An aerial view of the European-style shopping town in Pinghu, Zhejiang province, on Aug 15. [Photo by Xu Yu/Xinhua]

Pinghu city in East China's Zhejiang province has unveiled a shopping town featuring goods imported from other countries. The town has just been included in the third list of Zhejiang's characteristic towns.

The development of Pinghu Shopping Town is a key project of the "Return of Zhejiang Merchants" campaign. The construction is being done in three stages and the outcome of the first one, a German-style marketplace, was opened to public last September.

Several shopping marketplaces have been built inside the town for thousands of imported handicrafts, bags, shoes, food, daily necessities, stationery and clothes from many countries, including Germany, France, Italy and South Korea. There are more than 7,000 types of goods available there.

In addition to the offline market, the shopping town also focuses on the development of e-commerce. Some online projects have been launched in collaboration with e-commerce operators.

Over the next three years, 4.36 billion yuan ($950 million) will be invested in developing the shopping town. When construction is completed, the town is expected to have an annual revenue of 5 billion yuan and attract 1 million tourists every year.