The city of Xi'an – capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi province – has promoted reform, innovation and development through its dynamic opening-up over the last decade, and it is now moving towards a bigger world stage with a brand-new image.

In 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed, and at the same time, the first China-Europe Chang'an freight train was launched from Xi'an.

A China-Europe Chang'an freight train departs from Xi'an. [Photo/Visual Xi'an]

So far, the freight train has opened 16 regular international destination services, covering the entire Eurasian continent. It is currently the fastest freight train in the country, with the most intelligent services, the widest range of radiation and the lowest costs.

In 2021, the value of the city's total imports and exports came in at 440 billion yuan ($61.22 billion), contributing 41.2 percent to its GDP, an increase of 22.4 percentage points over that in 2012.

Xi'an has also made efforts to optimize its commercial ecosystem, and it has been recognized as a benchmark city in China's business environment evaluations for two consecutive years.

In 2017, it became the seventh sub-provincial city with more than 1 million market players. By the end of 2021, the total number of registered market players in the city was 2.69 million.

The number of the city's listed companies at home and abroad reached 48 last year, an increase of 19 companies on the number in 2012.

This view of downtown Xi'an and its glittering lights in the evening show the modern face of the city. [Photo/Xi'an municipal government's WeChat account]

In stark contrast to a decade ago, nowadays over 90 percent of government service matters at the municipal and district-level can be handled online.

Meanwhile, Xi'an has carried out extensive exchanges and cooperation in various fields with countries and regions in the world.

In the past three years, as the only Chinese member city in the presidium of the World Organization of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), Xi'an has participated in 178 international conferences held under the auspices of that body.

As of May 6, 2022, Xi'an had established sister city relationships with 38 cities in the world, ranking it among the top sub-provincial cities in the country.