US author John Naisbitt and his wife, Doris, on their latest trip to Beijing to promote their new book about China. Provided to China Daily

John and Doris Naisbitt's latest work examines the successful pioneering solutions of Sichuan's provincial capital in impressive detail. Mei Jia meets the authors.

John Naisbitt looked to Asia to trace the future of the world in his bestselling Megatrends series from 1982. The American author and futurist now looks to West China for answers that provide a key to the country's further development.

John Naisbitt and his wife Doris examine Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, took part in the "go-west" campaign that was launched nationwide in 1999. It became a template example of reforms integrating urban and rural areas in 2007.

To the Naisbitts, Chengdu is a pioneer in urban-rural integration and a case study in complexity with its population of 14 million.

They record their findings and thoughts in their latest work, Innovation in China: The Chengdu Triangle, the Chinese version of which was launched in early December in Beijing. The Naisbitts say they're editing and rephrasing the book for English-language readers and planning to launch it in the spring of 2012.

When talking about their 18-month stay in Chengdu to research the book, the Naisbitts are clearly excited when they recall meetings there with a female official.

Zhou Min, 35, Party secretary of Xingyi township, Xinjin county, south of Chengdu, showed the Naisbitts around a village known for its organic food production.

"Party officials are pictured in the West as stiff and middle-aged men. Zhou breaks this stereotype," Doris recalls.

She is young and attractive, she explains.

But what impressed the Naisbitts most about Zhou was her approach to turning the whole town into a huge organic farm.

When Zhou first arrived in the underdeveloped town in 2008, some predicted she would only last three months and would run away, crying. Yet she stayed and brought great change to the villagers' lives. The farmers' average per capita annual income increased from 5,000 yuan ($788) in 2008 to 9,000 yuan in 2011.

The Naisbitts believe Zhou follows a pattern that integrates grassroots democracy, reform in property rights, and equalization of social services. They call these three elements the "Chengdu Triangle".

When Zhou decided to focus on organic food, she introduced investment from a Taiwan company and let the villagers vote to decide where the new residential sites would be relocated. She engaged 20,000 residents of a 34,000 population and created a brand to develop products.

John believes the "Chengdu Triangle" approach can be adapted for other cities.

"What we've witnessed in Chengdu is the integration of all sides of the triangle and other reforms," John says.

"Toward the end of the research, it was clear to us that the key for development in Chengdu is that things happen simultaneously," Doris adds.

The Naisbitts describe China as a corporation in their book China's Megatrends: The 8 Pillars of a New Society.

According to the corporation metaphor, John says Chengdu is a "newly arrived, innovated company".

Doris questions whether "new" is the appropriate word, however, given the city's long and storied history.

But the two agree, Chengdu is doing well.

They first visited the city in 2009 and were taken by the openness of people they met there. "We liked it right away," John says.

The openness they refer to includes the attitude of officials, such as the city's mayor, Ge Honglin, who had a dialogue with the Naisbitts on a TV program.

They say Ge answered their questions about the "not too good things" in the city that they learned from locals, with an admission and a promise these problems would be addressed.

The Naisbitts compare Chengdu people to Italians. In the book, the people they met and their stories appear in every section, covering the city's political, economical and social reforms, and culture.

Their account is supported by field investigations and materials sourced by a team of 28 bilingual assistants.

One of their biggest discoveries in Chengdu is there has been a positive shift in the relationship between the role of the individual and the role of the collective.

"For thousands of years, the community was more important than the individual. Now the country has the new rebalancing with the individual," John says. "We found respect for individual rights is the core there, and we put it in the middle of the triangle."

One reason for that is the reform in hukou (permanent residence permits) policy that started in 2003.

The Naisbitts see this as a remarkable endeavor that removes one of the major hurdles in the country's development - namely, uneven opportunities when it comes to the urban and rural populations.

"It is an immense challenge and there are exciting possibilities after all this time of being farmers and second-class citizens," John says.

"One of the challenges of eliminating the hukou system is that migrant workers could become a huge burden for the city," Doris adds. "Chengdu has made a very smart move to enable farmers to lease their land or sell usage rights for the land and thereby take their lives into their own hands."

This urban-rural integration is also happening in education. They've seen children from financially strapped families studying on distance learning courses with the city's top teachers on a big screen.

"The children literally go from one century to the next every morning when they walk to school," Doris says.

To double-check their facts, the Naisbitts seize every chance to talk with foreigners living or working in Chengdu. From them, they know about the mayor's regular meetings with foreigners for settling problems with foreign companies and learn about the government's efforts to attract investment.

Veteran publisher Wu Wei, a former official at the State Council Information Office, says she has been a loyal reader of Naisbitt.

"The Naisbitts' sharp observations and amazing content-tracking analysis have touched upon and pointed out the keys to the country, which many of us failed to notice," Wu says. "They have offered new thoughts to us in this Chengdu book."

The Naisbitts now divide their time between Austria and China, where they mostly stay in Chengdu. Ever since Doris became John's publisher in 1995, they have cooperated closely and have worked on three books together.

Asked about his plans, the 82-year-old, who has 14 grandchildren, quotes a favorite saying: "I'm crossing the river by feeling the stones."