A project has been established to channel investment from the wealthy coastal city of Ningbo to Quzhou, a less developed inland area, creating jobs, boosting tourism and improving livelihoods.

The initiative is part of a "mountain to sea" collaboration project aiming to create synergy among cities and regions able to cooperate by leveraging each other's advantages.

The project involves Ningbo-based entrepreneurs investing in Quzhou. Both cities are in China's eastern Zhejiang Province.

Among the many beneficiaries is a local resident named Hu Fangjun. She used to count on her husband – the only breadwinner in the family – for almost all her living expenses. But after Helu Pasture, which was empowered by the project, opened nearby, she soon found a job in its milk bar and started earning a pay check.

"I currently work as a manager at this milk bar, and I'm responsible for receiving tourists and making the drinks, plus the cashier," said Hu. She added that after starting work there, she could perfectly balance working and taking care of her children. The money she earned from the job was enough to cover her day-to-day expenses and also buy food and clothing for the kids.

The pasture mainly focuses on breeding cows and producing dairy products, and provides full-time and part-time job opportunities to over 100 local residents.

According to Hu Xinhua, director of the Government Reception Office of Helu Pasture, the total planned investment is 570 million yuan, or about $88 million.

"We adopt modernized ways as we use big data to analyze how many steps the cows walk, how much milk they produce and how much fodder they consume," said the director.

"Breeding them is the category in which we've invested the most. We also have tourists coming in, and we provide fresh dairy."

The government officials who took part in the project also nodded to what the collaboration model had achieved so far.

Qian Saihong, Party committee member of the Development and Reform Bureau in Yinzhou District of Ningbo, said since the implementation of the "mountain to sea" collaboration project between Quzhou and Ningbo, Helu Pasture had directly contributed to the complementary, win-win deal between a well-off coastal area, which is abundant in capital, technology and managerial talent, and a relatively less-developed inland area with rich land and ecological resources. The platform has played a key role, she said.

Looking ahead, Hu Xinhua said the experience to develop Helu Pasture may very well be replicated in other parts of China, to create jobs, and help local economies to reach their full potential.