The Pearl River Delta is the core economic powerhouse of Guangdong Province. Located in the region are the cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Zhuhai, Foshan, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, Huizhou and Zhaoqing.

The nine cities achieved a production output value of 325.50 billion yuan (US$39.22 billion) in high- and new-tech industries last year, making up 93 percent of the total the province realized, statistics from the provincial science and technology department indicate.

The high- and new-tech industrial production output value in the region tops other industrial belts of the like in China.

The delta region has become one of the largest manufacturing bases of electronic products, telecom equipment and facilities in China and Asia.

The region has also become one of China's largest bases for ceramic electronic elements and parts, bio-engineering and intelligent, energy-saving and environmentally friendly household appliances.

The region boasts six State-level high- and new-tech development zones and three province-level ones, specializing in research and development as well as the industrialization of fields including information technology, bio-engineering, new materials and optical, mechanical and electrical integration technology.

Statistics from the provincial customs administration indicate that the Pearl River Delta is also the largest base for the exports of high- and new-tech products in China.

Exports of high- and new-tech products in the region topped 130 billion yuan (US$15.7 billion) last year, accounting for 40 percent of the total in China.

Lu Ping, an expert with the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Department, attributed the dazzling achievements of the sector to the rapid development of a growing number of non-State enterprises that have invested generously in the research and development of high and new technologies and that have helped form varied high-tech industrial chains in the region.

The region has 4,000 such enterprises, with the total income of technology, industry and trade exceeding 112 billion yuan (US$13.5 billion).

The number of non-State enterprises soared 60 percent on a year-on-year basis in the region in recent years. Their capital input in research and development makes up for more than 75 percent of the total in the province.

(China Daily May 25, 2002)