Opening of Coastal Cities and Open Economic Zones

The success of the special economic zones gave experience for broader opening. In 1984, after touring Shenzhen and other zones, Deng Xiaoping suggested opening a few more port cities. That year China further opened 14 coastal port cities: Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Yantai, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Nantong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang and Beihai, where some of the preferential policies of the special economic zones applied. These cities went on to set up economic and technological development zones. From 1985 China also designated the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Xiamen–Zhangzhou–Quanzhou triangle in southern Fujian as coastal open economic zones, later extended to the Liaodong and Shandong peninsulas and elsewhere. In 1990 the Central Committee and State Council decided to develop and open up Pudong in Shanghai. China then opened cities along the Yangtze and its borders and inland provincial capitals, gradually forming a multi-level, all-round pattern of opening from south to north and east to west. Opening promoted rapid growth: foreign capital poured in, foreign trade expanded quickly, living standards kept rising, and China also learned advanced science, technology and management from abroad. In 2001 China joined the World Trade Organization, and opening entered a new stage. From 2013 China set up free trade pilot zones starting with Shanghai and put forward the Belt and Road Initiative, promoting a new pattern of all-round opening. Opening to the outside world has become a basic national policy.