ZHANGJIAGANG, a relatively obscure city of 800,000 people in the outskirts of Suzhou, is heaven on earth. Or so the propaganda machinery would have us believe.
This pride of Jiangsu province boasts an annual growth rate of 60 per cent and per capita income of US$2,214 (HK$17,114), meaning it has already achieved what Deng Xiaoping calls 'small-scale prosperity'.
Moreover, Zhangjiagang has not neglected 'spiritual civilisation', the obsession of neo-conservatives such as President Jiang Zemin.
Each year, the municipality forks out more than 2 billion yuan on culture and education. There are no prostitutes, no gambling, no foul language - and almost no crime.
Harking back to the Golden Age of legendary emperors Yao and Shun, residents don't bother to lock up before going to bed. Some 200 million yuan worth of merchandise is left in open stores in the market every night.
Equally important, at a time when at least 38 per cent of the nation's 800,000-odd Chinese Communist Party cells are considered 'weak and lax', the city is a hotbed of Communist-Party zeal.