An amazing history of special and economic zones has been put online.

1978. The Chinese government embarked on a policy of opening to the outside world in a planned way.
1980, China started establishing special economic zones in Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou in Guangdong Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province, and designated the entire province of Hainan a special economic zone.
1984, China further opened 14 coastal cities — Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Yantai, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Nantong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang and Beihai — to overseas investment.
1985, the state decided to expand the open coastal areas, extending the open economic zones of the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Xiamen-Zhangzhou-Quanzhou Triangle in south Fujian, Shandong Peninsula, Liaodong Peninsula, Hebei and Guangxi into an open coastal belt.
1990, the Chinese government decided to open the Pudong New Zone in Shanghai to overseas investment, and opened more cities in the Yangtze River valley. In this way, a chain of open cities extending up the Yangtze River valley, with Shanghai’s Pudong as the “dragon head,” has been formed.
1992. Since this date the State Council has opened a number of border cities, and in addition, opened all the capital cities of inland provinces and autonomous regions. In addition, 15 free trade zones, 32 state-level economic and technological development zones, and 53 new- and high-tech industrial development zones have been established in large and medium-sized cities.

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Source: China in Brief

Acting Shandong governor Jiang Daming has said the eight-city cluster on the Shandong peninsula should position itself as a regional advanced manufacturing base and take advantage of its close proximity to Japan and South Korea.

The cluster comprises Jinan, Qingdao, Yantai, Zibo, Weihai, Weifang, Dongying, and Rizhao.

As a whole, they generate two-thirds of the province’s gross domestic product: RMB2.6 trillion($359 billion) last year.

The province plans to grow its GDP from the cluster by 15% and foreign direct investment by 40% annually until 2010.

A blueprint for the cluster for 2006-20, calls for six industrial zones to be developed on the Shandong peninsula.

These will cover the petrochemical and medicine industries in Dongying-Zibo, the electronic and IT industries in Jinan, home appliances in Qingdao-Rizhao, the automotive industry in Yantai-Weihai, textiles in Weifang and the marine industry in Rizhao-Qingdao-Weihai-Yantai.

Jiang Daming said, ‘About 70% of listed companies, 70% of foreign-funded firms and 80% of exported products in Shandong are from the city group.’

Shandong will speed up building a base for Japanese and South Korean manufacturing companies on the peninsula centered on Qingdao, Yantai and Weihai.

There are more than 6,000 South Korean and 1,500 Japanese companies on the Shandong peninsula. About 70% of all South Korean firms in China have a presence in Shandong.

Xia Geng, mayor of Qingdao, said there are 5,000 South Korean companies in the city and the number is expected to double in five years.

The coastal city is promoting the establishment of a bonded zone to attract more foreign and domestic investors to set up manufacturing bases.

Qingdao will try to facilitate the construction of a railway ferry project between China and South Korea, so goods can be moved cheaply.
Source: People’s Daily Online