Why Chengdu, China?
Chengdu, Rong for short, is the capital city of Sichuan Province. It is an important high-tech industrial base, a key trade and logistics center, and a vibrant transportation hub. As a historical and cultural treasure, Chengdu has enjoyed the portrayal of “the Land of Heaven” since ancient times. It is rich in historical building resources, these buildings are either burdened with a long history, or hidden many stories, or deep nostalgia. When it comes to Chengdu's historical buildings, the most famous are the Yongling Museum, Baihuatan Park, Guanyin Temple, Ping 'an Bridge Catholic Church and other landmark buildings.
Chengdu, a modern and international metropolis, has long been the inspiration for world-renowned architects. The city has the world’s largest single building: Chengdu New Century Global Center. Popular Taikoo Li Chengdu retains its ancient streets and historical buildings, and integrates modernity with classics to create a mixed-use urban space with human scale and a contemporary vibe. Chengdu International Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Park is the world’s first park with the theme of intangible cultural heritage, and it is also the permanent space for the biennial International Intangible Cultural Heritage Festival. The architects integrated the essence of the city into its architectural aesthetics, and brought buildings to life with warmth and beauty, showcasing the city’s heart and soul, fast becoming the landmark and pride of the city.
In 2022, Chengdu’s GDP exceeded RMB2.08 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 2.8%, ranking seventh in China. Chengdu continues to optimize its industrial structure and improve the quality of its economy while maintaining steady development and growth. It is speeding up the construction of a modern and open industrial system supported by advanced manufacturing, emerging service industries and the new economy.
Chengdu is one of the four largest furniture production bases in China. There is an apt saying in the industry: “Western furniture is in Chengdu”. As the Southwestern China Furniture Industry Base, the Chengdu Furniture Industrial Park covers an area of six square kilometers and integrates production, R&D, commerce, and supporting services, covering all aspects of the household industry supply chain.
Chengdu is China’s largest R&D base for panel and upholstered furniture production, and is also an important buyer market for domestic furniture equipment, raw materials and one of the largest seller regions in terms of scale and brand concentration. The International Furniture Fair held in Chengdu every year is the largest and most specialized professional exhibition in midwestern China. It has become the region’s leading exhibition and trading platform for the home furnishing industry, and known as the “Preferred Platform for Chinese Domestic Furniture Trade”.
Besides, Chengdu Qingbaijiang International Timber Trading Center has grown into the largest construction sawn timber and formwork distribution center in Southwest China, and the most influential China-Europe Railway Express International Timber Distribution Center in China, relying on the advantages of the main hub channel of the land port. In 2022, a total of 476,000 cubic meters of timber were transferred, and the number of market entities settled in the trading center will increase from over 300 to 500. The sales channels cover 29 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions), and the annual transaction volume has exceeded RMB4 billion yuan.
Chengdu Real Estate Market:
• Residential Market: In 2022, the housing market in Chengdu maintained steady growth. The transaction area of commercial housing was 18.98 million square meters. It ranked first in the country, the overall market performance was better than the national level.
• Commercial Market: In 2022, the total inventory of high-end retail properties in Chengdu reached 11.24 million square meters, second only to Shanghai and Beijing, to rank third in the country. The office building market also showed the vitality of Chengdu’s economic and industrial development. The new supply of Grade A office buildings in 2022 reached the highest level since 2017, with a total area delivered for the year being about 597,000 square meters, while stock rose to 4.57 million square meters.
As the whole society pays more and more attention to climate change and environmental issues, American hardwood has won the global market and many architects and designers with its outstanding environmental protection advantages. In the future, AHEC will also promote sustainable American hardwood through Chengdu Convention and various industry seminars and we will continue to work with partners to promote sustainable American hardwood to fight climate change in 2023, which is an ongoing mission and goal for us.