Foreign clients visit Foton Lovol, a heavy machinery producer based in Qingdao.

With the rapid development of advanced equipment manufacturing, high-tech industries and modern services, Qingdao, a coastal city in Shandong, is becoming an industrial leader.

"Qingdao will take advantage of its high technologies, talent pool and innovative strength to pilot Shandong's plan to foster high-end industry clusters in the Jiaodong Peninsula," Xia Geng, mayor of Qingdao, told China Daily.

At present, Qingdao's equipment manufacturing industry accounts for 31.3 percent of the city's industrial sales revenues. High-tech industries account for 46.5 percent of Qingdao's total industrial output value.

In 2009, the output value of high-tech industries in the city was more than 445 billion yuan, up 15.7 percent from the year before.

According to a plan unveiled last December, Qingdao will accelerate development of high-end industries. Among the key industries listed in the plan are marine research and development, biological engineering and new materials; and advanced equipment manufacturing.