改革开放以来，中国各地方政府为了加快本区经济发展，纷纷设立开发区和工业园区，作为地方经济对外开放的窗口，通过税收优惠.基础设施配套和公共服务等举措进行全面的招商引资，极大地影响着各地经济的启动，创造了许多“经济奇迹”和“财富神话”。

以在沿海地区试行四个经济特区为标志，地方政府大规模招商引资的序幕拉开，我国招商引资经历了几个阶段，最初的招商引资以引进外资为主导。

近几年我国利用外资总量规模整体增加，2011年我国实际利用外资超过1160亿美元。

20世纪90年代初开始，招商引资逐渐以内资为主导。东部沿海地区经过十余年的发展，己经建立了基本完善的外向型产业体系，资本积累初步完成，劳动密集型产业逐步向技术密集型和资本密集型产业转变，各级地方政府纷纷以更加灵活多样的招商引资手段吸引更多的资金和更高端的产业进入本地。伴随着“西部大开发”战略的提出，地方政府纷纷开展招商引资政策，吸引企业落户、资金流入，以推动经济增长，缩小地区差距。

1979年以来，我国引进的外资不断增长。从数值来看，1979-2011年我国共实际利用外资13664.54亿美元，其中，2011年我国实际利用外资1160.11亿美元;从增长情况来看，1986-2011年间，我国实际利用外资额呈现增长态势，且在这26年之内，年实际利用外资额已经由96.28亿美元增长到1160.11亿美元，年均增长13.07%。

Since the reform and opening up, various local governments in China have set up development zones and industrial parks in order to accelerate the economic development of their regions, as windows for the local economy to open up to the outside world, through tax incentives, infrastructure facilities and public services, etc. The earth has influenced the start-up of the economies of various places, creating many "economic miracles" and "wealth myths."

Marked by the trial implementation of four special economic zones in coastal areas, the large-scale investment attraction of local governments began. China's investment attraction experienced several stages, and the initial investment attraction was dominated by the introduction of foreign capital.

In recent years, China's total utilization of foreign capital has increased overall. In 2011, China's actual utilization of foreign capital exceeded US$116 billion.

Since the early 1990s, domestic investment has gradually become the leading factor in attracting investment. After more than ten years of development, the eastern coastal areas have established a basically complete export-oriented industrial system, capital accumulation has been initially completed, labor-intensive industries have gradually transformed into technology-intensive and capital-intensive industries, and local governments at all levels have taken more flexible and diverse investment invitation methods attract more capital and higher-end industries to enter the local area. Along with the "Western Development" strategy, local governments have launched investment promotion policies to attract enterprises to settle down and capital inflow to promote economic growth and narrow regional gaps.

Since 1979, China's foreign investment has continued to grow. From a numerical point of view, China’s actual use of foreign capital from 1979 to 2011 totaled US$1366.454 billion, of which, in 2011, China’s actual use of foreign capital was US$116.011 billion; from the perspective of growth, China’s actual use of foreign capital showed a growth trend from 1986 to 2011. And in these 26 years, the annual actual utilization of foreign capital has increased from 9.628 billion US dollars to 116.011 billion US dollars, an average annual increase of 13.07%.