Besides the port, nature has endowed Zhanjiang with China's longest beach as well as quite a few others. It also has one of the world's largest volcano lakes, and a great variety of seafood and tropical plants.

Also amazing is the fresh air. While many Chinese cities are battling air pollutants the PM2.5－airborne particles smaller than 2.5 microns－readings stay below 20 in Zhanjiang all year round.

The petrochemical joint venture between Sinopec and Kuwait Petroleum Corp under construction is designed to process 15 million tons of crude oil and produce 1 million tons of ethylene annually. The crude oil project will go online in 2016, followed by ethylene production in 2017.

The first phase of the 7.6 billon yuan ($1.2 billion) paper plant by Guangdong Guanhao High-Tech Co went into trial operation this month. China Paper Corp and Chenming Group also have massive projects in Zhanjiang.

State-owned conglomerate Baosteel Group is building a modern iron-steel complex, the first phase of which will be completed as early as Sept 2015. It will turn out 9.2 million tons of iron and 10 million tons of steel annually, replacing old, polluting iron and steel-making capacity that the country is eager to shed.

The petrochemical and iron-steel projects will form a circular economy by using each other's byproducts, and use the most stringent environmental standards.

"We are working very closely with investors and managers of these heavy industry projects," said Mayor Wang.

"We want to build a city that is beautiful and rich in the following centuries with future residents that are happy with the delicious seafood, the fresh air and the white beaches. 'HAPPI' is for the present, and also for the future," he said.

'HAPPI' ZHANJIANG

WHAT IS HAPPI?

· H is for harbor: A natural deep-water harbor in the South China Sea, a central hub for southwestern and southern China.

· A is for amazing: Delicious seafood, fresh air, China's longest beach, one of the world's largest volcano lakes, diverse plants and marine life.

· P is for petrochemical: A mega joint venture between China Petroleum & Chemical Corp and Kuwait Petroleum Corp.

· P is for papermaking: Billions of dollars in investment from the several papermaking giants in China.

· I is for iron-steel: A modern iron-steel complex under construction by Baosteel.