Business Internet China - « second tier-cities

June 14

« second tier-cities » in South China

Reproduced with kind permission of China Briefing magazine

Xiamen

Xiamen is an attractive coastal city and the major commercial centre in Fujian. It enjoys an excellent living environment (the local expat website is full of bars, restaurants and things to do) and is rightfully regarded as one of China’s most pleasant coastal cities. Xiamen has long held close ties with Taiwan, and with direct links being re-established with the mainland, the city will benefit.

Xiamen itself is a Special Economic Zone and as a result has attracted a significant amount of FDI. There are excellent port facilities and a successful FTZ here as well. The city hosts to the annual China International Trade Fair every September.

Dongguan

One of the biggest manufacturing cities in China, centrally located in the Pearl River Delta, and it’s been this way for a good 10-15 years. Initially, the quality of life was not that high, however, according to Ziv Glikman, Managing Editor of Here Dongguan guide, the “quality of life is getting much better...now we have real foreign restaurants, retailers, bars, coffee shops, international schools, Chinese-language schools, bakeries, health clubs - new establishments to serve the foreign community are popping up every month”.

He adds, “pollution wise, the situation is a bit better but still not good”, but concludes “personally, I prefer Dongguan city to Guangzhou or Shenzhen because it’s much more spacious”. People are certainly moving in. There are believed to be around 6,000 Western expats in the city, as well as 15-20,000 Koreans, 20,000 Japanese, and 120-150,000 Taiwanese.

Zhuhai

Zhuhai, next to Macao, includes one of the early Special Economic Zones and a deep-water port, and was one of the first southern cities to be developed for FDI. Growth remains strong, recently aided by CEPA, and it attracts many tourists as well with its relaxed, laid-back atmosphere – this may be an attraction to some investors, too !

Access does remain a problem - you could say it is on the “wrong side” of the PRD. It’s easy enough to get to Zhuhai from Macau, although that means traversing the crowded Gongbei border crossing. And coming in from any of the big mainland cities, the only access to Zhuhai is by bus. A railway is planned, though it is not expected to be in operation until 2020. However, the opening of another section of the Zhuhai-Guangzhou expressway at the end of 2005 provided some relief, shaving 30 minutes off the two-hour journey. And the huge Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge, possibly open in 2008, will cut travel time to Hong Kong from four hours to 45 minutes.