A clearly confident China has rolled up a large section of its bamboo curtain, declared itself “open to the outside world” and hung signs on nearly all its cities inviting foreign investors to come and do serious business. In China's special economic zones ( SEZs)，which are being built almost from scratch, foreigners can invest in anything which the state deems useful for the country, be it, for example, production of goods for export or construction of private-housing estates. These can be joint ventures ，cooperative enterprises or wholly foreign-owned operations. Because every factory or business established in the SEZs is new, imports of capital and consumer goods ( except cigarettes and liquor) are exempted from customs duties, and a uniform 15% income-tax rate is applied.