An aerial view of downtown Taicang in Jiangsu province [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Taicang in Jiangsu province introduced 11 foreign-invested enterprises, with a paid-in investment of $649 million, up 631.25 percent year on year, local media reported from the municipal market administration bureau on April 12.

Four of the newly established foreign enterprises have a total investment exceeding $100 million, and over $255 million in foreign capital went toward the service industry.

As of May 1, Taicang is home to over 173 foreign-invested companies who have each received at least $30 million in paid-in investment.

Statistics from the market administration committee showed that in April Taicang registered 1,479 private enterprises, up 63.1 percent year on year. Among them, 84 percent are engaged in R&D, catering or retail.

In addition, a total of 91 clean energy, new material, and biomedical enterprises were founded, up 188 percent year on year, greatly improving the makeup of Taicang's market entities.