Attracting talent

The county has also identified foreign talent and investment as another pillar of growth. According to Shen Xuelin, director of the Jiashan county bureau of commerce, the county attracted as much as $300 million in foreign investment last year, and is currently home to 10 of the world's top 500 companies. Some of the big names located in the development zone include Berkshire Hathaway, Goldman Sachs, Foxconn and Pegatron Corp.

In March, Jiashan introduced a raft of new policies to attract talent, among which was 100 million yuan ($14.6 million) in funding for programs led by top talent.

The Shanghai Overseas Returned Scholars Association and the Jiashan government also organized a competition for startups in electronic information and healthcare, with the winners walking away with prizes worth as much as 150,000 yuan. Winning startups that registered their businesses in the county were also given subsidies amounting to as much as 6 million yuan.

The county's efforts to attract foreign talent and overseas returnees also included spending 20 million yuan on building apartments, subsidizing living and education for school students, and improving air quality through pollution-control measures.

These policies have attracted entrepreneurs from Taiwan. Monry Ho is an example of how Taiwan residents have thrived in the county. Having first arrived in Jiashan 17 years ago, Ho now owns several companies, including a motor components factory and a precision-forging facility.

"At that time, many of my friends recommended that I come to Jiashan because they knew the local government was providing strong support to overseas investors. There were fewer than 10 companies from Taiwan when I first arrived," he said.

Official records show that Jiashan is the most prolific Taiwan investment zone in Zhejiang, with more than 2,000 Taiwan residents owning about 500 companies.

In line with the county's drive toward innovation and sustainability, Ho has been steadily upgrading his factories since 2015, replacing old machines with semi- or fully-automatic versions. He has also replaced the air-conditioning systems in his facilities with a high-tech geothermal pump, a heating-and-cooling system that transfers heat to or from the earth.

"The pump has helped my businesses to reduce emissions and electricity consumption. It was expensive to install, but it is greener and will help with cost savings in the long run. Automation and innovation allow us to be more efficient. Without new technology, a company cannot possibly develop and be competitive in the market," he said.

A large number of people from Taiwan who live in Jiashan come from the younger generation. Li Guofei, whose family hails from Kaohsiung in Taiwan and owns the World Expo Hotel in Jiashan, decided to expand the business by opening a boutique hotel called the Nine House.

Situated in the county's Xitang Ancient Town, the modern bed-and-breakfast establishment has been featured in design websites and magazines in the United States and South Korea. Li plans to introduce more such boutique hotels to the countryside and urban areas in the future.

A sweet experience

The establishment of Li's boutique hotel came on the back of the local government's push to use tourism as another catalyst for economic growth.

Last year, when the Nine House opened, Jiashan's Dayun town was one of the first locations in Zhejiang to be designated as a demonstration zone for tourism development. The town's two largest tourist magnets are the Yunlan Bay Hot Springs and Aficion, a chocolate factory that takes visitors through a tour of its production process and the history of chocolate.

According to official statistics, the county received more than 13 million tourists from around the world last year - a rise of 45 percent from 2015 - and generated 15 billion yuan in revenue. The local government expects tourism revenue to hit 30 billion yuan by 2020.

"The chocolate factory is at the core of our tourism strategy, which is based on the concept of sweetness. This core is supported by other segments such as our flower trade, hot springs and wedding photography. We aim to provide tourists with a sweet travel experience," said Lu Yun, the secretary of the Party committee of Dayun town.

"Looking forward, the government will continue to provide strong support to tourism enterprises in the town to provide visitors with a greater selection of travel services and products. We don't want to be just a provincial-level tourist destination - we want to become a national travel hotspot."

Cao Chen contributed to this story

Contact the writers at alywin@chinadaily.com.cn