A bird's-eye view of Lixia. [Photo/WeChat account: touzilixia]

In 2022, Lixia district in Jinan strived to build itself an international first-class central urban area. In the first three quarters, its gross domestic product reached 165.97 billion yuan ($24.1 billion), and from January to November, the general public budget hit 15.38 billion yuan.

Last year, a total of 101 investment projects of more than 100 million yuan have been introduced, including 15 from the world's top 500 enterprises and eight from China's top 500 enterprises. During the same period, there were 11 enterprises newly recognized as headquarters enterprises at the municipal level, bringing the total to 62, and accounting for 27.3 percent of the city's total.

At the same time, the comprehensive carrying capacity of urban areas continued to improve, as three of the five super high-rises in Jinan's central business district were topped off, and a total of 26 commercial buildings with a total area of 1.36 million square meters were completed last year.

To update the image of the city, there were 200,000 square meters of green areas created, increasing the green coverage rate of urban areas to 47.2 percent, and a total of 13 run-down areas were renovated, benefiting more than 18,000 residents.

To improve the livelihoods of residents, Lixia has been trying to vitalize the job market, optimize the education system, and take good care of the elderly. In 2022, Lixia held 52 job fairs, and offered 65,000 jobs, built, renovated or expanded 12 new schools, and established a district level elderly care service center, which covers an area of 15,000 square meters.