The National Economic and Technological Development Zones (simplified Chinese: 国家级经济技术开发区; traditional Chinese: 國家級經濟技術開發區; pinyin: Guójiājí Jīngjì Jìshù Kāifā Qū) are the special areas of the People's Republic of China where foreign direct investment is encouraged.
They are usually called the "Economic and Technological Development Zones" or simply the "Development Zones" (开发区; Kāifā Qū).
These national level programs started with the Special Economic Zones for three cities in 1978, as part of China's economic reform, and were extended to the Economic and Technological Development Zones in 14 cities in 1984.
A list of Development Zones is below: There are now many Provincial Economic Development Zones, such as: Some of them are as large as the National Economic and Technological Development Zones.
There are also the Municipal-Level Economic Development Zones.