By July 10 this year, more than 7,600 companies signed up to be a member of the free trade zone, with the registered capital exceeding 102.6 billion yuan. In the first half of this year, Chengdu's total import and export volume jumped 67 percent year on year to 181.3 billion yuan, which was highlighted as the result of the FTZ's establishment, said Ruan Qingsong, a professor specializing in economy and management at Shanghai's Tongji University.
"It shows the driving effect on Chengdu's export-oriented economy brought by the FTZ," Ruan said.
"The setup of FTZ makes many foreign-trade-based enterprises transfer their business and economic entities to Chengdu and that's one of the factors attributing to the rapid growth of the foreign trade."
Meanwhile, Chengdu also attaches importance to its cultural promotion. Taking advantage of its natural and historical elements, Chengdu, one of the state's 10 ancient capitals, keeps promoting its featured cultures like Shu culture, Three Kingdoms culture and giant panda culture. The city government aims to make Chengdu a city of intangible cultural heritage, music, design and exhibition.
It held a series of over 400 events during the 2017 Chengdu International Festival of Intangible Cultural Heritage, between June 10 and 18, with people from 105 countries, regions and international organizations enrolled, aiming to showcase the variety of diverse cultures and exchange the experiences on intangible cultural heritage protection between countries.
The festival was the first international event in Chengdu featuring intangible heritage, which gained the support of UNESCO. For a decade, it has become an important platform for promotion of the UN Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, and for strengthening international cooperation.
On August 24, an event with a theme of "Chengdu aiming to build the national center of culture and creativity in western China" was held in Hong Kong as a part of the Sichuan-Hong Kong-Macau Cooperation Week. During the event, Chengdu was awarded as one of the World Cities Culture Forum members. Meanwhile, Chengdu will host the 2018 Belt and Road & Urban Cultural Development Forum.
Conor Roche, a special representative on behalf of the World Cities Culture Forum president, addressed great expectation on the new comer. He believes Chengdu's joining will prompt the global cultural exchange and the development of cultural and creative industries around the world.
Besides turning itself into a culture and creative hub, city government also put high priority on environmental protection. The first phase of Jincheng Greenbelt, an important part of the whole 17,000-kilometer Tianfu Greenbelt, has started construction on September 2 in the city's Yushi Wetland Area.
According to the designers from the Sichuan Architectural Design and Research Institute, the greenbelt acts as a "slow traffic system" which can prevent the cyclists and pedestrians from merging with each other.
Meanwhile, the greenbelt, which will connect with major scenic spots and infrastructure and run through waterways, hills and forests, will enable residents to have a better sight.
