Taicang has reserved farmland of 400,000 mu (26.666 hectare) for ecological shelter zone and increased its vegetation coverage to 43 percent of its total area. [Photo/WeChat account: taicangdaily]

Taicang in Jiangsu province, renowned for its ancient Chinese buildings and German enterprises, ranks second among the list of the best county-level cities in China, according to a survey published in Forbes China, the Chinese-language edition of Forbes.

In recent years, Taicang's economy has seen constant and rapid development with gross regional production of 100 billion yuan ($15.1 billion) in 2016 and with its gross regional product per capita reaching 160,000 in the same year.

Prosperous ports, fast-growing enterprises, all-round transportation network, further cooperation with German companies, attractive talents policy and nice living environment: all of the above helped Taicang enter the list.

Rounding out the top 10 in the Forbes China survey of mainland China's best county-level cities are Kunshan, Zhangjiagang, Changshu, Jiangyin, Yiwu, Cixi, Haining, Zhuji and Yuyao.

Forbes China started to issue lists of best cities in mainland China in 2004, and titles include best cities for business, best innovative cities and cities best for tourism. Forbes China introduced the 2017 ranking list by assessing eight indexes, including talent, city size, consumptive power and passenger throughput.

The Taicang port processes more than 3.7 million containers and 213 million tons of cargoes in the first ten months of 2017. [Photo/WeChat account: taicangdaily]