The island city of Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, has been chosen as one of the country's first seven demonstration sites for marine economy innovative development by the finance ministry and the State Oceanic Administration.

The other six cities are Fuzhou and Xiamen of Fujian province, Qingdao and Yantai of Shandong province, the Binhai New District of Tianjin, Zhanjiang of Guangdong province and Nantong of Jiangsu province.

The finance ministry and the State Oceanic Administration announced that they are supporting innovative development of the maritime economy and are promoting cooperative innovation along the maritime industrial chain to increase the scale and competitiveness of enterprises.

And these seven cities were chosen from a list of 22 candidates and are not just getting a fancy title -- each of them will receive 300 million yuan ($45 million) in financial support from the central government.

Representatives of all 22 of the candidate cities were interviewed twice during the assessment period and said that Zhoushan got a high score for its maritime economy programs and stood out from the rest of the province's cities.

The ministry and the administration will do follow-up checks on the seven cities at fixed intervals and will disqualify any one that fails to live up to expectations.

Ports give Zhoushan a vibrant marine economy. [Photo/zhoushan.cn]