This Day, That Year

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China.

On Aug 26, 1980, the National People's Congress formally approved the establishment of the country's first special economic zones in Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou in Guangdong province to encourage overseas investment and boost economic growth. Two months later, the Xiamen zone in Fujian province was approved.

Special economic zones have been an important part of the country's reform and opening-up policy since 1978. Thanks to the policy, surging investments from overseas have turned Shenzhen from a small fishing village to China's first - and one of the most successful - special economic zones, as seen in an item on May 23, 1983. Shenzhen had attracted 14 percent of the country's total foreign investment as of 1992. It is the country's major trading hub and a leading manufacturing base.