<P> Four SEZs were initially set up in 1980, namely Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou in Guangdong, and Xiamen in Fujian . These SEZs were strategically located near Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, but with a favorable tax regime and low wages in order to attract capital and business from these Chinese communities . Shenzhen was the first to be established and it showed the most rapid growth, averaging at a very high growth rate of 40% per annum between 1981 and 1993, compared to the average GDP growth of 9.8% for the country as a whole . Further SEZs were later set up in other parts of China . </P> <P> In 1978, China was ranked 32nd in the world in export volume, but by 1989 it had doubled its world trade and became the 13th largest exporter . Between 1978 and 1990, the average annual rate of trade expansion was above 15 percent, and a high rate of growth continued for the next decade . In 1978, its exports in the world market share was negligible, in 1998 it still had less than 2%, but by 2010, it had a world market share of 10.4% according to the World Trade Organization (WTO), with merchandise export sales of more than $1.5 trillion, the highest in the world . In 2013, China overtook the United States and became the world's biggest trading nation in goods with a total for imports and exports valued at US $4.16 trillion for the year . </P>

Open door policy of states that china should remain open to european and american trade