THEN & NOW: Shekou District of Shenzhen: (above), 1979; (bottom), 2008 - a direct result of the benfefits of special economic zoning (XINHUA)

In the Zone

With decades of experience in setting up Special Economic Zones, China's successful models for rapid economic development could be a good example for African economies

From fishing village to metropolis in 30 years. Catapulted from obscurity, Shenzhen's huts have long since been transformed into scores of skyscrapers and endless factories. In the process its sparse population has grown more that a hundredfold to 10 million.

When the Chinese Government declared almost one sixth of Shenzhen's total area to be earmarked as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in August 1980, it signaled the start of a pilot program that spearheaded China's opening up program and provided the spark to economic development never yet seen on such a scale. The entire city of Shenzhen has now been classified as an SEZ and China has since established six other large-scale comprehensive SEZs in Shantou and Zhuhai (of Guangdong), Xiamen (of Fujian), Hainan, Pudong of Shanghai and Binhai of Tianjin.

After the Shenzhen SEZ was established, the city mirrored San Francisco during the U.S. Gold Rush. In the 1980s and 1990s when Chinese people were adapting their mentality from a rigid planned economy to a market economy, heading to Shenzhen to do business was in vogue. Rags to riches stories in the city acted like a magnet for others keen to make their fortune and a steady stream of people made a bee line for the bright lights. Ren Zhengfei was one of them.

Businesss heaven

In 1987, the 43-year-old ex-serviceman came to Shenzhen and established his own company a year later. He registered Huawei with 20,000 yuan (relevant to $2,945.5 of today). In the SEZ, Ren found more opportunities than elsewhere in China, due to a better business environment and more preferential policies. These included lower tax rates, much bigger markets and facilitative export procedures. The SEZs could also legislate their own rules to regulate business activities.

At the preliminary stage of China's reform and opening up when the country's economy was not so export oriented, Ren set his eyes on the international market from very beginning. Huawei is now a leading global telecommunications solutions provider, with users of its products and solutions throughout the world.

"During the time when China was changing from a planned to a market economy, it was good to attract investment, especially foreign investment, and technologies with preferential policies so as to accelerate its development speed," said Ren in an interview with Xinhua News Agency. Chinese enterprises in Shenzhen also got to learn more about the international market, he added.