Gears of industry at full speed ahead in Taicang

As a place to do business, China is making a name for itself as the second-largest national economy in the world. Capitalizing on this stratospheric growth fueled by the country's opening-up policy is the county-level city of Taicang, Jiangsu province.

Just 42 kilometers northwest from Shanghai, this port city of 1 million people had developed itself into a Sino-German business cooperation base with a GDP of 132.49 billion yuan ($19.69 billion) by the end of 2019.

Taking this high-quality development to the next level is the German Centre, a worldwide chain of support hubs for traders looking to set up in prosperous areas.

With bases in Beijing, Shanghai, Moscow, Mexico City and Singapore, the German Centre offers small to medium-sized German companies a launch pad to expand into foreign markets.

Matthias Mueller, the managing director of the Taicang branch, explained: "German Centres are usually in places where there are new markets for German companies or the future markets.

"And in China right now the new markets are not tier-one cities anymore like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Now it's lower-tier cities, they are all rising."

He added: "Here in Taicang, this is the highest density of German manufacturing companies in China, in one port. One in three German manufacturers in the country are here. Let me put it this way, for a German company it's not a big choice. If you want to stay in the market and stay competitive, you have to expand your business here."

Since 1993, more than 330 German companies have settled in the city.

Among the 42 tenants across five floors of Grade A office space at the Taicang German Centre, there is a list of contacts a newcomer can access spanning services such as investment advice, technical services, legal advice, recruitment and assistance in working with the authorities.

The importance of the Chinese market is critical to foreign companies looking to increase their revenue and presence and it cannot be conducted from afar, Mueller said.

"China is the biggest, the most important sales market in the world, the biggest trading partner for Germany.

"You can even see now the pressure is so high for the German companies to be here on-site," he said.

So what is it like operating a business in Taicang? "The service attitude, especially from the Taicang government, is more than good.

"The area of our tenants can just confirm that and all the companies I helped bring here and also here the whole service environment, the apps developed to do your tax declaration," said Mueller.

"Everything gets more convenient in general in China, especially in Taicang," he added.

The German Centre first opened its doors in Taicang in June 2016.

Since then the distinction between Taicang and Shanghai appears to be getting smaller as the benefits of operating away from a tier-one city become more apparent.

The factory of German company Brose in Taicang produces a plethora of auto parts used by national and foreign auto manufacturers. LI JIN/CHINA DAILY

A Pakistani journalist photographs high-tech facilities at the Brose workshop. LI JIN/CHINA DAILY