Zhangjiagang is a county-level city in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. [Photo/zjgonline.com.cn]
Zhangjiagang in Suzhou, East China's Jiangsu province has been ranked third in a list of Chinese counties with high-quality development.
Released by First City Economic Consultancy, the rankings were determined after an evaluation of 1,866 Chinese counties based on factors including innovation, opening-up, and environment.
Zhangjiagang has been making steady progress in its innovative transformation of industries, integrated development of urban and rural areas, as well as improvements to people's livelihoods.
The gross regional product of Zhangjiagang in 2021 was 303.02 billion yuan ($44.87 billion), making it the third county-level city in China with a GDP above 300 billion yuan. The output of companies above a designated scale in the city reached 584.24 billion yuan during the same period, up 19.7 percent year-on-year.
Zhangjiagang has also made concerted efforts to restore the environment of the Yangtze River, control air pollution and enhance waste dispose practices. In 2021, authorities dredged 450 rivers and planted 585 mu (39 hectares) of forests in the rural areas.
Eighteen new schools were built in the city in 2021, increasing the admission quota by 16,000.