When participants of “Summer Davos” pour into the Dalian World Expo Center on Wednesday and take in sea views in the airy lobby, they will see the image their host city likes to project of itself: a clean, modern, cosmopolitan place.

Indeed Dalian is one of the few Chinese cities that make it into international livability rankings. A local government drive in the 1990s under Bo Xilai – the high-profile politician who now heads Chongqing – for more parks, more skyscrapers and a better infrastructure transformed Dalian from a grubby port city to one of the cleanest and fastest-growing in the country.

Its picturesque location on a hilly peninsula in Bohai Bay has helped – the city has several beaches, and a constant sea breeze helps prevent the relentless smog that plagues most other Chinese urban areas.