Shanghai Has a Free-Trade Zone, So Now What?

More than 30 years ago, Deng Xiaoping, the father of China’s economic miracle, supported the creation of special economic zones (SEZs) as a method of introducing capitalism into the country’s communist economy. The zones, most famously Shenzhen, allowed foreign companies the freedom to invest and build factories, kick-starting the nation’s rapid growth. Such reforms eventually spread throughout the entire nation, turning China into the workshop of the world and forever altering global manufacturing.