’China’s German Town’ thrives as bilateral trade ties deepen

Waving German flags, half-timbered style buildings and pretzels. Taicang, an industrial city in eastern China, is less than an hour’s drive northwest of Shanghai. It has around 800 thousand residents, a fairly small population for a Chinese city. However, it is also home to thousands of German residents. That’s why Taicang has another name, “China’s German Town.“ The city’s factories, joint ventures, and service companies reflect the close business ties between the two large economies. A business platform named the German Center is a perfect example, which has provided working space for both foreign and local enterprises since 2016. Germany’s high-tech machine tool producer Chiron set a factory in Taicang ten years ago. Its local CTO Willi Riester says the geographical condition of Taicang is attractive. Riester says in the past decade, many things have improved in Taicang and China as a whole, including infrastructure, the environment and cultural exchanges. China and Germany have a long history of economic cooperation. As of 2021, China has been Germany’s largest trading partner for six consecutive years, and Germany makes up almost half of European investment in China. __________________ ShanghaiEye focuses on producing top-quality contents. Nobody knows SHANGHAI better than us. Please subscribe to us ☻☻☻ __________________ For more stories, please click ■ What’s up today in Shanghai, the most updated news of the city ■ Amazing Shanghai, exploring the unknown corners of the city, learning the people, food and stories behind them ■ What Chinese people’s lives are like during the post COVID-19 period ■ Views of foreign scholars on China and its affairs ■ Foreign faces in Shanghai, people living in this city sharing their true feelings ■ Mini-docs showing why China is the country it is today __________________ ☎Leave us messages if you have any suggestions or questions! Thank you!