本书以20、21世纪的中国和世界历史为背景，以中国共产党在西部地区的经济活动为线索，以党的有关历史文献为依据，以毛泽东、邓小平、江泽民、胡锦涛、习近平等领导人的论述为重点，对自陕甘宁边区以来的70多年的中国共产党西部开发思想，做了一次较为全面、较为系统的历史考察和分析。本书首先将中国共产党自陕甘宁边区以来的70多年西部开发历史分为5个时期：新中国成立前中国共产党开发陕甘宁边区时期、新中国成立后第一代领导集体开发西部地区时期、第二代领导集体开发西部地区时期、第三代领导集体开发西部地区时期、以胡锦涛为总书记的领导集体开发西部地区时期、以习近平为总书记的领导集体开发西部地区时期。然后对各个时期中国共产党西部开发思想产生的背景条件、思想的内涵、特点、理论贡献及其实施效应做了逐一分析。在上述分析的基础上，本书对中国共产党开发西部地区的历史经验与教训进行了总结，得出具有规律性和现实指导性意义的七点启示，从而为现在正在进行的西部开发提供可资借鉴的经验。

With the history of China and the world in the 20th and 21st centuries as the background, the economic activities of the Communist Party of China in the western region as the clue, the relevant historical documents of the Party as the basis, and the expositions of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping, and other leaders as the focus, this book makes a relatively comprehensive and systematic historical investigation and analysis of the CPC's thinking on the development of the western region over the past 70 years since the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. This book first divides the history of the development of the western region by the Communist Party of China over the past 70 years since the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region into five periods: the period when the Communist Party of China developed the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region before the founding of New China, the period when the first generation of leading collectives developed the western region after the founding of New China, the period when the second generation of leading collectives developed the western region, the period when the third generation of leading collectives developed the western region, the period when the leading collective with Hu Jintao as general secretary developed the western region, and the period when the leading collective developed the western region with Xi Jinping as general secretary. Then, the background conditions, connotation and characteristics of the ideology, theoretical contributions and implementation effects of the CPC's thinking on the development of the western region in each period are analyzed one by one. On the basis of the above analysis, this book summarizes the historical experience and lessons of the CPC's development of the western region, and draws seven enlightenments of regularity and practical guiding significance, so as to provide reference experience for the ongoing development of the western region.（AI翻译）