China’s plan to turn Hainan into the world’s largest free-trade port by 2025 will – for the most part – be complementary to Hong Kong and Guangdong, and open up trade opportunities with Southeast Asia.

Greater Bay Area, which is home to four top 10 richest people in China, will have a new cross-border trading scheme for investment products, a core project by Beijing to promote capital flows and investment among the 11 cities in the plan.

Hong Kong-listed Edvantage Group to expand Zhaoqing and Jiangmen campuses as it takes advantage of transport network, government support and cheap land in the bay area.

The city boasts the Kaiping Diaolou and Villages, which was listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2007, as well as Birds’ Paradise, a natural wetland park.

Hong Kong can connect the Greater Bay Area with the rest of the world, much like San Francisco’s role in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley Bay Area.

The "Greater Bay Area" refers to the Chinese government's scheme to link the cities of Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing into an integrated economic and business hub.

The study underscores how the persistent pandemic – and how governments and societies are adapting to contain and overcome the disease – will have long-term effects on global economies and populations.

The manufacturing city in the west of the bay area is attracting new businesses as it modernises, but it needs a ‘core industry’, says Bryan Chan of Colliers.

The cluster of 11 cities, with a combined population of 72 million residents and an economy estimated at US$1.65 trillion – equivalent to the world’s 11th-largest economy behind Canada and ahead of Russia, if it were a stand-alone entity – provides a potential market 10 times the size of Hong Kong.

Jiangmen’s nighttime programme that runs up to late October will see the government handing out 10 million yuan worth of vouchers and discount coupons and organise dozens of events and activities.

Some 17 schools are currently being built in the third-tier Greater Bay Area city of Jiangmen, which will have 30,000 places when the campuses are ready

Jiangmen, which is part of Beijing’s Greater Bay Area development zone, is attracting interest from mainland Chinese as well as Hong Kong-based property developers.

Competition is becoming fierce as Hong Kong property giants join their mainland Chinese rivals in bidding for projects that can profit from their transport links within the future economic hub.

One analyst expects Jiangmen’s home prices to be aided by relaxed buying restrictions and economic recovery after the coronavirus outbreak.

Jiangmen ranks as the second poorest city in the Greater Bay Area. Yet, it is rich in its own way, counting a casino tycoon, an ex-NBA star, the king of oyster sauce, and Hong Kong’s movie icons among its natives and benefactors.

Zhuhai tops the list of Greater Bay Area cities on the mainland with price gains of 1.8 per cent since February, closely followed by Dongguan at 1.7 per cent.

Jiangmen handed over an official document reaffirming the city's plans to scrap a proposed uranium processing plant yesterday after residents refused to believe that the project was dead.

The abrupt withdrawal of plans for the 37 billion yuan (HK$46.4 billion) plant, which could have provided enough fuel to meet half the country's nuclear power needs, came just a day after more than 2,000 people gathered to protest against its construction.

Several hundred people gathered in Jiangmen's city centre on Friday morning to protest against a planned uranium processing plant in the Guangdong city.