Zhanjiang is a garden-like coastal city. [Photo provided by Liu Jicheng/For China Daily]

In addition, Zhanjiang's traditional advantageous industries like agriculture, aquatic product processing and food featuring local characteristics have enhanced their competitiveness.

The city is now home to 25 high-level modern agricultural industrial parks, including four State-level ones.

In 2021, Zhanjiang ranked first in Guangdong in terms of grain planting area, the total output value of aquatic products, and agricultural output value which stood at 105.2 billion yuan.

In addition to industries, the city has also sped up the construction of a modern three-dimensional transportation system of land, sea and air in the past decade.

The modern and comprehensive transportation network is helping Zhanjiang enhance co-operative ties with the island province of Hainan, which is on the other side of the Qiongzhou Strait.

The two are preparing to build a special cooperation zone between Guangdong and Hainan provinces in Zhanjiang's Xuwen county.

With a total planned area of 140 sq km, the zone will have a modern logistics park, a high-end manufacturing park, a port service and business area, and a cultural tourism and ecological innovation demonstration area.

Zhanjiang and Hainan will also jointly promote the construction of the Qiongzhou Strait Economic Belt; boost the coordinated development of modern service industry; and strengthen cooperation in marine biopharmaceutical industry, marine energy and marine equipment manufacturing.

The city has also fortified its subcenter role in terms of scientific and technological innovation, education, healthcare service as well as modern service sectors.

The city ranks top in the western region of Guangdong in the numbers of high-tech enterprises, tech-intensive SMEs, State-level incubators for technological enterprises and spaces for mass innovation.

It has also topped other cities in Guangdong outside the prosperous Pearl River Delta region in the retail sales of social consumer goods in the past few years.