A bird's-eye view of Quzhou in Zhejiang province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The GDP of Quzhou, Zhejiang province in the first three quarters of this year was valued at 153.17 billion yuan ($21.33 billion), a year-on-year increase of 7.7 percent, ranking third in the province, according to authorities.

These remarkable achievements were largely due to a raft of measures rolled out by authorities, including advancing the integration of culture and tourism and establishing six signature industrial chains.

Quzhou, which has a history of more than 1,800 years, has been tapping into its cultural and tourism resources to foster new business models such as nighttime consumption.

The city also joined with Huangshan in Anhui province, Nanping in Fujian province, and Shangrao in Jiangxi province to launch the first cross-provincial tourism highway in the Yangtze River Delta region this July. It features nine national 5A scenic attractions and many cultural landscapes.

In addition, authorities have been making efforts to develop the city's six pillar industries – new materials, new energy, integrated circuits, high-end equipment, healthcare, and specialty paper.

Five new materials projects with investments of more than 10 billion yuan each have been launched in the city.

A photovoltaic power facility in Changshan county, Quzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]