An urban promotion event highlighting the myth-enshrouded coastal city of Yantai, organized by the city's municipal government, was held on April 26 in China's capital, Beijing.

An urban promotion event highlighting the eastern coastal city of Yantai is held on April 26 in China's capital, Beijing. [Photo/shm.com]

More than 150 distinguished guests including government officials from Yantai and Beijing and representatives of media outlets took part in the event.

Xu Shaoning, director of the Yantai publicity department, briefed the attendees about the city's economic and social development in recent years.

Xu Shaoning, director of the Yantai publicity department, delivers a speech at the urban promotional event held on April 26 in Beijing. [Photo/shm.com]

Located on the east coast of the Shandong Peninsula and bordered by Bohai Bay and the Yellow Sea, Yantai is a regional transport hub, an important industrial city in the Bohai-rim economic zone and a gateway to Northeast Asia.

The city was among the first of China's 14 coastal cities to open to the outside world and is one of the 15 key pivot cities in the country's Belt and Road Initiative.

Covering about 13,700 square kilometers, Yantai is now the administrative center for four city districts, one county and seven county-level cities, which are home to around 7.01 million people.

The city's gross domestic product was 692.6 billion yuan ($100.44 billion) in 2016, ranking it second among Shandong's 17 cities.

Currently, more than 90 Fortune 500 and multinational enterprises have established facilities in Yantai, contributing to its competitiveness in automobiles, computers, cell phones, wines, gold, ship-building and new materials.