The Pearl River Delta includes Hong Kong, Macau and part of Guangdong province (including the nine municipalities of Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan and Zhuhai), and is a region which was opened up to commerce and foreign investment in 1978 by the central government of the People’s Republic of China.
Hong Kong and Macau quickly made use of that opening up to transfer their industrial base to Guangdong province, currently the wealthiest in all of China, keeping management, communications, logistics, finances and professional services within their respective territories. Lower labor costs on the other side of the border also gave Hong Kong and Macau a competitive edge.
As a result of the Beijing government’s decision, Guangdong became one of the most important industrial bases in the world, providing work for over 10 million people, while Hong Kong and Macau became cities focused on internationally renowned services.
The province is the wealthiest in the whole of China and is also the one which shows the most rapid development. It is estimated that just from Hong Kong more than 53,000 of the total 59,000 companies that the SAR had in continental China have moved their industrial units to Guangdong , particularly to the special economic area of Shenzhen ( Hong Kong ). In Macau the transfer was to the special economic area of Zhuhai.
Consecutive years of investment and development of infrastructures have given the Pearl River Delta a global and reliable transport network including airports, railroads, ports, highways and waterways. There are five airports, including international airports in Hong Kong , Canton and Macau . All the cities within the Delta are linked by highways and there are still projects to be finished such as the Zhuhai-Macau-Hong Kong road link.
The Pearl River Delta economic area continues to be the main exporter and importer of all the great regions of China , and can even be defined as an economic power. In 2002 exports from the Delta to regions other than Hong Kong , Macau and continental China reached USD 160 billion.
In 2003, imports and exports from and into Guangdong province totaled USD 283.64 billion, or 33 percent of the country’s total, placing the province in first place for the eighteenth year in a row. In the same year exports reached USD 152.94 billion, or 34.9 percent of the national total.
The Pearl River Delta, despite accounting for just 0.5 percent of the total Chinese territory and having just 5 percent of its population, generates 20 percent of the country’s GDP.
The population of the Pearl River Delta, now estimated at 50 million people, is expected to grow to 75 million within a decade.
Apart from investment from Macau and Hong Kong companies in the rest of the Delta, the Province of Guangdong has, for the last 20 years, been the focus of direct foreign investment, much of which from North American companies looking to make use of the same competitive edge enjoyed by Macau and Hong Kong .
 Previous
page 
Print this page
|
|
China’s Sinopec has “golden opportunity” to expand oil assets in Angola
Johannesburg, South Africa, 6 Sept - Chinese state oil company Sinopec currently has a “golden opportunity” finally to expand its assets in Angola, getting closer to the positions held in the country by the large multinationals, said analyst Ana Cristina Alves.
After a long stalemate, the analyst said in the most recent edition of the China Monitor of the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University, this opportunity has emerged via the new tender for oil blocks, which is due to take place at the beginning of next year.
The Chinese company has pre-qualification for the long-awaited tender as an operator and Sonangol Sinopec International as a non-operator. [ more ] |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
All rights reserved. 
