The provincial seat of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi is Xinjiang’s political, economic and cultural center, important gateway for West China to open up to the outside. Situated in the geographic center of Asian continent, Urumqi acts as the bridge tower for the west portion of the new Eurasian Land Bridge. Urumqi’s economy grew at a stable and relatively fast speed, with the economy aggregate surpassing the 100-billion benchmark. In 2008, Urumqi’s GDP totaled RMB 102 billion. The population of permanent residents amounts to 2.08 million, with a per capita GDP of RMB 49,038
Urumqi is known as the “pear in west China”. It has distinct location advantages and relatively big market potentials. It is not only the biggest commodity distribution center in Xinjiang, but also an important distribution center of import/export trade in the Central Asian Region. It has become an important platform for investors in the world to penetrate the central Asian market. As the land transportation hub for China to connect with the central Asian regions and even Europe, Urumqi, today, has become the important window for China to broaden it open door to the west and conduct foreign economic and cultural exchanges. For the four key geological elements of developed commercial and trade cities in the world, namely along coast, border, river and trafficline, Rrumqi has the advantage of being not only along borders, but also along trafficlines. These are the biggest geographic advantages for Xinjiang as well as Urumqi in the development of the west.