Twenty-one cities including Qingdao, a coastal city in Shandong Province, are included in the national e-commerce model cities selected by China's National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce, according to the Qingdao's municipal Bureau of Commerce.

Government officials are urging these cities to promote the development of rising industries key to China's economic advancement by becoming "e-commerce model cities."

The application of information technology such as networking, cloud computing, mobile web browsing, are to be pushed forward in these cities to nurture new fertile grounds for economic growth.