Hu Yi, deputy director of Wuxi National Hi-tech district, points out the strength of Wuxi's integrated circuit industry at the conference in Wuxi, Jiangsu province on Sept 21. [Photo by Zhou Wenbo/chinadaily.com.cn]

There were some unfamiliar faces in the crowd at the Global Business Conference for Wuxi-born Entrepreneurs at the Taihu Hotel in Wuxi, Jiangsu province on Sept 21.

The conference was originally launched by the Wuxi General Chamber of Commerce to help Wuxi attract much-needed investment from entrepreneurs with family ties to the city.

But as Wuxi emerges as a business hub with global clout, investment is increasingly start to flow in the other direction—from East China to cities across the world.

This was particularly clear at the conference on Thursday. During the second half of the conference's investment roadshow, speakers from cities in Brazil, Singapore and the US attempted to woo the assembled group of Wuxi business leaders to invest in their projects.

In almost perfect Mandarin, Mateus Napoli, a senior manager at Brazilian consulting firm Nexus Co Ltd, introduced a proposed Chinatown project on behalf of Sorocaba, Wuxi's sister city in Brazil.

The 45,000-mu (3,000-hectare) project is expected to be the largest Chinatown in the world, and Wuxi municipal government has already played a significant role in its construction.