Located in Yangzi Delta, as a state-level historically famous culture city and new-emerging industrial port city along the Yangzi River, Changshu is one of the first few top 100 cities in term of overall economic strength for many years. The GDP of the city in 2002 reached 36.5billion yuan, fiscal income 4.1billion yuan and output value exceeded 80billion yuan. The city was awarded with honors of State Hygienic City, State Garden City, State Model City of Environmental Protection, China Fantastic Tourism City successively.
Changshu, a well-known assembling base of textile industry, owns more than 2300 textile enterprises in the end of 2002 with over 16billion yuan of assets, providing nearly 100thousand employment positions and being able to produce more than 300million pieces of garments, 30thousand tons of cotton yarns, 36million meters of cotton cloths, nearly 60thousand tons of chemical fibers and 4.65million sets of bedclothes each year. In 2002, The textile industry of Changshu realized 26billion yuan of output value accounting for one third of the total industrial output value, 20.5billion yuan of sales income taking up 34%, 1.914billion yuan of taxation occupying 28.9% and created 420million US$ of foreign exchange and 3.5billion yuan of shipment delivery value, both occupying 30% of the corresponding overall figure of the city. The nationally famous textile products of Changshu include Bosideng down garment, Fly in the Snow down garment and Menglan bedclothes, among which Bosideng and Menglan are well-known brand in China. Besides 7 textile products in Changshu, enjoying the largest output and sales in their grounds across the country, are Bosideng down garment, Menglan bedclothes, Menglan automobile internal decorative pieces, Lida high, middle and low elastic PET filament yarn, Yinyang non-woven machinery and products, draft fan for textile industry use and Shenhua warp knitted towel. The production base of protein soybean fibers with high-tech was also placed in Changshu. Since 2000, Changshu city has co-organized Changshu Garment and Accessories Fair, which greatly improved the market position and influence of its textile industry, with China National Textile Industrial Council successfully for three continual times.
With China's accession into WTO and arrival of new challenges stemming from the globalization of world economy, Changshu devote great efforts to the textile industrial upgrading with the aim to create a city with strong textile industry rather than a merely big textile industry. By 2005, 50% of all integrated production textile machines in the city will meet the internationally advanced level. At the same time, a batch of new famous brands will be fostered in the Tenth-five Year Plan period and even some globally famed brands.
