Anpu and Shiling, two towns of Lianjiang, again made it onto the list of China Top 1,000 Towns, according to recently released research on the scientific development indexes of small-medium cities.

Since 2005, the Economic Development Committee of Chinese Small and Medium Cities, the Research Institute of Development Strategy for Small-medium Cities and the Institute for Urban and Environmental Studies have been conducting the research.

Scores are given to domestic towns based on three indicators, including total output value, per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents and public revenue. This year, Anpu moved up 15 places to 629th, while Shiling climbed up two rungs to 697th.

As one of the four ancient towns in Guangdong, Anpu was named a China Characteristic Small Town by the Ministry of Housing & Urban-Rural Development in August. While focusing on the preservation of old assets, its industrial development showed no inferiority.

Local non-public economy has maintained a strong momentum and taken the lead in Lianjiang, with enterprises of different fields such as food processing, car manufacturing, papermaking, ceramics, textiles and household appliances settling in the town.

Situated next to downtown Lianjiang, Shiling is well located with good transport links. Its efforts to attract investment and form an industrial cluster have put it in the fast lane for economic development.