On September11th， the Z／Yen Group， a British think tank， issued the22nd Global Financial Center Index （GFCI22） report in Abu Dhabi and Chengdu at the same time． Among all the92 selected cities， Qingdao has appeared on the list for the4th time and ranks47th． Since Qingdao was selected into the list for the1st time on March2016， Qingdao has ranked top50 among the list of“Global Financial Centers”for the3rd consecutive time．
In the list issued this time，7 cities from Mainland China have been selected． Qingdao ranks5th next to first－tier cities including Shanghai， Beijing， Shenzhen and Guangzhou． Chengdu and Dalian also appear on the list． The ranking list of“Global Financial Center Index” specially consists of a single list named“Emerging Global Financial Center Competitors” and Qingdao is the only Chinese city selected． In the single list of“Global Financial Center Reputation Advantage”， Qingdao ranks1st in the world． In the single list of“Top15 Financial Centers Expected to Further Enhance Influence”， Qingdao ranks2nd in the world， next to Shanghai and in front of Singapore and Dublin．
It is reported that the ranking list of the“Global Financial Center Index”（GFCI） is renewed biannually， grades and ranks major global financial centers mainly in terms of business environment， financial system， infrastructure， human capital and city reputation． The list can all－round reflect the comprehensive development strength and financial competitiveness of the target cities and has significant international authority． Fu Jun
Qingdao has25 institutions of higher education
The circle of friends of Qingdao universities and colleges has been further enlarged． Only in the first7 months of this year，4 universities including Chinese Academy of Social Sciences， Northwestern Polytechnical University， Cambridge University and Wuhan University of Technology have“joined hands”with Qingdao．
So far， Qingdao has introduced30 institutions of higher education． Among them，13 universities or institutions have been introduced and put into operation． Regarding17 domestic and foreign universities or institutions， agreements have been signed and it is in the process of implementation． In the future， more and more outstanding universities and colleges will gather in Qingdao．
In terms of education－running levels， among these25 universities and colleges in Qingdao， there are16 colleges at the undergraduate level，8 junior colleges and1 adult education college． By the end of2016， the Qingdao－based universities and colleges have373，600 full－time junior college， undergraduate， and graduate students and20，200 full－time teachers， occupy the total area of35，700 mu and the total construction area of11．642 million square meters． Guo Jingli （The aerial view of Qingdao campus of Shandong University）
Qingdao is vigorously participating in the construction of standardization
Since this year， Qingdao has been promoting the campaign of“standardization＋”in17 aspects of five fields including economic construction， social governance， ecological civilization， cultural construction， and government management． So far， the related institutions of Qingdao has undertaken25 international and national professional standardization technical organization secretariats， accounting for60％ in Shandong Province， put forward over80 proposals on international standards， participated in the formulation and revision of over700 national standards and900 industrial standards and obtained23 national standard innovation contribution awards； Qingdao has constructed146 enterprises with good practices in constructing standardization and adopted2，277 international standards and advanced foreign standards； Qingdao also has set up18 national demonstration areas in agricultural standardization and issued253 municipal agricultural standards and norms． Wang Yu
Qingdao will fly directly to Los Angeles
On September8th， Xiamen Airlines， Qingdao Airport and Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board jointly held the introduction and presentation of Qingdao to Los Angeles air route and destination in Qingdao． It is announced that Xiamen Airlines will open the direct flight line at regular intervals between Qingdao and Los Angeles on December11th． This is going to be the first direct flight line between these two places．
The flight line from Qingdao to Los Angeles has three voyages back and forth every week respectively on Monday， Wednesday and Friday and is carried out by Boeing787 Dream Aircraft． The entire flight time is about11．5 hours． It will take off at22：20 in Qingdao and arrive at Los Angeles at18：00． In the return voyage， it will take off at23：55 in Los Angeles and arrive at Qingdao at05：00 （all is local time．） Zhou Jianliang
The number of China Railway Express has exceeded5，000 times
On the afternoon of September7th， the X9006 train loaded with auto spare parts， medicine and glass departed from Jiaozhou， Qingdao and will head for Kazakhstan， Kyrgyzstan， and Uzbekistan． It marks that since the operation on March2011， the number of China Railway Express journeys has exceeded5，000 times．
The China Railway Express runs with fixed train numbers， routes， intervals and full schedule and is the international block container train for combined railway transportation back and forth China and Europe and the countries alongside the Belt and Road． The first block train departed on March19th2011． In the over6 years’ operation process， the logistics for China Railway Express is improving dramatically， the resource utilization rate has increased steadily and the price has reduced by30％ from the preliminary stage to now． Meanwhile the operating time for China Railway Express has been shortened dramatically from15 days at the very beginning to10 days fastest to reach Europe． Lu Bo （The China Railway Express is loading cargo in Jiaozhou．）
