In a country where many cities have a population of more than 10 million, Zhangjiagang is relatively small. It has a population, including migrant workers, of 1.6 million.

In a country where many cities have a history of at least several hundreds of years, Zhangjiagang is young. It didn't exist on the Chinese map as a county until 1957, and didn't get the approval to become a city until the mid-1980s.

But in an era of reform and opening-up, Zhangjiagang is a privileged beneficiary. It is one of the largest ports on the Yangtze River, the most important waterborne trade route in China, and is close to the river's mouth.

It is only 100 kilometers from Shanghai, which is the largest business hub of the country and also its pilot base for reform. It is 200 kilometers from Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, one of the most affluent provinces on China’s coast. And it is no more than a two-hour drive from any other major city in the Yangtze River Delta.

It is a high achiever. Its local GDP was 6.3 billion yuan ($1 billion) in 1992, 19.1 billion yuan in 1995, and then grew nearly 10 times to 185 billion yuan in 2011, before rising to 220 billion yuan in 2014, the last time the figure was reported. That, by the way, is almost equivalent to the size of a province in northwestern China.

With China in transition, nowadays, most noticeably from an export-led economy to one that is driven primarily by domestic consumer spending, Zhangjiagang is a fast mover. The local government, business leaders, and education specialists are doing many innovative things in both economic and social development.

Zhangjiagang is being innovative in several important ways:

First, the city is not following a single-focus development strategy, especially by not abandoning the things it can do well, such as manufacturing and export-oriented processing — although it understands that its traditional competitive edge needs continuous sharpening.

Second, it's not betting on one or just a few new businesses either, however up-and-coming they may appear. Instead, it's eagerly seeking to redefine its role in the broad picture, especially by meeting the inevitable challenges and seizing the opportunities of the already industrialized Yangtze River Delta.

Third, nor is Zhangjiagang trying to import only expensive operations by large research-based companies or to attract only top-notch scientists. It's encouraging a variety of niche players, some local and others from other places and even overseas, to build their homes in Zhangjiagang, to be matched by the work ethic and skills of well-trained local workers and managers.

Last, but most importantly, the city is developing a skill set to combine citizens' education (in ethics and social norms for a newly urbanized environment) and citizens' self-government and mutual support. Community-level democracy is working, as demonstrated by the Yonglian neighborhood (formerly a cluster of villages).

In Zhangjiagang, every village (or former village) community keeps an annual collective fund of 6 million yuan at the minimum. And the 20 most affluent communities are able to budget more than 10 million yuan for collective expenditures every year.

Zhangjiagang is a striking contrast with the cities where society is either submerged by slogans reflecting only the government policies, or characterized by only ceaseless business activities. It has a stronger society, based on flourishing communities.

Zhangjiagang's quest for economic transition may have just begun, and it's still too early to say which industry will become the city's greatest advantage five years from now. But there is little doubt that its society will have a sustainable course of progress — with its general education, community democracy, public services, and private enterprises and entrepreneurship.