On June 22, a signing ceremony between Tsinghua Tongfang Co., Ltd. and Dunhuang Smart Tourism Co., Ltd. was held in Dunhuang, Gansu province, aiming to jointly develop a public information platform and a geospatial information platform.

A signing ceremony between Tsinghua Tongfang Co., Ltd. and Dunhuang Smart Tourism Co., Ltd. is held in Dunhuang, Gansu province on June 22.[Photo by Sun Muyao/ chinadaily.com.cn]

As a county-level city in Western China, Dunhuang was a major stop on the ancient Silk Road and is best known for the nearby Mogao Caves. In order to better welcome its new role in the Belt and Road Initiatives today, the local government hopes to integrate cutting-edge information technology into its construction and plans to invest 1.3 billion yuan ($200 million) to transform Dunhuang into a smart city.

"As mapped, the overall plan includes 'one center, nine sectors and thirty-one projects', the two underway platforms are part of the 'one center'", Sun Xiaoqiang, the president of Dunhuang Smart Tourism Co., Ltd., said. The company is backed up by the local government.

"The project is to build a basic platform for Dunhuang's Smart City Plan and will play a prospective role in the whole map," Xia Zongchun, the general manager of the Tsinghua Tongfang Co., Ltd.' s Smart City and General Integration Bureau, said. "We will help Dunhuang to develop a data center, a platform for sharing and exchanging information, five basic libraries, a geospatial information platform, a smart decision-making system, a credit management platform, a public platform for government affairs and a gateway website. The item amount is 27 million yuan ($4.06 million)."

In the face of China's opening, Dunhuang — after experiencing the 2,000-year history of the Silk Road — and its involvement in the Belt and Road Initiatives once again push the city to the front-line.

"We hope the world can hear the voice of Dunhuang via technology," Sun said.

Dunhuang's partner, Tsinghua Tongfang Co., Ltd., made use of Tsinghua University's strengths in research and human resources, and has become a giant in the smart city industry.

"We offer one-stop service to our clients---investment, construction and operation of a smart city," Xia said.

Before the Dunhuang project, the company launched a "Hundreds of Cities" Plan and signed cooperation agreements with nearly 80 cities.

"We appreciate Tongfang's strong academic background and rich experience in how to build smart cities." Liu Xiaofeng, the general manager of Dunhuang Smart Tourism Co., Ltd., said.

Tongfang Co., Ltd. is a high-tech company established in 1997 which mainly deals with 'information, security and energy-saving technology' and 'financial investment and Science Park' as its minor businesses. The company has developed 12 industry clusters, which have a close link to national development and people's well-being such as smart chips, computer, digital cities , big data applications, multimedia, mobile internet, knowledge networks, military, security, semiconductors and lighting, environmental technology, energy saving and environmental protection.

The 'Tsinghua Tongfang' brand is valued at more than 90 billion yuan ($13.5 billion), and is on the list of the world's top-500 brands.