Section 2：History of FEZs in the world

FEZs have a long history，and appear in many different forms. According to Meng（2005a），“the idea of free ports as the oldest FEZs can be traced back to the Roman port of Delos（Greece）.” In addition，the different types of FEZs are “the result of free trade policy，export-oriented industrial policy and deregulation”（Meng，2003）. Subsequently，such ports also emerged in some city-states（e. g. Venice）along the eastern and southern rim of the Mediterranean in the early Middle Ages（McCalla，1990）. McCalla（1990）provides a more detailed history of FEZs，“In the year 1228，a free trade port was established in Marseilles in southern France. In the late 13th century，some cities along the North and Baltic Sea set up a ‘Free Trade Union’，named the ‘Hanseatic League’”. Guo（1987）also notes that the history of what we mean by FEZs should be traced back to the 14th century in Europe. As Guo（1987）states，“Free Port ‘Leyghorn’（1547）in the Italian coastal city of Genoa is generally acknowledged as being the first free port. The Leyghorn free port symbolized the birth of FEZs.” Following political and technological progress，the world economy has realised a rapid development，and is being transformed from single national economies to a mixed，interactive world economy. Following the Second World War，FEZs developed very quickly and spread throughout the world. Since the 1960s，a variety of new models have developed，and their importance has increased on a global scale（Meng，2003）. The first export processing zones（EPZs）were established in Ireland and Taiwan in the 1960s as a result of the relocation of industrial production from developed countries to developing countries（Meng，2003）. Since then，EPZs can be found in many developing countries. The foreign industries or enterprises within the EPZs can benefit from low wages for the unskilled labour force，privileges in terms of economic incentives（financial and tax）and less repressive national regulations. Since the 1960s，a broad variety of FEZs and aligned policies have originated worldwide，and their importance has grown on a global scale. This is especially true for the FEZs in developing countries，especially in the People’s Republic of China.

Over the last decades，world economic integration，including trade liberation，financial internationalisation and production integration，has made great progress. An increasing number of countries have become involved in the international division of labour，and the world resembles a village. For many developing countries，this seems to be an opportunity to develop faster than ever before，and to expand their national economy in a relatively easy way. Many labour-intensive industries from developed countries are seeking opportunities to move their production lines to these less-developed countries to reduce their costs by fully utilising the cheaper labour of these countries. The enormous growth of the industrial sector in many developing countries is based on their attractiveness to foreign capital and their export-oriented industrial policies focusing on the world market. However，these effects are only superficial. In order to achieve industrialisation，these developing countries need to find a way to learn from these foreign investors and try to adjust their own economic system. This，of course，is not possible without extensive changes in the political administrative system. Then FEZs have been established in some developing countries as a “trial” to attract foreign capital and to accelerate industrialisation.