This Day, That Year: March 14

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

On March 14, 1997, Chongqing was upgraded to become China's fourth municipality after Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, as seen in the item from China Daily. The new status aimed to help develop central and western regions.

From 1954 to 1997, the city was under the jurisdiction of Sichuan province.

Since then, Chongqing has played an increasingly important role in the country's development strategy.

In February 2010, it became one of the country's first batch of national central cities along with the other municipalities, Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin.

National central cities are the highest-level cities in China, and they have the core function of driving development of their regions and serving the entire nation.

In June 2010, Liangjiang New Area was established in Chongqing, which was the third national development zone in China - and the first in the inland - approved by the State Council, China's Cabinet, after Shanghai Pudong New Area and Tianjin Binhai New Area.

In April 2017, the central government announced the launch of the China (Chongqing) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

The zone, spanning about 120 square kilometers, comprises three parts - Liangjiang New Area, Xiyong and Guoyuan Port.

According to the FTZ blueprint, Chongqing will build itself into a pilot zone of inland free trade featuring a convenient investment and trade environment, efficient supervision, comprehensive financial services as well as a sound legal environment for business.

As the only municipality in western China, the traditional industrial hub located at the intersection of the Belt and Road Initiative's trade route and the Yangtze River Economic Zone has witnessed fast and steady economic growth, and led the country's GDP growth rate table in recent years.

Ranked fifth, its GDP hit 2.04 trillion yuan ($304.1 billion) last year, up 6 percent year-on-year, official data showed.