Taiyuan, capital of North China's Shanxi province, was recently recognized for its successful moves to optimize its business environment, in a bid to continue and extend the momentum for commercial and economic development. 

The city was cited as national example in relation to performance indicators for credit access and labor market regulations in a business environment evaluation of how 80 cities did last year, conducted by the National Development and Reform Commission. The findings were announced by Taiyuan municipal government at a news conference on June 23. 

Taiyuan has been developing a market-oriented, law-bound and international business environment in a comprehensive way in recent years.

Last year, all 3,405 administrative powers in nine categories at the municipal level were made public online, while its efficiency in handling administrative affairs was reportedly greatly improved, making things much easier for businesses and people.

The city also established a branch of the China (Shanxi) Intellectual Property Rights Protection Assistance Center, contributing to the growth of trademarks and patents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of valid invention patents in the city increased to 10,606 in 2020, an increase of 12.4 percent over the end of 2019 and accounting for 67.1 percent of the province's total. Moreover, it's estimated that there were 23.8 invention patents per 10,000 people in the city last year.

According to Zhen Yongchun, chief engineer of the Taiyuan bureau of administrative services, the city is currently carrying out indicator reform measures, to create more national examples in certain indicators and to continue to create an excellent business environment.