Hefei will remain open to attract investment, technology and services from home and abroad, especially the Yangtze River Delta Area, during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, said Wei Xiaoming, deputy mayor of Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province.

So far, companies from 58 countries and regions have based their branches in Hefei, Wei said. Among them, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore are at the top of the investment board. Of the Fortune Global 500 companies in Anhui, more than half – 27 – are located in Hefei, he said.

The central government announced the first national-level industrial transfer zone, an area covering 10 cities along the Yangtze River in Anhui, in January 2010 to encourage low-end industries along China's coast to relocate to inland areas.

The Hefei municipal government has been focusing on attracting 19 emerging industries to its city for its part in China's national economic restructuring plan. So far, it has incorporated 197 supporting projects with a total investment of 53.4 billion yuan.

Hefei's low costs and rich labor resources are drawing investors. "Because of these two advantages, I believe our company will be competitive in China, and even the world," said Wang Zhenjiang, head of the Integrated Management Department of Anhui Xinhao Plasma Display Devices, which settled in Hefei in 2009.

After signing a cooperation agreement with Hitachi Plasma Display Ltd. in July that year, Anhui Xinhao acquired one of Hitachi's plasma display production lines and more than 60 experts for technological support. It produced China's first high-definition plasma display panel on Jan. 22.

"It marks the end of an era when production of all high-definition plasma display panels in China was monopolized by Japan and Korea," Wang said.

Batch production at Anhui Xinhao will begin in April, and Wang says by the end of next year, the company should be able to produce 1.5 million panels a year.

"The operation of such a big project should attract more supporting manufacturers to Hefei, which will help form a plasma industry chain here," Wang said.