SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 9September 2019 - Chengdu,China-At a magnificent hotel hall in Singapore,an actor, who wore a circus-style mask painted with red cheeks and a stripedforehead, was not a clown. In the blink of an eye, his "face" switched intoanother blue one with winding eyebrows.

The exotic face-changing opera, originated fromChinese city Chengdu, has reflected how fast the place has developed. Longknown for the giant panda, hot pot and a hospitable touristic culture, Chengduhas for the past few years seen its economy boom as one of China's emerginghigh-tech hubs. The change is just as fast as how the mask is swapped.

"Chengdu's GDP grew 8.2 percent in the first half ofthe year, the fastest among 20 Chinese metropolises," Niu Qingbao, Chengdu'sdeputy mayor, said at the event kicked off by the mask-changing performance onThursday in Singapore.

The high-level forum, themed as "From Chengdu toSingapore: Boost High-quality Development of Electronic Information Technology,"ignited the chemistry between Chengdu and Singapore, especially in the electronicinformation industry.

The electronic information industry is the strongestpillar of Chengdu's economy, Niu added, wishing that the event, host in one ofAsia's leading financial and tech hubs with abundant resources and talents, canboost further cooperation.

Ifeng.com, the online window of renowned Chinese mediaPhoenix Media with roots in Chinese culture, a global perspective and a greatpart of its coverage on the hi-tech industry, host the forum together with itsaffiliated Phoenix International Thinktank.

Zou Ming, chief editor of ifeng.com, said that theforum demonstrated the momentum and potential of Chengdu's electronicinformation industry to the largest corporates and the smartest brains inSingapore, and built a bridge to foster inter-regional collaboration.

Chengdu is home to several regional centers ofmultinational IT giants, including Intel and Texas Instruments, which breedsthe high-end chain within the industry, said Che Zhou, deputy director of the ChengduMunicipal Bureau of Economic and Information Technology.

Its electronic information industry generated revenueof 400 billion yuan ($55.8 billion) in the first half of 2019, a year-on-yeargrowth of 16.3 percent. The revenue of its electronic information industry isexpected to exceed 1 trillion yuan by 2020, according to a recent plan by thecity government.

Chengdu's electronic industry is expected to take offacross six major fields, integrated circuit, new display, intelligent terminal,high-end software, artificial intelligence and information network, which isdubbed as six--core, screen, terminal, software, intelligent, network --in one.

The city has already befriended with Singapore. TheSingapore-Sichuan Hi-Tech Innovation Park, taking shape now, sets a goodexample, Niu said.

Given the collaborativefoundation, the forum saw three deals inked, between Chengdu Municipal Bureauof Economic and Information Technology and Singapore-China Association forAdvancement for Science and Technology, Chengdu-based software developerWiscred and Dynasafe Technologies Inc., plus the Chengdu National IntegratedCircuit "ChengduXinhuo Integrated Circuit Industrial Center Co.,Ltd."Base and Shenwan Hongyuan Singapore Private Ltd.

Wang Rongfang, counsellor of Science and Technology atthe Chinese embassy in Singapore, said that the amicable bilateralrelationship, benign regulatory environment and longtime cultural exchange willsmooth their cooperation in the tech industry.

Many Asian business magnates actually have Chineseroots, and their success can partly attribute to a Chinese style managementphilosophy, said Koh Hock Kiat, CEO of Heluo Institute and thefounding Director of Confucius Institute of Nanyang Technological University.