Approved as a special economic zone back in the early 1980s, Shantou has arguably become more dependent than any other city in China on overseas Chinese investment.

By June this year, the city had approved nearly 6,000 foreign direct investment projects, of which 90 percent were financed with overseas-generated Chinese investment.

Zheng said the new pilot zone, approved by the State Council in September last year, introduced a raft of measures and policies which are subsequently being implemented in China's other pilot free trade zones, most notably in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Its most pressing concern, however, is what kind of future investment the city can attract, as interest wanes in its traditional, labor-intensive manufacturing sector.

In a recent interview with the China News Service, Qiu Yuanping, director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, said overseas Chinese investment should be targeted at emerging innovation-driven industries, as the country shifts its economic focus to domestic consumption.

The most-favored sectors include financial services, tourism, telecommunications and technology.

The Pearl River Delta cities, the manufacturing heartland of China, struggled initially with this industrial transformation - but from what I have seen here, their progress has been remarkable.

On previous business trips to the region, and visiting family here, I toured many traditional labor-intensive manufacturing businesses, from toy-assembly plants to textiles factories.

But today, I am more likely to be invited to visit new innovation centers, research and development sites, and technology labs, which seem to be opening up daily.

Much as Shantou and its fellow-Guangdong cities were, for many years, viewed as the engine rooms of Chinese manufacturing, I am happy to report they are rapidly becoming a new, more modernized shopwindow for the very best in what the country will offer in the years to come.