The Pearl River Delta, the industrial center of Guangdong, has an ideal investment environment and a free-market orientation that has successfully attracted various enterprises. At present, there are some 24,700 medium-sized enterprises throughout the province, of which as many as 18,750 enterprises (76.0% of the total) are located in eight cities. 85.1% of the provincial industrial output value is from enterprises based in the Pearl River Delta. Such clustering around the river is clearly one strategy for success.

According to the Plan for Modernization Construction of the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone, a great metropolitan ring circling the Pearl River mouth including two centers (Guangzhou and Shenzhen) and three metropolitan regions (Middle, East and West Bank of the Pearl River Mouth Metropolitan Regions) will form part of the Pearl River Delta.

The Middle Metropolitan Region, with Guangzhou at the core and including Foshan, Nanhai, Panyu, Shunde, Sanshui, Huadu, Zengcheng, Conghua and so on, will be the center of politics, education, culture, science and research, finance, commerce and trade, information and transportation, and the second industrial base for high-and-new tech and high value-added industries.

The East Bank Metropolitan Region, with Shenzhen at the center, will include Huizhou, Dongguan, Huiyang, Huidong and Bolo. Bordering on Hong Kong, it will become the shopfront of the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone to the world, and a base for the development, production and application of high-and-new technology (especially micro electronic technology) and for energy and heavy chemistry industries.

The West Bank Metropolitan Region, comprising Zhuhai, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, Xinhui and Heshan, will make good use of its advantages and become a metropolitan region with energy and heavy chemical industries as the backbone. Household appliances and machine manufacturing will also be prevalent due to the availability of capital and technology. It will also benefit from the harbour trade.