Yantai on fast track to open, modern metropolis

Yantai, a coastal city of East China's Shandong province has seen big progress in building a moderately prosperous society, local officials said during the city's news conference held on Sept 27.

The city's GDP reached 781.9 billion yuan ($121.17 billion) in 2020, ranking 25th among China's cities. The per capita GDP exceeded $15,000 in the same year. The output value of high-tech industries accounted for 59.4 percent of the city’s total industrial output value.

The city is currently home to 1,120 high-end enterprises, four unicorn enterprises and 97 gazelle enterprises. The marine economy has seen robust development, with its output value reaching 191.8 billion yuan and accounting for one quarter of the city's total.

Yantai has made great achievements in urban construction and rural revitalization in recent years. The transportation system has been improved and the travel time from Yantai to Jinan has been shortened to 100 minutes. In 2019, the passenger throughput of Penglai International Airport exceeded 10 million.

The rural vitalization strategy has been thoroughly implemented. More efforts have been made in building roads, renovating toilets, developing clean energy, and improving the rural environment.

People's livelihoods have been improved. Comprehensive progress has been made in education, medical care, culture, sports and other social projects. A total of 190,000 houses in rundown areas and 195,000 households in old residential communities have been renovated.

Moreover, Yantai has been promoting a higher-level opening up in recent years. Since its opening up to the outside world in 1978, the city has attracted more than 100 of the world's top 500 enterprises and nearly $40 billion in foreign investment.