On January 12, Chengdu Jiaozi Financial Conference, co-hosted by Chengdu 
Municipal Local Financial Regulation Bureau, Sichuan Branch of Xinhua News 
Agency, and China Economic Information Service of Xinhua News Agency, was held 
at the Jiaozi Financial Museum in Chengdu Hi-Tech Zone. The conference, themed 
"Jiaozi Culture and Financial Technology: Innovative Exploration of Western 
Financial Center Construction", aimed to jointly review the millennium-old 
Jiaozi culture and delve into the opportunities presented by financial 
technology.

During the conference, experts, scholars, and industry professionals engaged in 
in-depth discussions through keynote speeches, roundtable dialogues, and other 
activities. They focused on topics such as Jiaozi financial culture, the 
development of financial technology and banking business transformation, 
high-quality digitization transformation of capital markets, optimizing the 
innovation ecosystem of financial technology, and financial services for the 
real economy. The aim was to collectively explore the intrinsic relationship 
between Jiaozi culture and financial technology, as well as to explore the 
development opportunities for financial technology innovation, with the goal of 
providing insights and suggestions for the high-quality development of 
Chengdu's finance and the construction of the western financial center.

It is understood that the day of the conference also marked the 1000th 
anniversary of the birth of the world's first paper currency, Jiaozi, in 
Chengdu. Jiaozi's birth predates the appearance of European paper currency by 
more than 600 years, not only breaking the limitations of traditional metallic 
currency but also becoming a significant milestone in human's currency history. 
Today, within Chengdu Jiaozi Financial Museum, numerous precious artifacts on 
display shed light on the birth and development of Jiaozi, as well as the 
profound impact of its culture of integrity, open-mindedness, and innovative 
spirit on the subsequent development and transformation of finance.

In recent years, Chengdu has made remarkable achievements in the construction 
of the western financial center. It has vigorously implemented the "seven major 
projects", including the aggregation of financial institutions, enhancement of 
financial markets, modern financial characteristics, innovation-driven finance, 
expanded financial opening, optimized financial ecology, and interconnected 
financial infrastructure. Efforts have been focused on "five major areas", such 
as technology finance, green finance, inclusive finance, pension finance, and 
digital finance. Finance has been continuously injecting "vitality" into the 
high-quality development of Chengdu's real economy, becoming a key element in 
promoting the smooth circulation and deep integration of innovation chains, 
industry chains, and talent chains in Chengdu.

As of now, Chengdu has more than 2,800 various intermediary and financial 
institutions. The research results of the "2023 China 'Mass Entrepreneurship 
and Innovation' Financial Index" released by the China (Shenzhen) Development 
Institute at the conference also indicate that Chengdu's "Mass Entrepreneurship 
and Innovation" financial index ranks first in the central and western regions.

Furthermore, the conference also unveiled the "Xinhua Silk Road Western 
Center". The establishment of this Center in Chengdu will be conducive to 
Chengdu leveraging national platform advantages and taking the opportunity of 
jointly building the western financial center by Chengdu and Chongqing to 
continue strengthening financial services related to the Belt and Road 
Initiative (BRI).

Source: Chengdu Municipal Local Financial Regulation Bureau