Developmental pillars

One of the pillars of Jiashan's economic development is automation. According to official data, the county has spent 20 billion yuan ($3 billion) to help 450 companies implement automation initiatives during the past three years, resulting in productivity rising by 12.3 percent.

The high-tech manufacturing sector has also been identified as a major player in the county's development plans.

Jiaxing Join Intelligent Equipment Co is a good example of the sector. Founded in 2009, the company supplies state-of-the-art precision equipment to semiconductor manufacturers around the world.

Strong government support enabled the company to grow from a five-man operation to a 110-person-strong enterprise, according to Chen Yilun, general manager of Join Intelligent's machine vision business unit.

"We were looking for a place suitable for manufacturing, but large cities just didn't have the sort of space required. We also wanted to be close to a large city to attract talent," said Chen, explaining the company's decision to base itself in Jiashan.

The county, which has a population of 750,000, is a 20-minute ride on a high-speed train from Shanghai, its bustling neighbor, and less than 100 km from other major business hubs such as Suzhou in Jiangsu province, and Hangzhou and Ningbo in Zhejiang province.

"The government provided us with very good service support in every aspect. It put us through an incubation program and helped to coordinate many things necessary for the company's operations, including the construction of the facility," added Chen, who studied in the United States.

European ties

Another project aimed at attracting investment is the Sino-Dutch Industrial Cooperation Park, located in the Jiashan Economic and Technological Development Zone. Officially opened in May last year, the park provides a platform for companies from China and the Netherlands to cooperate in matters related to investment, trade, education, training and financial services.

"Much of the county's overseas investment used to come from Taiwan, but we're now looking to bring in more from Europe," said Wang Yuqing, the zone's deputy director.

"Despite its name, the park does not just facilitate bilateral trade between China and the Netherlands. This zone can also be used as a stepping stone for Chinese businesses to enter the European market and vice versa."

Several large companies from the Netherlands have set up shop in Jiashan, including the brewer Heineken, which invested more than $100 million to build a factory in 2014, and chemicals producer Akzo Nobel.

Having identified a growing demand for paints and coatings by China's thriving wood coatings and furniture sector, especially in the area around the Yangtze River Delta, Akzo Nobel opened a manufacturing plant in Jiashan in 2003.

George Sun, the site manager at the Jiashan facility, listed a number of factors behind the company's decision to establish a presence in the county.

"Jiashan is located near Shanghai, which means top talent is easily accessible. Furthermore, the cost here is still considered very reasonable when compared with the surrounding major cities," he said.

"I have dealt with officials from several governments in the region, but those in Jiashan are very different in the sense that they are incredibly service oriented. They are always coming to the site to find out what we need to grow."