ABSTRACT
During the period 1979-2000, China approved a total number of 364,000 foreign investment projects with a cumulative foreign capital investment (contract value) of US$ 676.4 billion, of which US$ 348.4 billion was effectively invested. China consequently became the largest developing host economy in the world. The size and pattern of Chinese inward FDI have been affected by many factors, such as the strategies of MNEs, changing endowments of China’s location factors and the FDI policy of the Chinese government. In this chapter, the expansion and trends of Chinese inward FDI are examined against the background of the main changes of the Chinese investment environment and the ensuing reaction of foreign-owned companies. The longitudinal analysis of FDI data is focused on the period 1979-2000 and provides a clear picture about the country of origin, sector distribution, investment form and location of China’s inward FDI as well as its changing characteristics.
