This coastal city in East China is devoting as much attention to making people feel happy as it is on the hard economic figures in its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).

Randy Williams, a 50-year-old US citizen, has elected to make the city his adopted home. In his 11 years there, Williams has opened three businesses, the latest a pottery workshop. Williams also said he would never think of leaving.

What attracts Williams and many other entrepreneurs, both from overseas and other parts of China, are the good business environment, agreeable living conditions and a rich cultural heritage, the entrepreneur said.

"The city is business-friendly and the people here are willing to spend money and enjoy life," Williams said.

They are also good at making money, of course.

In 2009, Ningbo's GDP reached 433 billion yuan ($66 billion), almost double that of 2005.

Ningbo residents with household registration created per capita GDP of 76,012 yuan in 2009, more than twice that of 2005, and it was more than three times the national average.

When released later this year, the city's 2010 GDP figure is expected to exceed 500 billion yuan, according to statistics from the Ningbo municipal development and reform commission.

Commenting on the surge in living standards, Williams said: "It's a miracle."

Zhejiang is the most prosperous province in China, and Ningbo was included in the list of 2010's Top 10 Happiest Chinese Cities compiled by the China Institute of City Competitiveness.

Yao Shishi, a keen reader of local newspapers and an active debater in several online forums, said she is very happy to see local governments paying more attention to how people feel than just hard economic facts.

Issues of healthcare, education, housing, the widening gap in income between urban and rural areas, environmental protection, traffic growth, career opportunities, public security, convenience of life and even entertainment are all important factors for people, said the white-collar worker, aged 24.

"I am very happy to see that the city government is determined to address these issues, because they are more closely related to our daily life than just GDP growth and other figures," she said.

What's more, the city is focusing on addressing the widening gap in income between the rich and poor to ensure that the less fortunate get a fair share of the fruits of economic development.

Ningbo will pursue a policy of equitable wealth distribution during the next five years, according to Wang Xiaoguang, deputy director of the local municipal bureau of labor and social security.

More than 21,000 enterprises in the city, employing about 1.3 million workers, have signed agreements on collective salary negotiations.

The city government expects that all the enterprises will sign up for the plan within three years.