In the national regional economic layout, Xi'an has the location advantage of bearing the east and starting the west, connecting the east and advancing the west, and has an important strategic position in the western development strategy. Xi'an's comparative advantages are highlighted at three levels: the advantage of world-class tourism resources; the advantage of national scientific research, education and high-tech industrial base; and the advantage of regional-level financial, commercial and trade centers and transportation and information hubs. Through deepening reform and expanding opening up, Xi'an is becoming an important inland open city in China.
Tourism resources are unique, and it is one of the world's famous historical and cultural cities at home and abroad. Xi'an, one of the birthplaces of human civilization and the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation, has a history of more than 3,100 years of founding the city, there have been 13 dynasties such as the Zhou, Qin, Han, Tang, etc., built their capitals here, used to be the center of China's political, economic and cultural center and the earliest city to open up to the outside world, known as the "Silk Road" is the beginning of Xi'an, and is the first city with Athens, Rome and the United States. Xi'an is one of the world's most famous historical capitals, along with Athens, Rome and Cairo.
Xi'an is extremely rich in cultural heritage. There are 282 key cultural relics protection units in Xi'an, including 34 national key cultural relics protection units, 72 provincial key cultural relics protection units, and more than 120,000 pieces of cultural relics in the library. The Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit of Qin Shi Huang, known as the "Eighth Wonder of the World", the most well-preserved and largest ancient city wall of Xi'an - Xi'an Ming City Wall, and the four major ruins of Feng-hao of the Zhou Dynasty, A-fang Palace of the Qin Dynasty, Chang'an City of the Han Dynasty, and Daming Palace of the Tang Dynasty, are all precious historical and cultural heritages of mankind. The rich historical and cultural heritage and unique natural scenery have made Xi'an one of the preferred tourist destinations for domestic and foreign tourists. Since the reform and opening up, Xi'an's tourism infrastructure and industrial system has taken shape. The city has 20 scenic spots that receive more than 100,000 tourists annually, and 9 national 4A-level scenic spots. In 2005, the city received 23.46 million domestic tourists and 776,000 overseas tourists, an increase of 12.8% and 19.3% respectively over the previous year. The total income from tourism amounted to 17.85 billion yuan, an increase of 15.9%.
Strong scientific and technological strength, developed higher education, is an important base for scientific research and education and high-tech industries in China. Xi'an's comprehensive scientific and technological strength ranks among the forefront of large cities in the country, especially in the fields of aerospace, power transmission and transformation equipment, instrumentation, electronics and communications, sewing machines, large fans, heavy-duty automobiles, textiles, clocks and watches and other areas of strong scientific research and production capacity. Xi'an has 9 state-level scientific research bases. Xi'an has a large number of institutions of higher learning and scientific research institutes, which have a number of open laboratories and first-class domestic testing and inspection equipments up to the international level, and some cutting-edge technologies are in the leading position in China. Xi'an now has 37 general institutions of higher learning, 36 private and other institutions of higher learning, 334 doctoral programs, 826 master's programs, 60 national key disciplines, and 385 provincial and ministerial key disciplines.In 2005, 157 new high-tech enterprises were recognized, and at the end of the year, the city had 1,164 high-tech enterprises on its books, with the high-tech industry realizing an output value of 47 billion yuan.
The location advantage is obvious, is an important financial, commercial and trade center and transportation, information hub in the western region. Xi'an is located in the combination of the two major economic regions in central and western China, and is the gateway and transportation hub from the northwest to cities in the southwest, central plains, east China and north China. Throughout the ages, Xi'an's financial, commercial and trade industries have had an important position in the regional economy. Xi'an has formed a multi-level, diversified and multi-functional financial institution system with state-owned commercial banks as the main body and a variety of financial institutions co-existing and *** with the development of the financial market system consisting of the capital market, money market, foreign exchange market, etc. and the financial regulatory system consisting of banking supervision, securities supervision and insurance supervision. Xi'an city has a sound commodity circulation market system, perfect function and reasonable layout. There are 120,000 wholesale and retail trade and catering outlets of all kinds in the city, 543 trade markets of all kinds, and 19 commodity trading markets with more than one hundred million yuan in value.In 2005, the city's total retail sales of consumer goods amounted to 66.648 billion yuan, an increase of 15.2% compared with that of the previous year; among them, the retail sales of the wholesale and retail trade industry amounted to 58.916 billion yuan, an increase of 15.9%. Xi'an has convenient transportation, well-developed communication and complete city services. 2005 saw the opening of international routes from Xi'an to London, Paris, New York, Frankfurt, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver, bringing the number of international routes to 29, making Xi'an the fourth largest international aviation hub city in China. Highway construction has formed a "meter" radial trunk highway system with Xi'an as the center. The city around the highway, the new airport line was completed, the second ring road is fully open, the construction of the third ring road started, built a number of pedestrian bridges and underpasses. In 2005, the city's forest coverage reached 42%, and the number of urban air quality days above Grade 2 reached 290. Xi'an's information construction is developing rapidly, forming a modern telecommunication network with fiber optic, digital microwave, satellite, program-controlled switching, data and multimedia means of communication, covering both urban and rural areas of the city and connecting to the whole country and the rest of the world. The "Digital Xi'an" is under construction. Xi'an Telecom's broadband multimedia metropolitan area network (MAN) has covered more than 90% of the urban area of Xi'an and more than 40% of the suburban counties. Xi'an Post is one of the six major communication centers and 11 first-class mail transit bureaus in China.
Industry and agriculture are developing in a coordinated manner, and all undertakings are making progress in an all-round way. Industrial production in Xi'an maintains rapid growth. in 2005, the city's total industrial output value of 130.604 billion yuan, realizing industrial added value of 41.999 billion yuan, an increase of 12.1% over the previous year. Focus on cultivating and supporting Xifei, Xidian, Shaanxi Heavy Duty Truck, Shaanxi Drum, Shaanxi Gear, Xi'an Petrochemical, BYD, Dongsheng, Golden Flower, Starfish and other 10 in the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" during the output value of more than 10 billion yuan of large enterprises and large groups. Municipal investment in technological transformation completed 5.835 billion yuan, an increase of 32.92%. *** 9 products won the "China Famous Brand" title. Accelerate the construction of agriculture, the formation of high-quality grain, animal husbandry, vegetables, fruit four leading industries, **** built 67 acres of facility agriculture demonstration base, 29 mu planting base and 40 standardized animal husbandry farming community, advantageous agricultural products to further enhance the degree of aggregation. The city's agricultural added value of 6.8 billion yuan, an increase of 10.1% over the previous year. The city's social security system is becoming more and more perfect, pension, unemployment, medical care, industrial injury and maternity insurance system is basically established, and the level of social security has been further improved.
The city of Xi'an in the overall concept of building a moderately prosperous society in three steps: the first step, before the end of 2006, in the full completion of the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" under the premise of accelerating development and strength, to ensure that the GDP growth rate of more than 13% per annum, and strive to reach 14%. In the second step, from 2007 to 2015, overall progress will be made, key breakthroughs will be made, the main indicators for building a moderately prosperous society will be met or exceeded, and GDP and per capita GDP will be "quadrupled" five years ahead of schedule. The third step, from 2016 to 2020, the full realization of the indicators of moderately prosperous society, become a prosperous economy, science and technology education, coordinated development of urban and rural areas, urban infrastructure, beautiful ecological environment, social civilization and harmony, living a rich and prosperous life, the people live in peace and happiness in the western economic powerhouse city.
Xi'an is not only ancient, but also modern; it is not only an ancient city with rich historical and cultural deposits, but also a modernized city that is flourishing, full of vitality and hope.