Dalian vows to be next Bangalore

BEIJING - Thomas Friedman identified Dalian as China's Bangalore in his seminal work The World is Flat five years ago. Xia Deren, the port city's Party chief, who was mayor when the Pulitzer winner interviewed him, believes that this will become reality in about five years.

The rise might be partly because Xia, a technocrat, throws more weight to IT talent cultivation than anyone else.

"Dalian is better than the Indian Silicon Valley in terms of infrastructure and environment, but in terms of human resources and enterprise competitiveness, the city lags behind Bangalore," he told China Daily on Wednesday.