our editor reports from chengdu. >> asia's biggest rail cargo base in chengdu southwest china.h of these containers is filled with containers, clothes, even cars. until recently, everything went east to shanghai and then to europe by sea. but now this plane heads west to poland cutting the journey time from six weeks to two. chengdu logistic boss tells me west china has always suffered from having terrible transport links with the world. >> strengthening the connection to europe will speed up our industrial transportation and boost our global competitiveness. >> high-tech companies are getting the message. not just hardware but software is moving in. jacob works for a games designer with markets in europe and north america. >> it's been revolutionary, opened up a lot of opportunities to come out hire. before it was a nightmare to come here. now it's opened up, more convenient west and east. >> until recently, china has relied on foreigners for railway engineering. everyone a decade ago it was european know how that started the move into high-speed rail. now china builds its own

merkel was in chengdu yesterday. she toured a volkswagen plant. startagen had a long head in this market, one of the top sellers in china, without he who has the big fleet sales with the chinese government. >> obviously, with these heavyweights, that is what the onus is on. i don't think the german electorate will be too impressed if she did not bring up some of the more sensitive issues. she mentioned it this morning in the brief comments. she actually spoke a little bit longer. relationship, the german-china relationship, is not only limited to economic cooperation. their dialogue will extend to societal issues and human rights. uighur groups have called on her to raise their human rights issues during the visit. it is believed merkel could also one man to visit. she is also involved in combating pollution. you.ank >> let's take a look at some other stories making headlines. hsbc may exit another foreign bolivia.- shutender previously offices in iraq and japan and latin america. the ceo has been simplifying the bank structure and focusing on key

chengdu is an aspiring hub for technological development. it is the base for a joint venture.government is trying to push more and more investments into central and western china. and to make it a technological hub. there are a number of challenges associated with infrastructure development and the spicy cuisine. but beyond that, it is very much about increasing germany's very strong foothold in the chinese economy and helping the chinese industry move up in terms of r&d. in beijing, she will likely give a speech at a university, the chinese mit. >> the focus on technology. and the focus on technology could take them into environmental policy. the leadership there has stated recently that they will not -- no longer pursue growth at any cost. how is germany's prominence in that sort of type of engineering, how is that going to feature? >> that will be one of the main deliverables we will see in the talks. r&ds about cooperation in and manufacturing. it is not just about renewable energy. it is about more efficient manufacturing where germany has a clear edge. german manufacture

editor reports from chengdu. railcar basegest in southwest china. each of the container is filled with computers, closed even cars. went recently everything east to shanghai and then europe by sea. pull cuttingest to the journey time from six week 22. me weststics boss tells china has always suffered economically from having terrible transport links with the world. strengthening the connection will speed up and industrial transformation and boost global competitiveness. >> high tech are getting the message. not just hardware but software is moving in. with markets works in europe and north america. >> the transformation has been revolutionary. it has opened up a lot of opportunities to come out here. before it was a nightmare. now it has opened up. more convenient to go west and east. >> until recently, china has always relied on foreigners for railway engineering. even a decade ago it was european know-how that started to move into high-speed rail. now china builds its own. is stolene technology from others. >> one of china's new generation already

this time it will be chengdu in the citroen provosts.esting because while we do not expect any deals to be signed, it is really a nod to xi jinping, the president, because he is trying to encourage western, ernie's -- western companies and chinese companies to invest in the inland parts of china. there already are some german has aies, volts wagon plant careful stop bashing fulks slant-in has a plant there. angela merkel will visit that volts wagon plant. it is interesting that she is taking a whole host of other executive. siemens has been in china for centuries, at least a century, and it is interesting she is taking them on her trip to chengdu so they can look around and maybe they might decide to make investments. is certainly high on her agenda, the first place he visits. sesays one, of course, -- chuan is known for its chiles. >> apparently she is going to go to visit a market and do some shopping. we know that angela merkel likes to do her own shopping. we used to see her in berlin shopping. and she will go to a restaurant and be

even though chengdu is a 14 million peopled city, a massively big city, it is still considered to be second ranked. she is going to visit the vw plant because there is indeed german business and factories in chengdu. she will go there. she has the ceo of volkswagen with her along with a whole host of other ceos. they might be thinking this is perhaps the place to have their next investment. >> david, i also heard you telling anna that this is a region known for spicy food. apparently angela merkel likes chiles. >> apparently so. who would have known? szechuan cuisine is like with i's and theed chil special peppers that you put on your lips. you get sort of a numbing sensation. there is a chinese word for that which i don't know. she is going to go and learn how to make a very typical dish called gong-bao chicken. she is going to learn that and cook the dish. i wonder whether she is going to get rated on that dish by the chefs. if she does, i am thinking she might get 10 out of 10. >> it will be interesting to see. also hillary clinton well known for liking peppers. big changes at the

from sort of you know the rural china that you might see in national geographic to eco cities like chengdu is great city one point three. clause square kilometer city that's going to be almost all walkable it's going to be. hopefully one of the most sustainable cities in the world so china is ripe for moving from sort of the chief polluter hopefully to one of the greenest greenest countries in the world but it's going to take these twenty years of experimentation and collaboration with countries all around the world to help china get their home much of that is being driven by market forces how much of that is being driven by government and. you know one of the. most. often i get asked this question of does china really want to go green and i point to two things one is that the central government the top level of our government is very motivated to go green because you have to think about where we are the same size as the u.s. right landmass wise we have four times the number of people but less coal less gas less oil less water less arable land less most of the natural resources that are re