A fishing village 20 years ago,Shenzhen now has become one of China's three leading high-tech development centers like Beijing and Shanghai. And the city has plans to have half of its industrial output value come from the high-tech sector in five years.

The young city, which sees Hong Kong across a river, has strong momentum for high-tech development though the high-tech industry only took off in the past decade, according to Chen Zhangliang, a vice president of China's renowned Beijing University.

Statistics show the annual output value of Shenzhen's high and new industry averaged 56 percent in the last nine years. In 1999, the high-tech sector had an industrial output value of 82 billion yuan, accounting for 40.5 percent of the city's total.

This means a contribution of four percentage points to the growth of Shenzhen's gross domestic product (GDP), and shows the high-tech industry has become the primary powerhouse of the local economy, said a city government official.

By the year 2005, the industrial output value of Shenzhen's high-tech products will account for half of the city's total, said Mayor Yu Youjun.

The city government will do everything it can to create favorable conditions for the growth of the high-tech industry, the mayor said.

"The local government works very efficiently," said Chen Zhangliang, who heads a research and production center in the Shenzhen High-Tech Industrial Park.