CHINA'S new model city, Zhangjiagang, received another honour yesterday when it was labelled a showcase for China's economic reform in the next 15 years by Xinhua (the New China News Agency).
Experts agreed the port city on the bank of the Yangtze River in Jiangsu has 'set an example in China's building of her socialist market economy', Xinhua reported.
'Zhangjiagang is also a showcase for China to accomplish its ninth five-year plan [1996-2000] and the long-term plan for the year 2010,' said the agency.
The report yesterday was the latest in a propaganda crusade by the state media since President Jiang Zemin visited the city last May and called on the whole country to learn from it.
Zhangjiagang has been so successful its Gross Domestic Product is expected to soar to 21 billion yuan (HK$19.53 billion) this year from 3.2 billion yuan three years ago.
In addition to economic success, Xinhua said Zhangjiagang was praiseworthy because its citizens 'voluntarily abide by social morality and maintain social order'.
'A survey showed that 80 per cent of husbands in the city share household work with their wives, the urban citizens spent an average of more than 20 yuan buying books, and more and more people are learning computer science and foreign languages,' said the agency.
