An aerial view of Taicang port, Jiangsu province. JI HAIXIN/FOR CHINA DAILY

The focus on the development of emerging industries in Taicang as well as the city's close ties with Shanghai has made the 620-square-kilometer county-level city in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, a role model for many smaller Chinese cities concerning high-quality economic growth, said experts.

According to latest data provided by the Taicang government, high-end equipment and advanced materials enterprises have sprung up in Taicang, with the two industries' minimum annual industrial outputs both exceeding 100 billion yuan ($14 billion) last year.

As the local government planned, aviation and biomedicine will become two other major industries that the local government will nurture. By 2025, the respective industrial output of the two industries is expected to exceed 50 billion yuan.

At present, a total of 19 aviation companies with a respective annual sales revenue of 20 million yuan have settled down in Taicang. Meanwhile, 100 companies with businesses related to the aviation industry have registered in the county-level city, which is about one-third of the total number in Suzhou.

Over 300 biomedicine companies have set up operations in Taicang, with their combined annual income exceeding 20 billion yuan in 2021.

"The local government understands the importance of emerging industries. Many of the 443 Taicang-based German companies have also contributed a lot to the industries over the past decades," said Wang Xiangyuan, Taicang's Party chief.

The presence of foreign companies, especially the many German companies, has provided business opportunities for more than 600 local privately owned companies. Therefore, more efforts will be made to seize opportunities and create an optimal business environment to attract the best companies, he said.

And yet, a bigger mission has been assigned to Taicang. While the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region was elevated as a national strategy in November 2018, the cooperation model between Chinese and German small and medium-sized enterprises in the county-level city has been written into the framework plan for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta region released in December 2019.

Taicang has sped up its merger with Shanghai's industrial chains. An empty container transportation center's Taicang branch, which is affiliated with the port of Shanghai, was put into use on May 7. Export companies in neighboring areas such as Suzhou and Wuxi can book and obtain containers at the Taicang branch and directly deliver goods.

In this way, delivery costs will be lowered and Taicang can help Shanghai to build a high-quality international supply chain, said Zhou Xiaohe, deputy director of Taicang Port Administrative Committee.

In 2021, Taicang introduced a total of 259 Shanghai-based projects, with the total investment surging 124.3 percent year-on-year to approach 23 billion yuan.

"Taicang's focus on deepening cooperation with German companies, developing emerging industries, enhancing the city's overall innovation capability and seeking a closer connection with Shanghai, has set up a good example for the many Chinese county-level cities which are also seeking high-quality economic growth," said Yang Wenxue, an analyst for county economy research at CCID Consulting.