Opening-up plays key role in Qingdao's modernization

Reform and opening-up has proved a success in the modernization of the coastal city of Qingdao, in eastern China's Shandong province, Mayor Meng Fanli said.

From 1978, when reform and opening-up was launched, to 2017, the city's GDP rose from 3.8 billion yuan to 1.1 trillion yuan ($171 billion), with per capita GDP rising from 663 yuan to more than 119,000 yuan.

Qingdao was one of the first 14 coastal cities to open up to the world in 1984. By the end of last year, it had attracted $76.2 billion in foreign investment and 271 projects funded by 141 Fortune Global 500 companies, including Volkswagen, Siemens, Bombardier and Amazon.