The initiative of fostering a coastal industrial cluster has attracted many projects to Chaozhou.

In December last year, a groundbreaking ceremony for the Chaozhou Huaying liquefied natural gas terminal project was held in the city. Located in Chaozhou's Raoping county, the terminal with an annual receiving capacity of 6 million metric tons involves a first-phase investment of 7.4 billion yuan and is expected to start operations in 2023, according to Huaying Natural Gas.

Three gas storage tanks with a capacity of 200,000 cubic meters each will be built alongside the first stage of the Chaozhou project.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, a senior official said the successful construction of this project would "help Chaozhou increase its capacity of ensuring energy security, promote industrial transformation and upgrading, build a coastal industrial cluster and further accelerate the construction of the Chaozhou bay area". The bay area covers seven towns, such as Huanggang and Suocheng, with a planned area totaling 630 square kilometers.

Chaozhou has attracted Datang International Power Generation; China Huaneng Group; Yihai Kerry Arawana Holdings; Guangzhou Port Group and other renowned companies to invest in projects in the bay area. They have initially formed three pillar industries of green energy, modern port logistics and food processing, becoming an important engine to drive the high-quality development of Chaozhou's economy, local officials said.

The city next will focus on the establishment of upstream and downstream enterprises in sectors like petrochemical storage, electric power, port logistics, food and renewable energy to build a complete port industrial chain.

Huang Jingzhong, vice-president of Hanshan Normal University. CHINA DAILY

When it comes to the cultural tourism cluster, "Chaozhou has a wealth of cultural heritage resources to tap into", said Huang Jingzhong, vice-president of Hanshan Normal University in the city and an expert of Chaozhou culture.

As a famed cultural city with a long history, Chaozhou has reformed the management mechanism of its ancient town since last year, as well as boosted restoration and protection of cultural relics, strengthened inheritance of the intangible cultural heritage, and promoted integrated development of cultural and tourism resources, according to a city plan for 2020-25.

Moreover, the city has some more ambitious goals. They include the construction of a national cultural relics protection and utilization demonstration area, a national culture ecological protection pilot area and national 5A-rated scenic spots. It also wants to become a world-class cultural tourism destination, according to the local government.

Chaozhou will further optimize its infrastructure facilities, and improve the smart parking fee charging system and platforms of intelligent tourism and transport. The city will also build exhibition halls of intangible cultural heritage items and better utilize local tourism resources like Red tourism, rural tourism and coastal tourism to create new economic pillars.

In Guangdong government's work report issued on Jan 24, it said the province plans to build four provincial-level emergency rescue centers and a national southeast regional emergency rescue center. The latter, covering an area of 33 hectares, will be located in Chaozhou to undertake rescue missions in case of typhoon and derivative disasters in coastal areas of Southeast China.

Chaozhou will take the opportunity to strengthen policy support and construct an industrial park in a bid to develop a cluster of emergency response businesses.

New projects and efforts made in industrial upgrading and transformation have injected new impetus into the economic growth of Chaozhou. In the first half of this year, the city's GDP reached 57.6 billion yuan, an increase of 13.8 percent year-on-year.

The added value of industries above designated size increased by 18.7 percent year-on-year to 13.8 billion yuan, of which 8.16 billion yuan was contributed by eight pillar industries including ceramics, food, plastics and stainless-steel products.

The city's total import and export volume was 10.41 billion yuan in the first six months, up 42.9 percent year-on-year.

Chaozhou has made many efforts in the past few years to improve the business environment and attract foreign investment. They include implementing related laws and regulations, and providing more customized services to investors.

From January to August, Chaozhou approved six new foreign-funded projects with an actual foreign investment of nearly 580 million yuan, ranking first in provincial growth rates.