Industrialization had a slow beginning in Xi'an. The machinery industry, the city's early industry, only took an initial shape after the east-west railway artery Longhai Railway opened its Xi'an Station at the end of 1934. After the Anti-Japanese War began in 1937, capital and staff fleeing from Japanese-occupied cities flooded into Xi'an, creating the conditions for a boom in light industries such as textiles, food and garments. But the city's industrial production was still only 106 million yuan ($15.52 million), lagging far behind that of similar big cities in China.

Immediately after the founding of the PRC, Xi'an's Party committee and government prioritized price stabilization and control of vicious inflation to deal with the tough fiscal situation. In three years' time, Xi'an's net domestic product grew by 78.3 percent; total agricultural and industrial output value surged by 68.3 percent; and the local government's fiscal revenue jumped to 12.78 times that of 1949. The output of major agricultural and industrial products all surpassed the best records before the founding of the PRC.

During the period of the First Five-Year Plan (1953-57) for national development, Xi'an was designated as a key city of industrialization. The Central Government spent 1.262 billion yuan ($184 million) overhauling the city's public facilities. Of the 156 industrial projects in China that received aid from the former Soviet Union, 17 were located in Xi'an, the largest number among all big cities in China. The founding of large companies in the machinery, textile, aerospace, power facilities, instruments and apparatus, and national defense industries laid a solid material and technical foundation for Xi'an's industrial economy, with the city turning into a manufacturing base for electrical engineering, textiles and aircraft.

According to the city's first development blueprint compiled in the 1950s, the city proper expanded in the three directions of east, west and south while maintaining its chessboard shape. The blueprint also laid out the city's administrative areas, commercial areas, industrial areas, education areas, railway transportation centers, logistics and warehouse centers, and residential areas.

Since the initiation of reform and opening up, Xi'an's economy has maintained an average annual growth rate of 12.3 percent. The growth rate for 2008 reached 15.6 percent, the highest in the last 15 years. The city's gross domestic product (GDP) skyrocketed from 189 million yuan ($27.67 million) in 1949 to 219 billion yuan ($32.06 billion) in 2008. Through the rapid development of the past six decades, Xi'an has transformed from an industrially backward city into a base for manufacturing industries, scientific research and development and higher education, an attractive tourism destination and a logistics center.

Since the founding of the PRC, what changes have happened to the city's development positions and scales? What are the city's overall development plans?

We can observe the evolution of Xi'an's development positions through its four overall development plans.

The first overall development plan, compiled in the 1950s and effective between 1954 and 1972, aimed to maintain the city's population at around 1.2 million and the area of the city proper at 131 square km. The city's development position was to become an industrial city with light machinery and textiles as its pillar industries. The city was divided into a central area for commercial and residential purposes, with an area of education institutions to the south, warehouse areas and a protection area for cultural relics to the north, a textile manufacturing base to the east and an electrical engineering base to the west. The realization of this blueprint created the city's layout for its further development.

The second overall development plan, compiled in the 1980s and effective between 1980 and 2000, aimed to maintain the city's population at around 1.8 million and the area of the city proper at 162 square km. The city's development position was to become a socialist modern city with textiles and machinery manufacturing as its pillar industries and advanced science, education and tourism while maintaining its original look as an ancient capital. The blueprint also included measures to protect the cultural relics left by different dynasties so that Xi'an could become an internationally renowned ancient capital.

The third overall development plan, compiled in the 1990s and effective between 1995 and 2010, aimed to maintain the city's population at around 3.1 million and the area of the city proper at 175 square km by 2010. The city's development position is to become a world-famous city, a major national base for scientific research and development, higher education and hi-tech industries, and a megacity in China's northwest. Following the principles of protecting the old city quarter, lowering population density, controlling scale, preserving land, improving the environment, prioritizing infrastructure development and improving the city's center, the city will develop several sub-centers with different functions instead of sprawling indefinitely.

The State Council, China's cabinet, has approved Xi'an's fourth city development plan, effective from 2008 to 2020. With the city's position and characteristics basically unchanged, the city's scale will expand to accommodate a total population of 10.7 million by 2020.