CHENGDU
BIRTHPLACE OF WORLD’S
FIRST CURRENCY
Chengdu is best known as the home of the Giant
Panda and spicy Chinese food,but it’s becoming
much more. Located away from China’s densely
populated eastern coast,the city can confidently
represent China’s west as a new hub of global
development, with over 20% of the world’s
computers and 70% of the world’s Apple iPads
now shipping from Chengdu.
Over 215 of the Fortune 500 companies
now call Chengdu home, drawn to Chengdu for
its comprehensive and modern infrastructure,
low operating costs, locally available talent,
and dependable government services. These
incentives, global powerhouses including Dell,
IBM, Siemens, GE, SAP, Cisco and Accenture are
looking to expand further into China.
The Tianfu New Area development initiative
is another highlight of the new Chengdu. This
1,500
square kilometer site, launched in 2011, is
developing rapidly to cater to a diverse array of
industries. Focused on high-end manufacturing
and service sectors such as IT, automotive, and
new energy, GDP in the development zone is
projected to reach 650 billion RMB by the end
of 2020.
A recent report by the Chengdu
Administration for Industry and Commerce
stated the city’s total registered capital for major
organizations surpassed 1 trillion RMB in 2011.
Chengdu’s 2011 GDP growth of 15.2% also
outpaced the national average by 6 percentage
points. Xu Fengxian, a researcher from the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, is bullish
on Chengdu’s growth prospects.“For three years
already, the growth rate of China’s western cities
has surpassed the national average,”he said.“We
have confidence that this trend will persist for at
least another 6-8 years.”
Chengdu, the World’s Excellent Tourist
Destination, was nominated as “The Best Tourist
City” by World Tourism Organization and China
national Tourism Administration, honored by
UNESCO as Asia’s first“City of Gastronomy“
Chengdu, the birthplace of the world’s first
paper currency, has been restored to its early
glory of being an economic center once again.
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