On an unlikely site called I Think, Therefore I Am, Edward Anderson has a long essay which is well worth reading as another perspective on China and the effect of the economic zones.

It reads, in a much edited form:

The current leadership in China is the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The modern, average Chinese citizen has a mixed perception of Mao, but overall they view Mao as a nostalgic founder figure, much like an American’s view of George Washington.

Dong Xiaoping became the President of China in 1981 after Mao’s successor and took advantage of the economic and political foundations laid before him to bring the free market to China. Xiaoping was the driving force that lead China into the modern World economy.

Dong created special economic zones along the coast that allowed free market trade. These special economic zones were extremely successful, by creating new wealth and prosperity

China further realized the power of the free market.

Cities such as Shanghai and Shenzhen grew at break-neck paces, grabbing the World’s economic attention. Shanghai in about thirty years became the fourth largest city in the World and a major financial hub, mainly because of its special economic zone status.

The successes of these special economic zones showed the Chinese government that the direction of future economic success did not lay in Marxist economic planning, but lay in the free market.

China continued to implement free trade into its economy, but not too fast as to create social unrest and lose political power.

Today, China is increasingly gaining economic political power; with this power China is ever more on the minds of Americans. The perceptions of China by Americans are critical in understanding the relationship between the two countries.

From the perspective of many Americans, China is blamed for many of the World’s problems. Lately, there has been a growing American sentiment against China. China is looked as a threat to the American economy and therefore is given a negative label.

An examination of the economic growth trends in China will give a prediction of the future economic outlook of China. Growth in China will not look like growth in America, since the demographics of China are much different than in America.

The differences in demographics once again show how a new perspective is needed to understand China.

This article is long. It is, arguably, slightly biased. It is informative. It suggests new approaches. You can read the full article by clicking HERE.
Source: I Think Therefore I am

Daniel Inman has written a long and excellent article on evaluating cities in China and their potential.

What follows is but a small part of the article edited right down to fit in the space available:

Many of China’s cities are already economically significant on an international scale. Take Shenzhen for example, a city of over eight million people just across the border from Hong Kong. Thirty years ago, this former fishing town was chosen by Deng Xiaoping to be China’s first Special Economic Zone, which opened it up to trade with the outside world. Now it is China’s largest manufacturing centre, it has the country’s second largest port, and is home to two stock exchanges.

New cities will all grow into places with their own economic identity, dependent on a wide range of factors, such as geography, natural resources, and the qualities of the local population.

However, among this diversity they are all modernising in a way that will attract the kind of foreign investment that has accelerated growth in Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen. This means strong investment in both the hard and soft infrastructure needed to create an environment attractive to a foreign business.

Tianjin, a giant port city close to Beijing, pulled in nearly $6 billion in 2007 in foreign investment as a result of the Tianjin Economic-Technological and Development Area (TEDA). There are already 62 Fortune 500 companies with operations in TEDA and it is the money and technology that foreign companies provide that is helping to propel Tianjin into the first rank of Chinese cities.
More, much, much more, by clicking HERE.
Source: CNBC European Business