The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee decided on the policy of opening to the outside world. Four special economic zones have been established, namely Shenzhen, Xiamen, Shantou and Zhuhai.

1980 On August 26th, China formally established a special economic zone.

1980 on August 26th, the 5th the National People's Congress Standing Committee (NPCSC)15th meeting decided to approve the State Council's decision to establish special economic zones in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou and Xiamen, Fujian. The Regulations of Guangdong Special Economic Zone put forward by the State Council 1980 stipulates that the special zone encourages merchants and their companies to invest and set up factories, enterprises and other industries with us, and gives appropriate preferential conditions in taxation, finance, land and labor wages. These four special zones, with a total area of 526.26 square kilometers, implement a management system different from that of the mainland, and implement a comprehensive enterprise and system with Sino-foreign joint ventures, cooperation and wholly foreign-owned enterprises as the mainstay and diversified economies coexisting.

The forming process of China's new pattern of opening to the outside world can be divided into four steps.

The first step is to establish special economic zones. 1In July, 1979, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council decided to implement special policies and flexible measures for the foreign economic activities of Guangdong and Fujian provinces according to their proximity to Hong Kong and Macao, large number of overseas Chinese, abundant resources and convenience in attracting foreign investment, so as to give local governments more autonomy, give full play to their advantages, seize the favorable international situation at that time and take the first step to promote economic development as soon as possible. 1980 in may, the central government decided to set aside some areas in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou and Xiamen to carry out pilot projects of special economic zones. 1983 In April, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council approved the Summary of Discussions on Accelerating the Development and Construction of Hainan Island and decided to implement preferential policies for special economic zones in Hainan Island. 1988 In April, the first meeting of the Seventh National People's Congress formally adopted two decisions to establish Hainan Province and Hainan Special Economic Zone, and Hainan Island became the largest special economic zone in China. The establishment of special economic zones has taken the first step of China's opening to the outside world. Deng Xiaoping's evaluation of special economic zones "is a window, a window of technology, a window of management, a window of knowledge and a window of foreign policy." (Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Volume II, Page-. )

The second step is to open coastal port cities. 1In May, 1984, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council approved the Summary of Symposium on Some Coastal Cities and decided to open all coastal port cities in China, including Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Yantai, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Nantong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang and Beihai, totaling 14. 1In April, 990, at the proposal of Deng Xiaoping, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council officially announced the major decision to develop and open Pudong, with the goal of building Pudong into a symbol of modern Shanghai in the century and Shanghai into an international financial, trade and economic center. Coastal open cities are the combination of domestic economy and world economy, and the intersection of foreign economic and trade activities and domestic economic cooperation, which directly affects the development of national reform and opening up.

The third step is to establish coastal economic open zones. 1In February, 985, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council approved the Minutes of the Symposium on Southern Fujian Yangtze River, Pearl River Delta and Xiamen-Zhangzhou-Quanzhou Triangle, and divided the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Southern Fujian Triangle into coastal economic open areas, pointing out that this is an important strategic layout for invigorating the economy at home and opening up to the outside world. At the beginning of 1988, the central government decided to open Liaodong Peninsula and Shandong Peninsula to the outside world, connecting them with Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Yantai and Qingdao to form an open area around the Bohai Sea. The central government also proposed to form an integrated production structure of trade, industry and agriculture in these economically open areas.

The fourth step is to open cities along the Yangtze River and inland and border areas. Since 1990s, the pace of China's opening to the outside world has gradually extended from coastal areas to cities along the Yangtze River and inland and border areas. 1In June, 1992, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council decided to open five cities along the Yangtze River: Wuhu, Jiujiang, Yueyang, Wuhan and Chongqing. Opening up along the Yangtze River has greatly promoted the rapid economic development of the whole Yangtze River basin and the formation of a new pattern of all-round opening up in China. Soon, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council approved Hefei, Nanchang, Changsha, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, Taiyuan, Xi, Lanzhou, Yinchuan, Xining, Urumqi, Guiyang, Kunming, Nanning, Harbin, Changchun and Hohhot as inland open cities. At the same time, China has gradually opened its inland border cities, including Heihe, Suifenhe, Hunchun, Manzhouli, Erenhot, Yining, Bole, Tacheng, Pulan, Zhangmu, Ruili, Wan Ding, Hekou, Pingxiang and Dongxing. The opening of cities along the Yangtze River and inland and border areas is the fourth step of China's opening to the outside world.

By 1993, after years of opening-up practice, constantly summing up experience and improving policies, China's opening-up has been promoted from south to north and from east to west, basically forming a pattern of "special economic zones-coastal open cities-coastal economic open areas-coastal and inland open cities-open cities along the border" with wide areas, multi-levels, emphasis and a combination of points, lines and surfaces. At this point, China's open cities have spread all over the country, and China has truly entered a new era of reform and opening up.