In 1984, Deng Xiaoping toured southern China.
On the road to Zhuhai's urban area, Deng Xiaoping saw crisscrossing streets and avenues, rows upon rows of high-rises, factory buildings, and a constant flow of automobile traffic…
Deng was delighted and smiled. He expressed his appreciation of Zhuhai's urban planning.
The first factory Deng visited on his Zhuhai trip was the Zhuhai Wool Mill.
This was the first factory in the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone to use imported technology and equipment, and was Zhuhai's first trial in the area of imported industrial technology and equipment since the implementation of the opening-up policy.
Deng inspected the factory meticulously. Huang Guoming, the young factory manager, briefed Deng and his entourage on the whole production process.
Huang was a native of Zhuhai. The mighty torrent of reform and opening-up had taken him from being the son of a common fisherman to holding a managerial position in the first Sino-foreign joint venture utilizing compensation trade.
In the winter of 1978, the Sino-foreign joint venture contract for Xiangzhou Woolen Mill was formally signed. This was only three months after Comrade Deng Xiaoping declared China's plan for reform and opening-up.
The people of Zhuhai moved quickly, but Huang was even quicker. He led a team of nine umemployed youths to Macao where they studied for three months, and started work at full speed right after they returned. After a trial production of six months, the enterprise was formally put into operation. It took them approximately one year from capital construction to putting the project into operation. This was an amazing miracle in Zhuhai at that time.
"Where did this equipment come from?" Comrade Deng Xiaoping asked Huang Guoming while examining it.
"They were imported from West Germany, Switzerland and Japan."
"Where did the raw materials come from?"
"They were imported from Australia."
"Where will you sell these products?"
"They are all for export. Our enterprise engages in 'three procedures and one compensation trade,' which means processing raw materials according to the clients' demands，assembling parts for the clients, processing according to the clients' samples and engaging in compensation trade."
'Three procedures and one compensation trade' was a new term in the industry and economics dictionaries coined after the implementation of reform and opening-up in China.
Although the enterprise was a kind of Sino-foreign joint venture in its lowest level form, it stilled marked a real step in the opening-up of China. The legendary rise of the "East Asian Tigers" also came about as a result of this early type of joint partnership.
When officials of the Zhuhai Municipal Party Committee asked Deng Xiaoping for an inscription, Comrade Deng said nothing but lightly nodded.
Deng thought for a moment and immediately wrote "Zhuhai Special Economic Zone is great," seven vigorous and powerful Chinese characters.
The inscription represents Deng Xiaoping's added acknowledgement for the four to five years of effort made since special economic zones had been set up in China.
Deng's inspection ushered in a prosperous period for the development of the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone.
By People's Daily Online
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