Shantou Special Economic Zone (), located within

Shantou Shantou, Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Swatow and sometimes known as Santow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 20 ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

, is one of the five

special economic zones A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increasing trade balance, employment, increas ...

in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Its establishment was approved by the State Council in 1981, when it then covered only the Longhu District. In November 1984, the special economic zone was expanded to cover the Guang'ao District, with a total area of 52.6 square kilometres. It was subsequently expanded in November 1991, with the approval of the State Council in April 1991, to 234 square kilometres, covering the entire urban area of Shantou.

References

External links

*https://archive.today/20070930093410/http://www.gdst.gov.cn/stgk.asp {{coord missing, Guangdong Shantou Special Economic Zones of China 1981 establishments in China