The China National Economic and Technological Development Zones (Chinese: 国家级经济技术开发区) are the special areas of the People's Republic of China where foreign direct investment is encouraged. They are usually called the "Economic and Technological Development Zones" or simply the "Development Zones".
These national level programs started with the Special Economic Zones for three cities in 1978, as part of China's economic reform, and were extended to the Economic and Technological Development Zones in 14 cities in 1984.
There are also pros and cons on development on these economic zones, the pros are creating more job opportunities, increasing its economic growth(national GDP) and encourage on foreign direct investment. As a result, it was a success because China is currently one of the fastest growing countries and significantly influencing the global economy. From the past two decades, China has become an industrialized country for one reason is because the development of these economic zones. In which encourage foreign direct investments, where trading, exports of manufacture goods, became one of the main aspect of economic growth. On the other hand, it also made it reliant on these foreign investment, such as reliant on Hong Kong for these foreign investment, due to the reason that Hong Kong is a free trade market. Based on the case in Shenzhen, its problem with being one of the economic zones can be categorized in four category 1) Foreign exchange leakage,2) Cost ineffectivness, 3) Failure to achieve state objectives and 4) Economic crimes and related social problems.[1]
China has been among the top targets of global investment for more than two decades. In the new age of global recession, China keeps a stable growth rate, thanks to the inexpensive labor, stable government, preferable tax rate and government's support to foreign investment.