Tangshan, which is known for its heavy industry, plans to improve its economic structure to develop more green, sustainable industries and work for Tier-2 status, among the costal cities with a strong economy, in five years. It has already toped other cities for eight years in a row. However, compared with other eastern costal cities, Tangshan seen the gap widen behind other cities since 2008.

The gap between Tangshan and Dalian, in Liaoning province, for example, has grown 3.8-fold during that period. In 2008, Tangshan’s economy exceeded the Tianjin Binhai New Area’s by 46 billion yuan, but, by 2012, the new area had overtaken it by 134 billion yuan.

“We were among the second-strongest economic group, but lost our position because of less foreign investment during the opening-up,” explained Lv Zhiyu, the head of Tangshan’s policy department, who noted that the city has fewer Top 500 companies, about 80 fewer than in Dalian, where the market is more open and it’s easier to attract more companies which help with economic development.

Tangshan plans to hold 17 large trade fairs, to get 3,000 companies to make deals with local industries and wants to make sure that 90 percent of the deals get off the ground. In addition, the city is making an effort to attract enough foreign investment so that it accounts for at least 20 percent of the province’s total, in 2013, said Li Zaidong, head of the city’s trade office.

The Caofeidian district, which is a major growth area, has a goal of a 15-percent increase in GDP in the district this year, to 40.9 billion yuan, and a 50-percent increase in district revenues, to 7.6 billion yuan. The city will improve its industrial structure for more sustainable development and allocate around 130 million yuan to improve companies’ production technology, as a reward, or for subsidies.