China’s Bay Area, a region surrounding the Pearl River Delta in the country’s southern-most province, has grown from an agricultural area in the 1980s to Asia’s largest and most populous urban area, having leapfrogged the Tokyo Bay area’s population in 2010.
The main players
... and what they say
Since becoming a global manufacturing hub, China’s Bay Area now generates nearly 10 per cent of China’s gross domestic product with less than 5 per cent of the population.
China's industrial output is dominated by manufacturing. The Bay Area Plan aims to turn it into a centre of advanced manufacturing, innovation, international shipping, finance and trade.
One of the plan’s objectives is to allow travel between the 11 cities within one hour. Infrastructure is being put in place to make this ambition a reality.
Greater connectedness between the three jurisdictions presents a few problems given their different legal systems and currencies.
The genesis of a bay area plan
Zhang Xiaoqiang
China Center for International Economic Exchanges executive deputy head
By 2020, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Bay Area is planned to become one of the world’s top-level economic regions, forming the basic framework for a world-class cluster of cities ... The area will see substantial improvement in its strength in global cooperation and competition, and ascend to the forefront of city clusters by 2030.
Pony Ma Huateng
Tencent CEO
We know full well how much a headache it is for our Hong Kong staff, commuting between the city and the Chinese mainland everyday.
Working and living in the Bay Area today remains quite different from what it would be like in Hong Kong and Macau.
Paul Chan Mo-po
Financial Secretary of Hong Kong
The Bay Area carries a lot of potential for Hong Kong.
As an international financial centre, Hong Kong offers a freer market than cities on mainland China. Our sound legal system and our strong global connections to the rest of the world enable Hong Kong to play a super-connector role.
Yue Yi
Bank of China (Hong Kong) vice-chairman and chief executive
With a sophisticated market, coupled with the advantage of two political systems within the one country, and competitiveness in production and industries, the aggregate economy of the Bay Area is poised to exceed the Tokyo Bay area as the world’s largest economic cluster by 2025.
Jonathan Choi Koon-shum
Chairman of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce
The area would become a “one-hour life circle” that would allow people to travel between home and work, all within a one-hour radius.
"I believe the Bay Area will grow into the world’s largest bay area in terms of GDP within 10 years."