In 1980 China established four Special Economic Zones, at Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou in Guangdong and Xiamen in Fujian, offering tax incentives, foreign-investment freedoms and relaxed controls to attract export industry. Sited near Hong Kong, Macau and overseas-Chinese networks, they were laboratories for market practices walled off from the rest of the economy. Shenzhen grew from a county of a few hundred thousand into a metropolis of over ten million within a generation. The model was later extended to coastal open cities and new-area zones nationwide.
The SEZ became China's signature device for state-directed, export-led city building and a template exported across the Global South.
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