Longquan – the county-level city administered by Lishui in East China's Zhejiang province – has been  placed on a special list of national pilot counties, selected for their development of strong intellectual property rights or IPR.

That's according an announcement released by the China National Intellectual Property Administration on Aug 29.

In recent years, the city has not only prioritized the inheritance and development of traditional knowledge and folk literature and art, but also promoted reforms of intellectual property rights.

As a result, the production of famed the celadon swords there is said to have made a qualitative leap forwards in IPR, with a steady increase in the number of patent applications and authorizations and a continuous optimization of the patents structure.

From 2019 to 2021, the number of patent applications and authorizations from Longquan reached 3,884 and 4,138, respectively – leading all the counties and districts in Lishui.

Moving forwards, plans are for Longquan to further improve the level of intellectual property creation, applications, protection, management and services of traditional industries – to boost their high-quality development.