Recently, the first Mayor Forum of Provincial Capital Cities in Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) is held in Guangzhou, and on the same day nine provinces of PPRD region from mainland China agreed to strengthen their cooperation in food and drug administration to insure the food and drug safety within the region.

Over the past year, forums, conferences and fairs in the name of 'PPRD' came wave after wave and 'PPRD' become a hot word in various media. Looking into the history of Guangdong's effort on regional integration, from 'four rising cities' to 'Pearl River Delta', then 'Greater Pearl River Delta', and now to 'PPRD'. The development reveals Guangdong's inference on south China is enhanced and the province will continue to serve as the giant power generator for China's economic development in the future.

In 1980's, four cities in Guangdong, Nanhai, Shunde (now they are two districts of Foshan city), Dongguan and Zhongshan experienced an dramatic economic take-off. Private economy and foreign-funded enterprises mushrooms, factories were built to replace the fields and fishponds. From 1981 to 1993, the four cities saw an average annual GDP growth of 23.8%, and saw the optimal balance of agriculture, industry and tertiary industry from 37.7: 47.1: 15.2 to 16.2: 40.7: 43.1.

Following these four cities, the other cities within Pearl River Delta also made rapid progress. Guangdong absorbed millions of labors and tens of thousands of talents every year on the first half of 1990's. Guangdong products, such as food, garments and household electronic appliance, and popular Cantonese songs, cuisines and fashion-style prevailed in the whole country. During 1980 to 1992, Pearl River Delta developed at a speed of 18.5% annually, which was a miracle in the history of world economic development.

Pearl River Delta's development is driven by its cooperation with Hong Kong. Guangdong serves as factory at the back and Hong Kong as shop at the front receiving orders from all over the world. Now the 'factory' has developed into a world-class manufacturing base and Hong Kong has become world-class service industry base. Last year, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao joint hands to form 'Greater Pearl River Delta', which generated a GDP of 328.7 billion USD, 1.2 times of that of Yangzi River Delta.

The launch of Pan Pearl River Delta this year has opened the mainland area for receiving Greater Pearl River Delta's economic radiation. This cooperation was first suggested by Zhang Dejiang, the secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, last year and won support by central government and other PPRD parts. The PPRD bloc members are Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, and Guangdong provinces, the Guangxi region, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, and the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions (SARs). These are collectively known as the '9+2' with Greater PRD (Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao) as the center.

The evolution from 'four rising cities' to '9+2' cooperation reflects Guangdong's role in China's reform and opening is becoming more important.

Editor: Catherine