Zheng Li, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and head of the publicity department

In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Sichuan was just a third-tier construction base, now it has thrived to become the country's new hub for scientific and technological innovation. As Sichuan has made solid efforts to promote innovation-driven and high-quality development, and strived to build a key manufacturing hub, the province's total economic output achieved leapfrog growth and its GDP reached 5.38 trillion yuan ($744.38 billion) last year.