Shaanxi — A Province with Abundant Resources and Advantages
Geographically situated in the centre of China, Shaanxi Province was the eastern starting point of the ancient Silk Road. Today, Shaanxi is at the cutting edge of opening up in contemporary western China, as well as a centre for economy, innovation, culture and external communications. It boasts comprehensive advantages of building into a global advanced manufacturing base and becoming a region of reform and opening up in the inland of China
Shaanxi is the hometown of President Xi Jinping. It has a long history and splendid culture and is one of the main birthplaces of the Chinese nation and Chinese culture.
Located in the inland of China, Shaanxi has a land area of 205,600km
2 and a population of 39.53 million. The province has a profound history and culture. Its capital city, Xi’an, was known as Chang’an in ancient times and was the starting point of the ancient Silk Road. Thirteen Chinese dynasties chose Xi’an as their capital, including Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang, making it a capital for 1,180 years.
Geographically situated in the centre of China, Shaanxi is advantageously positioned to connect the east and the west, and the south and the north of the country. Xi’an Xianyang International Airport is one of eight major airline hubs in China, allowing passengers and cargos to reach 70 per cent of the country within a two-hour flight. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the airport already served 370 routes, among which 88 were international routes and 20 were full-service cargo routes. Shaanxi has the country’s largest inland port — Xi’an International Trade & Logistics Park, which operates the China Railway Express (Chang’an). The train covers 15 international routes and travels to 44 countries and regions in Eurasia. As of November 2021, the train made more than 3,800 trips. It ranked first in the country in terms of the number of trips, freight volume, heavy container rate and other indicators. It has become a role model for the high-quality development of the China Railway Express.
Shaanxi is abundant in agricultural technology resources, among which is the Yangling Demonstration Zone. The zone was the first national-level agricultural hi-tech industry demonstration zone in China and the first free trade zone among all China Pilot Free Trade Zones that has agriculture characteristics. The province is home to the Agricultural Technology Exchange and Training Demonstration Base for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and plays host to the Agricultural Technology Summit.
Shaanxi produces a complete range of manufacturing equipment for aircrafts, automobiles, aerospace facilities, CNC machine tools, power transmission and transformation facilities, among others. At present, Shaanxi is actively building six new pillar industries, including automobile, modern chemical, aerospace and high-end equipment manufacturing. The province’s equipment manufacturing industry is further developing and advancing, thanks to the implementation of smart manufacturing engineering and the integration of military and civilian projects.
Advantages for development
Once hailed as a “land of abundance”, Shaanxi was the eastern starting point of the ancient Silk Road and had a glorious history of economic and cultural exchange between the East and the West. Today, Shaanxi is at the cutting edge of opening up in contemporary western China, as well as a centre for economy, innovation, culture and external communications. It boasts comprehensive advantages of building into a global advanced manufacturing base and becoming a region of reform and opening up in the inland of China.
- A modernised transportation and logistics hub
The rapid extension of the high-speed railway and expressway network, which is centred on Xi’an, has shortened the travelling time between the Guanzhong Plain city clusters and other city clusters. As of the end of 2020, there were 92 international (regional) passenger and cargo routes, connecting 37 countries, 77 major hubs and economic and tourist cities around the world. In 2021, the China Railway Express (Chang’an) made more than 3,800 trips. It ranked first in the country in terms of the number of trips, heavy container rate, freight volume and other core indicators. By the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the province will be operating 1,500km of high-speed rails and over 7,000km of expressways, while Xi’an Xianyang International Airport will have full-service cargo routes to 40 cities.
- Innovation resources ranked among the best in China
Praised as “China’s pioneer of science and technology”, Shaanxi has a large number of science and technology research institutes and higher education institutions. There are 110 higher education institutions, 1,340 science and technology research institutes, 26 national key laboratories and 72 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Shaanxi is a national pilot province of innovation with strong scientific, technological and educational strength.
- Abundance of natural resources
Shaanxi boasts an abundance and a high quality of natural resources and is a world-famous treasure trove of mineral resources. From north to south, the province is rich in energy, rock salt, non-ferrous metals, precious metals, ferrous metals and various non-metallic minerals.
The province has discovered 138 kinds of minerals, among which 64 are top 10 in China in terms of their reserves and the reserves of coal, oil and natural gas are among the highest in the country. One in seven apples in the world is produced in Shaanxi. The province’s yield of kiwi fruit ranks first in the country and accounts for 20 per cent of the world.
- A complete industrial system
Shaanxi is an important national base for the equipment manufacturing industry, energy and chemical industries, hi-tech industry, as well as national defence, and science and technology. The province’s aviation industry accounts for 30 per cent of the country’s R&D and production capacity.
- Superior business environment
In 2020, Shaanxi optimised and improved its business environment. It fully implemented the practice of “randomly selecting objects of inspection and randomly appointing law enforcement officers and inspectors during supervisory processes, and disclosing the results to the public in a timely manner”, and “the notification commitment system + operational and post-operational supervision”. It also promoted the online processing of government affairs, and accelerated the realisation of “completing government procedures by one physical visit or one online visit to related government departments”.
In 2021, Shaanxi implemented a new round of the three-year action plan to further optimise its business environment, and promoted various reforms including “one industry, one licence” and “one enterprise, one licence”.
Shaanxi’s modern industries
- Shaanxi’s priority and leading industry — electronic information industry
Leveraging the advantages of first-class R&D and innovation, the manufacturing fields of communications equipment, new displays, integrated circuits, smart terminals, computers and advanced electronic equipment are developing at an extraordinarily high speed. In 2020, the industry’s output value reached RMB189.335bn, an increase of 38.3 per cent over the previous year. At present, it has become a leading industry for international development.
- A pillar industry that reflects Shaanxi’s level of industrial modernisation — advanced equipment manufacturing industry
The province has strong capability and leading technology in manufacturing advanced equipment for aircrafts and aerospace, high-end CNC machine tools, power transmission and transformation facilities and marine engineering. In 2020, the industry recorded an output value of RMB326.46bn.
- A traditional pillar industry of Shaanxi that is undergoing continuous transformation and upgrading — food industry
Driven by environmentally friendly and smart manufacturing, the scale and quality of winemaking, the processing of meat, dairy products, vegetables, fruit and various other sectors have been increased. Moreover, the industry is moving in the direction of branding. In 2020, the industry realised an output value of RMB264.67bn.
- Shaanxi takes advantage of its agricultural technology and geographical location — modern fruit industry
The yields and quality of apples and kiwi fruit are on top of the world. Currently, Shaanxi is accelerating industrial upgrade with an emphasis on environment protection, organic cultivation and branding. The 2020 fruit production reached 18.0803 million tonnes.
- Shaanxi’s fast-growing producer services industry — modern logistics industry
In order to gain supply chain advantages, Shaanxi has made effort to speed up the development of strategic passages, international logistics hubs, networks and systems of logistics parks and large logistics groups, and scale up its modern logistics industry. At present, the province is following the innovative development model of “logistics + trade + industry” to speed up the development pattern of “driving logistics through passages, promoting trade through logistics and agglomerating industries through trade”.
