In Chapter 7 and Lecture 7 we learned about China's economy, including an overview of its economic history, and its economic reforms. I have subsequently researched more information regarding Xian's economy and its development in response to these economic reforms. Xian is particularly interesting to study since it is located within the interior west of China, which has traditionally been less economically affluent and less technologically advanced as the eastern coastal regions. However, according to many sources, Xian is becoming an economic leader within China. According to an article published by the China Research Center on April 17, 2010, and written by Susan Walcott and Chen Ying, Xian's rise to "regional prominence" initially began following the communists' victory in 1949 and their subsequent relocation of several coastal technical research universities and strategic industries to the interior, such as to the city of Xian, in response to their "Third Line" defensive strategy. These universities and industries helped create new urban centers of economic strength within the interior of China, and helped transform and modernize the formerly rural Xian.
Around the turn of the twenty-first century, Xian began to establish itself as a key provider of producer services in China, which is a position that it continues to maintain and strengthen. According Walcott and Ying, "The three main components of modern Xi’an’s producer services sector are financial services (banking, insurance and securities), information consulting (advertising, law and accounting), and computer services (software, data processing and database services)." Also, the article points out that Xian's tertiary sector, or service-based sector, is also increasing, as employment increased substantially from 1997 to 2006 in Xian's financial services, information consulting, and computer consulting.
The primary impetus behind Xian's economic growth and modernization was "State intervention", generally in the form of government investment in the establishment of research universities in Xian and in the form of state-level urban and financial planners who helped initiate construction projects to raise employment and to build shopping malls and other amenities to boost the tourism business. This policy of central investment in interior cities was used throughout much of western China, and as Walcott and Ying noted, it "seems to have been successful in Xi'an." Ultimately, the authors of the article praised Xian as a "reinvigorated oasis of affluence in the dry lands of west China" and I can't help but agree. Xian has risen to become a shining example of economic transformation and modernization within China, as these pictures of the modern city of Xian seem to indicate:
The High-Tech park in Xian:
Yongningmen Metro Station in Xian:
(Source: http://www.chinacenter.net/developing-western-china-xians-maturing-economy-and-the-role-of-producer-services/)
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