Zhuang Fulin, who witnessed the construction of Dalian's metro system, was invited to join a test ride of the project in 2014. He was one of the first passengers.

Dalian's metro line came into operation at the end of December, after four years of construction.

"I visited the construction site in March 2010 as a civilian representative when it was a deep pit. After four years of construction, we came to the trial," Zhuang said.

"I've long believed that a strong traffic network would support local economic growth. Dalian is a model city in Northeast China, so it should have a metro system. Now, that dream has come true," Zhuang said.

The first stage of Dalian metro lines 1 and 2 stretch for 38.4 km and have 34 metro stations. Officials said Line 1 will go into trial operation in June and Line 2 in April.

Dalian is investing heavily in improving residents' living standards and building a more habitable city.

Authorities said the city invested 68.2 billion yuan ($10.89 billion) in 2014 on social welfare improvements. Benefiting from increasing government investment, welfare-related indices show a growing trend, for instance, on income level and employment level.

Dalian is one of the 10 happiest cities in China, according to a report released in the China-International Urban Development Forum in 2014.

Good traffic

Dalian has applied high standards in urban planning and infrastructure construction processes make the city modern and open with high operating capacity.

The city broke ground on 175 important infrastructure projects in 2014, including the new airport, the Danda High Speed Rail and Bohai Road. Dalian's road network, water supply system and grid supply network will all be improved after the projects are completed.

Dalian has also designated bus lanes in the city center to increase public transport efficiency. Its 49 bus lanes have a total length of 220.9 km, and are expected to transport 2.34 million passengers per day.

"I live near Xishan Reservoir and it took me more than 80 minutes by bus to get to Zhongshan Square in the peak hour. But traveling on the bus lane, my commuting time was shortened to less than one hour. It's even faster than driving a car," said Zhong Lihua, a local resident.

Zhong looks forward to a metro train running between her home and the city center so her commuting time will be reduced to around 30 minutes. She said she will use more public transport in the future.

Better living

Dalian continues to improve its environment by implementing a Green Mountain Ecology System Project and a Blue Sky Project. The government is taking remedies to make the city more beautiful, the traffic more efficient and to better treat rural sewage.

Dalian has also taken measures to improve its air quality in recent years, including efforts to reduce inefficient and excessive production capacity and control total pollutants emission.

By October 2014, Dalian's forestation rate reached 44.48 percent. The city plans to plant 60 million trees in 2015.

Dalian was listed as one of China's pilot cities to improve its rural environment collectively in 2012 and has made breakthroughs in rural sewage treatment and rural rubbish collection.

"At the very beginning, people dropped rubbish in public places, but now locals will remind those who litter," said Tang Shenghong, a 46-year-old cleaner in Xiaoliu village, Puwan New area, recalling what happened when bins were first installed in the village in early 2014.

"Actually, people then in the rural area liked a clean environment, however, they did not have many choices," Tang said. "The rubbish was disposed of in the river and taken away by the water in the summer then. Nowadays, the river has become a scenic landscape and the living conditions are much better here."

Dalian renovated 598 administrative villages by the end of 2014. In addition to building sewage treatment facilities, authorities set up 55,000 rubbish collection stations. Investment in those projects totaled 886 million yuan and will benefit 1.79 million residents.

dingwanjing@chinadaily.com.cn