A new international school, the Nantong Shanfeng Bilingual School, is to be built in the Chongchuan district of Nantong – a prefecture-level city in East China's Jiangsu province – following an agreement signed on April 8.

Among dignitaries attending the signing ceremony were Zeng Qingshi, president of Shanfeng Education Group and Liu Hao and Huang Weifeng, respectively Party secretary and head of Chongchuan district.

Liu made a keynote speech in which he said that Nantong's education system was highly developed and of high quality.

He added that as the city's main urban area, Chongchuan had always taken education as a focal point for its overall development. It had laid equal emphasis on the economic and social construction of education, in order to provide the necessary top-flight people and intellectual support for regional development.

Liu pointed out that the Nantong Shanfeng Bilingual School was bound to have a promising future since it chose to settle in Chongchuan and that the district would also benefit, improving its urban services and functions with the help of the Shanfeng Education Group.

Liu added that Chongchuan provided attentive and efficient administration and services, to create the best and most business-friendly environment possible for its resident companies. More high-quality education projects like the new Shanfeng school were invited to settle in the district.

Shanfeng Education Group's Zeng thanked the Party committee and local government for their support and help. He said his company would work with Chongchuan to build a high-quality international private school in Nantong, to educate and inspire more competitive first-class minds for the district and the city.

Costing 1 billion yuan ($153 million), the school will cover 6.9 hectares in the core area of the Zhihui Community.

Plans are for it to be an integrated international private school, taking its pupils through the complete educational process, from kindergarten to senior high school. When complete, it is expected to enroll 2,000 students.