To help the city as well as the region to recover, the emperor Kangxi, the second emperor of the Qing Dynasty, asked the people in richest southern provinces to move to Sichuan. In 1944, the American XX Bomber Command launched Operation Matterhorn, an ambitious plan to base B-29 Superfortresses in Chengdu and strategically bomb the Japanese Home Islands. Another said it’s to protect the poor city wall. Total retail sales of the catering industry will exceed RMB 60 billion, up 20 percent annually; and the total exports and imports of Chengdu will be above US$35 billion, increasing 30 percent annually. Chengdu is one of the first service outsourcing bases in China. The ancient Jinli Street was one of the oldest and the most commercialized streets in the history of the Shu state and was well known throughout the country during the Qin, Han and Three Kingdoms periods. Chengdu is considered a World City with a "Beta +" classification (together with Barcelona and Washington, D.C.) according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. It is the largest remaining continuous habitat for giant pandas and home to more than 80 percent of the world's wild giant pandas. Chengdu also hosts many international companies and more than 12 consulates; more than 270 Fortune 500 companies have established branches in Chengdu. In addition, almost all domestic banks and securities brokerage firms located their regional headquarters or branches in Chengdu. Following the Opium War (1840 - 1842 AD), the city went into a decline for the long-term chaos and wars, and its role was overtaken by the adjacent Chongqing. An article[77] by the Los Angeles Times (2006) called Chengdu "China's party city" for its carefree lifestyle. The United Kingdom and Canada also have visa centres in Chengdu. Bus cards are available that permit free bus transfers for three hours. Chengdu, the capital of China's southwest Sichuan Province, is famed for being the home of cute giant pandas.Located in the west of Sichuan Basin and in the center of Chengdu Plain, the city covers a total area of 12.3 thousand square kilometres (4,749 square miles) with a population of over 11 million. This center is equipped with 36 standard tennis courts and 11,000 seats. It’s proven that there were humans settling in Chengdu at least 3,700 – 4,500 years ago. [49][50], The Chengdu Tianfu District Great City is a sustainable planned city that will be outside of Central Chengdu, and is expected to be completely built later in the decade.[when?] It was reopened as a Methodist church in the mid-1980s. Manufacturing chains are already formed in integrated circuits, optoelectronics displays, digital video & audio, optical communication products, and original-equipment products of electronic terminals, represented by such companies as IBM, Intel, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson, Dell, Lenovo, Foxconn, Compal, Wistron, and others. The Sichuan International Tennis Center, located 16 km (10 mi) away from Chengdu's Shuangliu International Airport, covers an area of 250,000 square metres (2,700,000 square feet). Played at the Beijing Olympic Tennis Center with combined prize money of $6.6 million and a main stadium that holds 10,000 spectators, the China Open is now one of the WTA's top four tournaments. Scsi currently manages an active portfolio in excess of CNY 300 billion and has operations in India, Israel, Singapore and USA. At the time of the 2010 census, Chengdu was the fifth-most populous agglomeration in China, with 10,484,996 inhabitants in the built-up area including Xinjin County and Deyang's Guanghan City. CHENGDU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 4, 2020--The launching ceremony of Chengdu History and Culture Overseas Virtual Exhibition was held by the Chengdu Chronicles Compilation Committee at Chengdu Chronicles Office on 24 November. It is situated in the suburbs of Dujiangyan City and connected to downtown Chengdu 70 km (43 mi) away by the Cheng-Guan Expressway. Shangqing Temple is noted for an evening phosphorescent glow locally referred to as "holy lights". Marco Polo visited Chengdu[23][30] and wrote about the Anshun Bridge or an earlier version of it. Chengdu developed rapidly during World War II, when many refugees from eastern China, fleeing the Japanese, settled there. Chengdu's annual Grand Temple Fair is held every year during the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) in Wuhou Shrine, Jinli, the Culture Park, and several other city parks. Chengdu contains official,[70] Roman Catholic[71] and Protestant congregations, some of which are underground churches. Chengdu is home to the most competitive IT industry cluster in western China, an important integrated circuit industry base in China, and one of the five major national software industry bases. The goal of the 'park city' project is to allow a city like Chengdu to compete with Beijing and Shanghai without stripping the city of its character. It has since grown into the largest community for Hakka people. The 100-metre-tall (330 ft) structure is 500 by 400 metres (1,600 by 1,300 ft) in size with 1,700,000 square metres (18,000,000 sq ft) of floor area.