The agriculture industry is not the only sector to enjoy prosperous growth. Ten years of development have allowed Sichuan to shift from an enclosed, self-providing province to a more involved member of the global community.

Traveling with ease

As an old saying goes, walking the narrow paths of Shu Kingdom (Sichuan in the ancient times) is more difficult than climbing up to Heaven. Simply put, Sichuan has long been known for its difficult roads and trails.

Owing to its sheltered location surrounded by mountains, the roads from Sichuan to the rest of China have never been easy. Within the province, few villages have access to proper road networks and some cannot even facilitate bicycle traffic.

Sichuan has long been plagued by its poor transportation system, but fortunately the strategy put infrastructure construction on the top of its agenda.

According to Vice Governor of Sichuan Province Wei Hong, with the 300 billion yuan ($44.1 billion) investment to improve traffic conditions, Sichuan now boasts a total road mileage of 224,500 km, and has built up a large air traffic network, including a hub airport and 10 branch airports. The hub airport in Chengdu is the fourth largest in China.

By 2020, the travel time from Chengdu to Shenyang and Shanghai will both be shortened from more than 30 hours to about eight hours. Trips to Guangzhou and Beijing will take about six hours respectively, Wei said.

"After 10 years, the railways will reach all prefecture-level cities in Sichuan Province," Wei said, adding the highway mileage will total 8,200 km, five times that of 2007. Seventeen airports will be built for civil use and 18 railways and 21 highways will link Sichuan to the rest of China, Wei added.

Trade growth

With the traffic bottleneck relieved, Sichuan has been presented with greater opportunities to establish stronger ties with the outside. According to the Sichuan Provincial Government, Sichuan has established economic and trade connections with more than 200 countries and regions. Nine countries have set up consulates in Sichuan, a number comparable to Shanghai and Guangzhou.

As of the end of 2008, Sichuan had approved 8,628 foreign-invested enterprises, with 145 top 500 world companies, including Intel, Motorola, Toyota, establishing subsidiaries or offices in Sichuan. From 2000 to 2008, Sichuan received foreign direct investments totaling $13 billion, ranking first out of the 12 provinces and autonomous regions in west China.

Drawing on opportunities from the Western Development Strategy and industrial transfer from east China, Sichuan has realized an historic transformation from an enclosed inland economy to a more open one, said Wei.

Sichuan's trade proportion of its GDP increased from 0.4 percent in 1978 to 12 percent in 2008, according to the Sichuan Provincial Government.

The strategy has allowed Sichuan to assume a more open attitude toward the outside world, Wei said.

Post-quake reconstruction

Dongfang Turbine Co. Ltd., China's largest power-generating equipment producer in solar, wind and nuclear energy, suffered considerable damage from the May 12 earthquake in 2008—its main plant was only 30 km from the epicenter. Dongfang Turbine was one of the hardest hit state-owned enterprises, according to the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

Through reconstruction efforts, a new factory, with more modern features than its predecessor facility, has already been built and put into operation more than 10 km away from the former work base.

"The new factory utilizes emission-cutting technology. No pollutants will be emitted," said Hu Jun, Director of the Reconstruction Department of Dongfang Turbine Co. Ltd.

As of mid-December 2009, Dongfang Turbine realized a gross output of 17 billion yuan ($2.5 billion), an increase of 53 percent year on year, according to Hu.

"This indicates that our production has essentially been recovered," Hu also said.

The 2008 earthquake caused extensive damage to Sichuan's economic and social development, but reconstruction efforts were quick to commence, said Wei.

According to the Sichuan Provincial Government, 91.3 percent of planned reconstruction projects have commenced and 64.6 percent have already been completed.

The quake-hit area experienced a faster-than-expected economic recovery, with an average growth rate in the first three quarters of 2009 exceeding the average provincial growth rate, said Wei.

Current basic living conditions and economic and social development have recovered to their 2007 levels, Wei said.