Sagamiya, a Japanese food company in Liaoning Faku Economic Development Zone, Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province [Photo provided to China Daily]

The Liaoning Faku Economic Development Zone, established in 2001, got Liaoning provincial approval as a provincial economic development zone, in May 2006, with a planned area of 30 square kilometers, 20 sq km of which has been developed. Ceramics is its leading industry, giving it the designation, "Northeast China ceramics capital" and "Ceramics industry base for Northeast Asia" from the China Ceramics Industry Association and China Building and Sanitary Ceramics Association. It was also called "China’s ceramics valley" by the China General Chamber of Commerce, and approved as a "national pilot park for the transformation of Liaoning province" by the National Development and Reform Commission.

The development zone is now home to 189 enterprises and 431 ceramic production lines with jobs for 70,000 people. In 2013, it had a gross regional product of 11.34 billion yuan, fixed assets investment of 6 billion yuan, and revenues of 770 million yuan, making it the largest ceramic R&D, production and sales base of the Northeast. The Faku International Ceramics Exhibition, which is influential in China and abroad, has been held eight times here. In recent years, the zone's ceramics industry has seen rapid development, with Faku county backing and a number of renowned ceramics enterprises and related enterprises, such as Japan's Lixil housing and building materials company, Supor Sanitary Ware, Guangdong New Zhong Yuan, and Keda Clean Gas, have settled in the zone, with 12 product categories for architecture, the home, art and creativity, industry, special areas, sanitary ware, and other areas. Their products are popular in Northeast China, Inner Mongolia, Hebei and Shandong provinces, the cities of Beijing and Tianjin, the United States, Russia, Spain, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The zone follows an "internationally oriented, brand building, ceramic culture" development strategy that considers brand building important and takes steps to promote enterprises, publicize brands and competitiveness, help enterprises make the best use of product structure and upgrades, support technical transformation, bring in ceramic teams from Taiwan for technical and talent support, and build a Faku Ceramics Culture and Creativity Center to integrate culture and ceramics. The zone centers on restructuring and is ushering in a second wave of development and welcomes enterprises in ceramics production, new building materials and warehouse logistics to invest and develop here, for which it provides a favorable environment and the necessary services.