Local officials said Zhuhai has made several pioneering moves in the past four decades. For instance, a hotel co-founded by Chinese mainland and overseas business people, which opened in Zhuhai in 1980, was among the country's first hotels to be managed according to international practice.

In 1992, the city launched an unprecedentedly generous prize for scientific and technological professionals who had made outstanding contributions to the local growth. The move helped to draw many high-caliber professionals to Zhuhai for the development of its real economy in many years that followed.

Zhuo Jialun, 81, is a former director of the Zhuhai scientific and technological committee and began to participate in setting up the prize in 1988.

Zhuo said: "At that time, Zhuhai had been a special economic zone for eight years and its economy was during a high-speed growth period, yet the scientific and technological innovation capability was not strong."

The city's authorities suggested its priorities change from labor-intensive industries to technology-intensive sectors in 1988, Zhu said. He added that more scientists and engineers contributed to this change but their incomes could not match their contributions.

Zhuhai held the first awarding conference on March 9, 1992. Three finalists were each given 1 million yuan worth of awards, which is roughly equal to 400 technicians' annual income in Zhuhai at that time.

After the event, Zhuhai became popular among the nation's scientific and technological professionals and entrepreneurs.