The cumulative direct investment made by 233 Fortune 500 companies in Chengdu during 2012 was $8.59 billion, a 31 percent growth year-on-year

In 2007, when Bai Fan first arrived in Chengdu on a cold night at Shuangliu airport, things were not as hunky-dory as they are today.

Now the general manager of the Chengdu operations of Symantec Corp - the American global computer security software company, and a Fortune 500 company - he had arrived to research a possible operation in the city.

Fan found himself staring at deserted parking lots with no taxi or bus in sight. There were no foreign faces around, nor were there any signs of expatriate communities.

He says no one at the company's headquarters in California had ever heard of Chengdu, but over the next five years, he and his team worked hard to make Symantec an integral part of the Chengdu High-tech Industrial Development Zone. It has also set up a Security Response Center in Chengdu to support its other centers in Tokyo, Dublin and Culver City in western Los Angeles County, California.

"When you compare these past five years with the 30 years that it took for Symantec to evolve as a global company, it does not seem like a long time," said Bai.

"But we have made tremendous progress in China during these years, with Chengdu becoming the vital cog in that journey."

Surrounding Symantec at the Tianfu Software Park are other multinational corporations such as IBM, Cisco and Dell.

Though wary at first, much as he was, many have decided to set up shop in Chengdu after being convinced by the city's "can do" attitude, he says.

Diverse industries

Its success can be measured by the vast array of high-tech industries based in the city, he adds, with companies from such sectors a IT, new energy, new materials, bio-pharmaceuticals, aviation and aerospace, automobiles, and petrochemicals.

With its target on attracting more foreign investment, the Chengdu government has invited some of the world's leading enterprises to settle in city.

Take automobile industry for example. There are 139 automobile enterprises in Chengdu, including Volvo, FAW Volkswagen and FAW Toyota.

At the Chengdu Economic and Technological Development Zone, more than 50,000 workers are involved in various activities related to the auto industry, from trade, exhibitions, research and development, to the manufacture of spare parts and whole vehicles.

In 2011, the total output value of automobile enterprises in Chengdu reached around 50 billion yuan ($8 billion).