== Reads like propaganda == 

 I travel to Dongguan regularly on business, and this doesn't sound like the dirty sprawling messy industrial city I know.  I don't know who labelled the city authorities "progressive"  (definition?), but the reality is that several neighbouring townships all competed to attract overseas investment with little planning until they grew and merged into one conurbation and it was incorporated as a city.  Now the city government is trying to make improvements, but the city still compares unfavourably with the more orderly planning of its southern neighbour Shenzhen.  As for being little known compared with Shanghai and Shenzhen, this is probably bvcause unlike them, it has few attractions for non-business visitors. 

 Can someone with more detailed knowledge have a go at rewriting this article?