2011-07-19 09:26

Fortune magazine has named Chengdu as one of the top 15 global emerging business cities for 2011. Chongqing was the only other Chinese city given the honor.

Every year the magazine goes about exploring new commercial hot spots. "We looked up economic data, consulted with business leaders, understood where they planned to set up new offices and plants, and commissioned Booz-Allen & Hamilton, a consulting firm, to screen emerging innovation centers. Chengdu was one of them." The Fortune magazine says Chengdu has become increasingly more attractive to the world's top 500 companies.

Latest statistics from the Chengdu Municipal Investment Promotion Committee show that by the end of May this year, 193 of the world top 500 companies had settled in Chengdu. The city has hosted the largest number of world top 500 companies in central and western China.

Companies used to favor cities such as New York, London and Hong Kong. However a group of emerging business cities have appeared on the horizon and have attracted global investors.

In 2010, 12 foreign top 500 companies, including Australia's ANZ Bank, Nippon Steel, Electricité de France, and Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, set up their offices in Chengdu, a record high in the city. In 2010, Chengdu led central and western regions in attracting world top 500 companies to the city. The annual foreign investment has totaled $6.41 billion, up 43.2 percent over the previous year. The newly approved foreign investment projects reached 294, up 37.4 percent.

Chengdu has won a lot of honorary titles, such as national civilized city, national environment protection model city, China's economically most robust city, China's best business city, China's best tourism city, and world gourmet capital. It has been praised by the World Bank as a benchmark city amoung other Chinese inland areas in investment environments.

To date, nine countries have set up consulates in Chengdu. They are the United States, Germany, France, Thailand, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. This makes Chengdu the third largest Chinese city to foreign consulates, after Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Chengdu is a city in southwest China- home to the greatest number of universities and research institutes. It has 49 colleges and universities, including University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Sichuan University, and Southwestern University of Finance and Economics. In 2010, over 140,000 students graduated from the colleges and universities, including 72,000 students majoring in IT, finance, economics, business management, and languages.

Chengdu has opened up 12 international and regional direct passenger airlines, such as the line to Bangalore, India. Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is also the busiest in central and western China in passenger and cargo routes.

In December 2009, Chengdu officially put into operation the international telecom data direct access channel, the fourth in the country after Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and the first in west China.