More than 70 percent of East China's Zhejiang province is mountainous and hilly and it reportedly has the longest coastline in China, with a wealth of marine resources.

Now, the province is looking for complementarity and collaboration in industries involved in the mountains and ocean, so as to explore synergies in supply chains between its cities.

One aim is to counter challenges being faced by development zones in mountain areas. These reportedly encounter a range of disadvantages – such as poor infrastructure, insufficient investment, weak industrial foundations, inconvenient transport and insufficient resources – making it harder to attract large-scale enterprises and investment projects.

In recent years, some regional economic researchers have put forward the theory of "anti-gradient development" – in which later-developed areas may not necessarily follow the traditional industrialization path of creating pollution during their early stages.

Instead, they learn from other later-developed areas and achieve leap-forward development by reducing pollution to a minimum.

A new intellectual toy production plant based in Longyou county – administered by Quzhou city, is cited as an example of this.

It is estimated that after the completion of the project, it will not only pay more than 7 million yuan in local tax revenue every year, but also create 350 new jobs.

"Currently, we take toys as the main industry direction, only in line with our industry positioning, no impact on the environment of the project, only qualified to our zone," said He Xiangping, a person in charge of the project.

An industry insider said that with clean water, clean air, a suitable climate and optimal natural  conditions, it was possible to promote the development of the digital economy, clean medicine, electronic components and other industries in the region through mountain and ocean collaboration.