About four decades ago, Shenzhen was a small fishing town with about 30,000 residents immediately north of Hong Kong. Today, it has grown into a high-tech economic powerhouse, covering about 2,000 square kilometers with about 11 million people - which is roughly the population of Belgium - China's answer to Silicon Valley in the United States.

In the 1990s, just more than a decade after the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone was established, China decided to build another economic zone, the Pudong New Area, in Shanghai. The area covers about 1,200 sq km and the number of people living there equals that of Finland, that is, 5.5 million.

Shenzhen and Pudong are just two examples of China's determination to transform and integrate itself into the world by channeling global resources. Shenzhen, for example, has attracted talents from around the world through its representative offices abroad, particularly European countries.