With prosperous home textile industry, Chuanjiang town in Tongzhou district, Nantong ranks 498th on the list of national top 1,000 towns in terms of comprehensive strength for 2021 released on Sept 28. [Photo by Ding Congrong/chinadaily.com.cn]

The Guo Xin Small and Medium Cities Index Research Institute on Sept 28 released its 2021 research report on the high-quality development index of China's small and medium cities.

The list of the national top 1,000 towns, in terms of comprehensive strength for 2021 was also announced. Chuanjiang town in Tongzhou district – administered by Nantong city in East China's Jiangsu province – ranked 498th.

The top 1,000 towns list took the national key towns and the towns with better development momentums in various provinces as its basic evaluation tenet. It used selected indicators for its calculations including GDP, general public budget revenue, the number of manufacturers above a designated size – those with annual revenue of 20 million yuan ($3.09 million) or more – as well as the incomes of urban and rural residents.

In recent years, Chuanjiang town has focused on its goals, vigorously developed its economy and won honors as a provincial e-commerce demonstration base, a demonstration cluster for the modern service industry in Nantong, as well as a leading home textiles town in China.

In the first half of 2021, the town generated GDP of 7.8 billion yuan ($1.22 billion). As of July this year, the general public budget revenue reached 260 million yuan, up 56.3 percent, while manufacturing investment increment topped 1.7 billion yuan.

At present, Chuanjiang town is home to over 10,000 enterprises and self-employment ventures, 173 of which are above a designated size. As of July, manufacturers there above a designated size generated output value of 4.75 billion yuan, a year-on-year rise of 31.29 percent over the same period last year.

Moving forwards, plans are for Chuanjiang town to leverage its efficient home textiles industry, transform and upgrade traditional manufacturing industries, optimize its business environment and continue to expand the high-quality development of the local economy.