Zhangjiagang in East China's Jiangsu province takes third place on the 2020 list of China's top 100 county-level cities. [Photo/zjgonline.com.cn]

Zhangjiagang, a county-level city in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province, took third place on the 2020 list of China's top 100 county-level cities, according to a local news report May 8.

Jointly released by CCID Consulting and the Outlook Weekly of Xinhua News Agency, the ranking was based on development levels in innovation, green economy,opening-up and sharing. 

The report studied the overall competitiveness and investment potential indexes of 1,897 counties (or county-level cities).

Zhangjiagang boasts five pillar industries with an annual output value of nearly 500 billion yuan ($70.5 billion): metallurgy, cotton, chemical engineering, electromechanics, cereals and oil food. 

Additionally, the city's strategic emerging industries–new materials, new energy and high-end equipment manufacturing–have witnessed rapid growth over recent years, bringing annual production value of about 230 billion yuan. 

The city has continuously promoted investment in some forward-looking industries such as hydrogen energy, artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain and 5G technology, with the aim of accelerating the city's high-quality development.

Zhangjiagang is one of the richest cities in the country, with its income gap between urban and rural residents being among the smallest in the country. The per capita disposable income in the city reached 57,800 yuan last year, up 8.1 percent year-on-year. 

In recent years, the city has also achieved steady progress in environmental protection and improvement, with the average density of PM2.5 in the air reaching 38.7 micrograms per cubic meter last year.

The city has put restoring the ecological environment of the Yangtze River in a dominant position, and launched an ecological restoration and upgrading project titled Zhangjiagang Bay, which aims to rebuild an ecological corridor along the Yangtze River.