Chengdu pushing to land university competition
Communication platform
Chengdu will make an all-out effort to host the 31st Summer Universiade in 2021. The city plans to offer world-class services and build the best communication and competition platform for college students from around the globe.
Place for sports
In the past three years, Chengdu has hosted 56 international sporting events and more than 160 national sporting events.
Academic atmosphere
As an important base of higher education in China, Chengdu is home to 64 universities. That includes Sichuan University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Southwest Jiaotong University and Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, with 910,000 college students.
Diverse cultures
With a 2,300-year history, Chengdu was named by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the World Tourism Organization as one of China's best cities for tourism. It was also titled an international city of gastronomy by UNESCO. Chengdu is renowned for its rich cultural heritages such as the giant panda, Jinsha Site Museum and the Dujiangyan water project.
Geographic advantages
Chengdu is a transport hub linking western China with the outside world. To date, the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport has opened 118 international routes and the airport's passenger throughput last year totaled 53 million, ranking fourth in the nation.
The city has started a 144-hour visa-free transit to allow visitors from 53 countries to stay for up to six days as long as they present travel documents and tickets to their next destination.
Ensuring services
Last year, Chengdu's GDP reached more than 1.53 trillion yuan, up 8 percent year-on-year.
It has attracted 285 Fortune Global 500 companies, ranking first in western China. The city ranked 71st among all cities worldwide in terms of overall competitiveness covering economic growth, infrastructure and modern services, according to the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network.
(China Daily 07/13/2019 page6)
