A view of Southern Taihu Lake New Area in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang province.  [Photo/WeChat account: huzhoufabu]

Southern Taihu Lake New Area in Huzhou was recently rated as excellent in a provincial assessment on economic development in 2020.

It came in second among provincial new areas in the evaluation.

Official data shows that a total of 92 investment projects, worth more than 130 billion yuan ($20 billion), had been introduced to the new area in 2020, among which 15 were listed as provincial key industrial projects, up 300 percent year-on-year.

A number of high-profile universities, including the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and Zhejiang University, inaugurated research organs in the area.

Southern Taihu Lake New Area ranked first in Huzhou in terms of reducing PM2.5 levels and came in second in air quality improvement.