Linying, a traditionally agricultural county in Luohe, Henan, that is home to 700,000 people, has been caught up in the province-wide rush to lure coastal manufacturers inland. As part of that rush, Chen Mengxia , a pretty nurse at a county hospital, has spent every weekend for the past two years working as a volunteer promoting her hometown to foreign and coastal enterprises.
'We have the bountiful, dirt-cheap labour to cut your production costs,' she says. 'As long as you come to invest or move your plant, our government will allot a senior official, or even a deputy head of the county, to solve all your problems, from land to tax, power and construction. We have various preferential policies.
'We plan to invest 7.7 billion yuan (HK$8.86 billion) to develop a 16.25 square kilometre industrial zone. More than 18 highways will pass through Linying, guaranteeing you'll be just two hours from any place in the province.'
More than 180 new industrial parks have been set up across Henan, each costing a billion yuan or more. According to official data, Henan attracted 12.3 billion yuan of investment from coastal provinces in January, 22.5 billion yuan in February and 26 billion yuan in June.
Henan party secretary Lu Zhangong says cadres at all levels should do their utmost to attract enterprises to Henan. 'Last month, more than 1,400 enterprises signed agreements to move plant to Henan ... it's never happened before,' he said. 'And 300 enterprises will move from Zhejiang soon.'
For years, the inland provinces seemed neglected as the wealth of resources unlocked by the country's opening up and reform was poured into the coastal provinces. But in the past couple of years, and especially since the global financial crisis encouraged more firms to cut costs by setting up offices and factories away from the coast, the inland regions have bounced back economically.