QINGDAO has become one of the most popular cities in China for the World’s top 500 enterprises with 129 of the top 500 companies investing in 289 projects in Qingdao so far.

    According to rankings by Fortune magazine in 2010, of 457 Fortune 500 companies whose headquarters were outside the Chinese mainland, 94 had invested in 187 projects in Qingdao with a total investment of US$6.6 billion and contracted foreign capital of US$2.2 billion. Thirty-five of the 43 Fortune 500 companies with headquarters on the mainland had also set up 102 projects.

    The first project invested in Qingdao by the Fortune 500 companies was from Marubeni Corp. from Japan in 1984. With the development of China’s opening up, the number of projects invested by Fortune 500 companies had increased sharply over recent years.

    According to statistics, about 77 projects were invested in Qingdao between 1984 and 2000 and the number was 71 between 2001 and 2005.

    (Wang Yuanyuan, Zhou Jianliang)