OPENING DAY: Visitors enter the Xixian New Area exhibition hall at the 17th Investment and Trade Forum for Cooperation Between East and West China in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, on April 6 (LI GUOWEN)

On the square of Qujiang International Conference and Exhibition Center, folk art performers create a festive atmosphere. Among the streams of spectators were visitors from Southeast Asia, as well as from Africa, South Korea, Japan and Pakistan.

They came to Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, to attend the 17th Investment and Trade Forum for Cooperation Between East and West China (ITFCEW), which ran from April 5 to 9. With more than 3,000 booths, the event managed to attract over 100,000 business people including 4,000 foreign investors from 60 countries and regions.

At the opening ceremony, Lou Qinjian, Governor of Shaanxi Province, expounded on the forum's theme of ecological cooperation, emphasizing the integrated development of humans, society and nature and illustrated by the development of a new zone: the Xixian New Area.

Xixian New Area

Located between Xi'an, the provincial capital, and Xianyang, the Xixian New Area covers a total planning area of 882 square km. It is strategically positioned to develop hi-tech, advanced equipment manufacturing related to the airport industry, ecological tourism and high-end modern service industries. Each of Xixian's five sub-districts is distinguished by their development focus.

With Xi'an Xianyang International Airport to the south, the Airport New City is striving to become an important state-level international air transportation hub, a demonstration area for the airport industry in the western region, and a gateway for Xi'an.

"To build a 4G international airport city, the focus should be on promoting an economy around the airport industry. That's to say, with aviation-related industries as the core, residents can have all their needs met in the city," said Wang Xuedong, Director of Airport New City Development and Construction Administration Committee.

To this end, the southern part of the Airport New City will be dedicated to developing civil aviation technology and resident-oriented projects. With the two large ecological corridors of the Jinghe River and Beiqinggou Reservoir, the new city will be developed with "maintaining ecological harmony between humans and nature," which is characterized by leisure tourism and modern agriculture, in mind.

To develop the economy in an ecologically balanced way, creating a hi-tech industry is another indispensable element.

Focusing on the development of information technology, the Internet, new materials and biomedicine, Fengxi New City—in the Xixian New Area—is designated as a sub-center for comprehensive services for the Xi'an area and a strategic base for new-rising industries.

"Information technology ranks second among the seven strategic emerging industries recommended by the State Council. It includes cloud computing, mobile Internet and big data," said Liu Yubin, Deputy Director of Fengxi New City Administration Committee.

To fully tap the potential of big data, Fengxi New City has allocated 5 square km to set up the first domestic big data processing and services park, which includes three parts—an accumulation area for basic data, a research and development area for data application and a data stacking expansion area.