A splendid aerial view of Rugao city in Nantong, East China’s Jiangsu province [Photo/WeChat account: rugaofabu]

Rugao in Nantong was included in a list of China’s top 100 county-level cities -- recognized for their comprehensive strength -- which was released by the People’s Daily newspaper on Oct 8.

According to the report, Rugao ranked 24th among the top 100 cities in terms of comprehensive strength, 21st in for its green development and it came in 19th for its scientific and technological innovation.

The results were based on a research project that was compiling high-quality development indexes for small and medium size cities in China for 2019.

For 15 years, the project has been undertaken by authorities including the Small and Medium Cities Development Strategy Research Institute and phased research results have been published each year.