A village in Xianju county in Taizhou, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/taizhou.com.cn]

Despite being 173 kilometers apart, Yuhuan and Xianju, two administrative areas in Taizhou, have maintained close economic links for over a decade.

The two places have been paired up since 2004 under the "mountain to sea" collaboration program that aims to channel investment from the wealthy coastal areas of Zhejiang province to less developed inland area, in an effort to achieve common prosperity.

A cultural and tourism industrial park funded by the coastal city of Yuhuan in Shenxianju, a national 5A scenic spot in Xianju, exemplifies the fruitful results achieved through their partnership.

The park, which started operation in 2018, clusters a number of cultural and tourism facilities, including 5 star-rated hotels, restaurants and bars.

Its opening has prolonged visitors' length of stay in Shenxianju, according to Feng Liling, an official at the industrial park's administrative committee.

From 2018 to 2019, the park received 9.72 million visitors, generating about 5 billion yuan ($769.2 million) in tourism revenue.

In addition, Yuhuan has also played an active role in helping Xianju achieve rural revitalization.

Located in the northern part of Xianju, Lingjiao village witnessed robust growth in the sales of waxberries with help from Yuhuan.

With Yuhuan's financial support, a comprehensive service platform integrating the fruit's sorting, packaging, trading, and cold storage has been established in Lingjiao.

In addition, special cooperatives have also been introduced to the village, resulting in great improvements in the village's waxberry processing capabilities.

In 2020, the village's waxberry sales amounted to 12 million yuan, up 30 percent year-on-year. Among them, more than 3,000 boxes worth more than 900,000 yuan were sold to Yuhuan.

Xia Mingzhi, deputy head of the Xianju development and reform bureau, called the partnership between Yuhuan and Xianju mutually beneficial, as the former has brought investment to the latter, while the latter has provided the development space for the former.