NW China's Shaanxi accelerates high-level opening up thanks to China-Europe freight train service

As a frontier of China's westward opening up, northwest China's Shaanxi Province has continuously advanced high-quality opening up thanks to the China-Europe freight train service, which was launched when the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was proposed in 2013.

About 2,000 years ago in the Han Dynasty (202 B.C.- 220 A.D.), a Chinese envoy named Zhang Qian opened up a trade route that later became the ancient Silk Road, with today's Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi, as the starting point. The China-Europe freight train service has since become the modern-day "caravans of steel camels" of the BRI.

A Chang'an China-Europe freight train driven by Qin Kai arrived at a railway station in Xinfeng township of Xi'an on July 25.

A Chang'an China-Europe freight train driven by Qin Kai arrives at a railway station in Xinfeng township, Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on July 25, 2023. (People's Daily Online/Jia Kailu)

This year marks the 10th year for Qin to work for Chang'an China-Europe freight trains.

"I was fortunate to see that the first Chang'an China-Europe freight train departed from Xi'an International Port in 2013, even if I didn't work on that train," Qin recalled.

With the BRI materializing, Qin later realized his dream of driving Chang'an China-Europe freight trains.

The Chang'an China-Europe freight train service operated 4,639 train trips in 2022, up from 486 in the first five years of the launch of the service, with the number of train trips, the volume of goods transported, and the proportion of fully loaded trains ranking among the highest in the country. So far, Chang'an freight trains have reached 45 countries and regions along the Belt and Road via 17 routes.

The goods handled by the Chang'an China-Europe freight train service have expanded from construction machinery to engineering raw materials, rubber products, decoration and building materials, clothing, shoes and hats, and grain.

By rolling out favorable measures and policies surrounding the Chang'an China-Europe freight train service, Shaanxi is accelerating the construction of international trade channels in inland areas featuring efficiency, low cost and good services.

Workers of the Xi'an Aiju Grain and Oil Industrial Group load a truck with goods. (People's Daily Online/Jia Kailu)

Leading enterprises in Shaanxi, including the Xi'an Aiju Grain and Oil Industrial Group, have accelerated the pace of exploring overseas markets. The BRI has presented an important opportunity for numerous enterprises to transform, upgrade and go global.

"So far, one-third of our grain and oil products are imported from Kazakhstan, and the selling price of imported flour is now less than 12 yuan ($1.65) per kilogram, down from around 18 yuan in the past," said Liu Dongmeng, deputy general manager of the Xi'an Aiju Grain and Oil Industrial Group.

Actively responding to the BRI, the group has already built an oil processing plant in Kazakhstan with an annual output of 300,000 tonnes. It has also signed cooperation contracts on 1.5 million mu (100,000 hectares) of land with over 20 farm operators in the country, guaranteeing local farm operators' incomes and providing job opportunities to local farmers.

A robotic arm works in the industrial park of Shaanxi Konka Intelligent Appliance Co., Ltd. in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (People's Daily Online/Jia Kailu)

In the industrial park of Shaanxi Konka Intelligent Appliance Co., Ltd. in Xi'an, two automated production lines are humming, with washing machines being packaged by industrial robots. These washing machines will soon be sent to countries in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe.

Taking the opportunity of the BRI, the company has made great strides in exploring overseas markets, said Chen Zhao, general manager of the company.

"For the European market with the highest market access for dishwashers, our team took just five months to develop the first dishwasher prototype. At present, we have secured orders for 50,000 dishwashers from top-tier German brands," Chen added.

In 2022, Shaanxi's total import and export value with countries along the Belt and Road rose by 41 percent year on year to over 100 billion yuan, accounting for 23.3 percent of the province's total. In the first quarter of 2023, Shaanxi's trade with Belt and Road countries totaled 32.9 billion yuan, a 43.7 percent year-on-year increase, making up 31.7 percent of the province's total.

Shaanxi has seized the opportunity of the BRI to promote high-level opening up. In 2022, the foreign direct investment in actual use surged by 37.6 percent year on year to $1.46 billion in Shaanxi, with the growth rate ranking 11th in China, and 314 foreign-invested enterprises were established in the province.

A Kazakh live-streaming hostess promotes products in an overseas warehouse. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Chinese entrepreneur Yuan Zhaohui and his wife Anita from Kazakhstan have witnessed and benefited from the growth in economic and trade vitality under the BRI.

Starting from a brick-and-mortar store in Kazakhstan, they founded a cross-border e-commerce platform called Silk Road City, which has over 2,000 physical stores, six warehouses in Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus, and cooperated with over 300 Chinese suppliers.

Photo shows a physical store of a cross-border e-commerce platform called Silk Road City founded by Chinese entrepreneur Yuan Zhaohui and his wife Anita from Kazakhstan. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

They also teamed up with over 2,000 local young people to promote products. "Just pick up their mobile phones to shoot and share videos about the products, and they can get a commission," Yuan said.

The entrepreneur added that they hope to help more and more young people along the Belt and Road with opportunities for business start-ups.

Photo shows the Belt and Road Lingang Industrial Park in Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Photo courtesy of Xi'an International Trade and Logistics Park)