax discounts.
A large gemstone processing and trading center - the Gem City of China - has been built. It is the only one of its kind named by China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
The center has attracted more than 200 leading jewelry companies from Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong, which promote the industry's growth. Changle has now established a complete jewelry industry chain from sapphire prospecting, mining, refining and processing to jewelry product trading.
The county has more than 2,000 companies involving in sapphire manufacturing, processing and trading. They can produce a total of 13 million carats annually, bringing in 36 billion yuan in trading volume, figures from the local authorities show.
An ambitious plan has been developed that involves the establishment of 2.6 million square meters of jewelry manufacturing and processing center with an annual turnover of 100 billion yuan by 2015.
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