ABSTRACT
The Chinese government set up four Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Shenzhen, Shantou, Zhuhai and Xiamen, in the early 1980s in order to provide a testing ground for implementing more radical economic reform policies, with a view to introducing some successful experiences into the rest of China. While most scholars and journalists, both within and outside China, focus their attention on Shenzhen, Xiamen has escaped the glare of the academic spotlight. As the actual history of Xiamen as a SEZ is itself relatively short, data relating to it are understandably scarce, fragmentary, and sometimes even inaccurate. For foreign investors, mostly from industrialized countries, the major factor influencing their investment decision is the consideration of the cost and productivity of the labour force available in Export Processing Zones (EPZs). The industrial and trade reform has been high on the policy agenda of many developing countries striving for industrialization. The chapter also presents an over of this book.
