When Jinshan town at Yuanbao district is mentioned, people automatically think narrow paths, low and obsolete houses. However big changes have taken place. This new district in Dandong, Liaoning province, is embracing a boom as its businesses in infrastructure, commerce, tourism, hot spring and real estate prosper.

As an important economic town of Yuanbao district, Jinshan has been focusing on its industrial development because its modern service industry, including commerce and tourism, were the city's most underdeveloped industries.

Last year, the municipal government decided to set up Jinshan Economic Development Zone, aiming to forge a new urban district in the north. The 11th municipal party congress proposed to build Jinshan as the city's back garden.

Jinshan Economic Development Zone got in touch with the well-known, nationwide planning team - Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning & Design Institute to draw up a back garden blueprint for the zone. It was decided that the economic zone would have "two centers, two communities and six clusters".

The two centers refer to the public facility center and the education and training center; the two communities refer to the newly-built community along Jinshui River and the old community around Pichaigou River; six clusters refer to the eastern living cluster that features public services and residential housing, the western living cluster that features medium and high-end lifestyle, the ecological industrial cluster that features the emerging green industries, the cultural and educational cluster that features cultural and educational services, the industrial cluster in the old district that features industrial and logistic functions and the Tiedong industrial cluster that features large-scale warehouses and logistics.

"To develop projects with projects" is an innovative move by the economic zone. The land transfer fees and taxes from the investments in real estate in the old district are utilized to improve Jinshui River and construct tourism avenues.

Ideal commercial conditions attract bigger investors, says the director of the investment promotion department of the zone. The economic zone has been receiving investors from Hong Kong and Taiwan almost every day since the start of this year. Thirteen projects with a total investment of 10.51 billion yuan ($1.64 billion) were signed. Some of those projects are now under construction.

Real estate and infrastructure projects invested by eight real estate developers are particularly inviting. Most projects are designed by master deve lopers. For instance, the 3-billion-yuan ($46.95 million) Qinhuangdao Bo'enyu landscape project was developed by the designing team of Water Cube, the national aquatics center for 2008 Beijing Olympics. The team also introduced the high-end real estate, commercial hotel, gourmet street and hot spring to the economic zone, which enriched the local service industry.

Jinshan economic development zone is applying for the provincial economic development zone. Moreover, well-known planning and design institutes from Beijing, Shenzhen and Dalian are engaged in drawing up the regulatory plans on paths, greenbelts and landscape for the zone. Jinshan economic development zone, a pearl at the eastern tip of Liaoning coastal economic belt, will show more resplendent sparkles.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Tania Lee