The 16th CPC Datong Municipal Congress opens in the city of Datong in North China's Shanxi province on Sept 27. [Photo/Datong Daily]

The 16th CPC Datong Municipal Congress opened in the city of Datong in North China's Shanxi province on Sept 27. 

A total of 462 Party representatives on behalf of nearly 220,000 Party members in the city attended the congress. 

Zhang Jifu, Party secretary of Datong, made a report to the congress on behalf of the 15th CPC Datong Municipal Committee, reviewing the past five years’ work achievements and looking forward to development over the next five years. 

Over the past five years, Datong's economy has achieved a major historic turning point from a sharp decline to stable growth, showing strong momentum in transformation and upgrading. Poverty alleviation in the city has seen a comprehensive victory and a historic leap in the elimination of absolute poverty. Major breakthroughs have been made in reform and innovation. 

The city's image has been greatly improved and remarkable achievement have been made in environmental protection. 

Datong has also seen significant improvement in people's living standards, cultural competitiveness, urban influence, democratic development, and the rule of law, as well as political ecology. 

Zhang emphasized that local authorities would strive to build Datong into a modern sub-central city of Shanxi with strong influence and competitiveness in Central China over the next five years.