Capital for more than a dozen royal regimes -- national or regional -- Xi'an in Shaanxi Province, is a monument to China's rich and splendid past. Now it is putting its stamp on one of the industries that define the nation's future - manufacturing. In its northern suburb, the largest manufacturing center in western China is on the rise. Jingwei New City is the latest star to be born in the West Development Program.

From wasteland to promised land

Even in the dead of winter the northern fringe of Xi'an is alive with the clangs and rumbles of the area's many construction sites. High-rise buildings are popping up one after another in what used to be a little-visited, sparsely inhabited rural community. Local residents seem dizzy from coping with the change. "Just five years ago there was nothing but crop fields lining Fengcheng 8th and 9th streets," said a man surnamed Zhou. Zhou's hometown has been reborn under the name Jingwei New City, which will become Xi'an's new administrative center this March. It is one of a quartet in the Xi'an Economic and Technical Development Zone, whose construction began 16 years ago.

Xi'an and its peripheries have a solid foundation of basic industry, and are viewed as the beachhead in China's drive to rejuvenate its vast, underdeveloped west. Xi'an, the provincial capital and an old equipment manufacturing base, lost its luster in recent decades. Once it regains its national industrial might, it can offer traction to the army of minor cities around it. Expectations are that if the Xi'an area aligns with Chongqing and Chengdu -- two important metropolises in the west, a golden triangle will arise as the fourth economic powerhouse of China, following the dynamic Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta and the Bohai Rim Economic Circle.

Zhang Baotong, president of the Institute of Economics of the Shaanxi Academy of Social Sciences, knows it will take effort to make Xi'an the pivot point for unfolding the anticipated golden triangle. "At present both Chongqing and Chengdu are two mighty pillars, and Xi'an is a slim bamboo prop. In the mission of driving the western provinces to an economic Promised Land, Chongqing and Chengdu are the draught horses, and Xi'an the donkey. The triangle won't be firm and steady until Xi'an gets its footing."

Under pressure to flex the economic muscles the city aspires to, the Economic and Technical Development Zone and the Jingwei New City in particular, has attracted 92 companies involved in various industries such as automobile, heavy machinery, new materials and new energy. The total investment so far exceeds RMB 30 billion. Among them is the Shaangxi Automobile Group Co., Ltd., whose facilities and technologies can rival those of the biggest names in the trade worldwide. According to Lei Peijun, its chief engineer, the company's export of heavy-duty trucks is larger than those of all other automakers in the nation combined. In 2009 the figure went well above 10,000.

When a revered brand is wooed into a place, there is often a ripple effect among its peers. Following Saangxi Automobile, Cummins set up a plant in Jingwei New City. On the heel of China XD Group, a producer of power supply equipment, elbowed in ABB and Mitsubishi. Yongji Electric Machine Factory now enjoys the stimulating company of rivals Hitachi and Alstom. And BP eventually nestled up to energy early bird Sunoasis, a solar energy business.

This chain reaction has gone beyond the boundary of industries. Also in the zone are billions worth of projects by conglomerates ranging from China North Industries Group Corporation (equipment for both military and civil use) and China CNR Co., Ltd. (electric locomotives) to the Yurun Group (food, logistics, tourism retailing and real estate). To maintain and then ratchet up this momentum, the Economic and Technical Development Zone earmarked an investment of RMB 70 billion in 2009 to upgrade local infrastructure. It is part and parcel of the RMB 100 billion package the city plans to deploy in the transformation of the zone into a manufacturing juggernaut within three to five years.