The Political Economy of China's Economic Zones

In 1979 China launched a new international economic policy with the establishment of four Special Economic Zones (SEZs): Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Shantou in Guangdong Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province. Modelled loosely on export processing zones and free trade zones found in other less developed countries, the SEZs offer a variety of financial inducements to foreign investors in order to harness international business for national economic advantage. Designed to be a cornerstone of China's economic reforms, by 1985 the SEZs (in the mid-80s zone-like policies were extended to fourteen coastal cities) were scandal-ridden and fraught with serious problems. This work, the first book-length analysis in English of China's SEZs, examines the problems and promise of this innovative approach to "structural economic reform" and the comparative significance of the SEZs.