Hats off to Richard Brubaker for his post on the recently released Chengdu Investment Briefing at his All Roads Lead to China blog.

The briefing focuses on tourism, but it has some interesting tidbits for venture capitalists to consider. But first, some context....

Chengdu is not the first place you think of when someone says "China." Usually Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong come to mind first. Then Chengdu competes for fourth place in the public mind with other cities - like Taipei, Guangzhou, Macau, Tianjin, and a half dozen other major regional capitals. Chengdu is the capital of Sichuan Province in Southwest China. If that province was an independent country, it would be the 12th most populous country on earth, with more people, for example, than Germany, Vietnam, Egypt, the Philippines, or France.

The GDP of Chengdu grew by an impressive 14% in 2006, according to the Investment Briefing. A couple of items of particular interest to VC people were in the report:

• The Chengdu High-tech Zone just got an investment boost of about $90 million from a cooperative agreement to promote digital TV
• Almost six thousand patents were applied for in Chengdu in the first half of 2007; over 3,200 of them were approved.
• Deutsche Bank is looking into establishing a branch in Chengdu.

The city and region are becoming a center for innovation and technology opportunities abound.

You can read Richards full blog post here.