Hengqin zone spurs growth, attracts talent

With business-friendly environment and improved living conditions equivalent to neighboring Macao Special Administrative Region, the cooperation zone on Hengqin Island of Zhuhai, Guangdong province, is becoming a popular choice for Macao residents to live and work in.

Covering about 106 square kilometers and located across a river from Macao, the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin was officially established in September 2021. According to its statistics bureau, over 16,500 Macao residents were living in Hengqin as of September, a 19 percent increase from last year. More than 5,000 Macao people now work in the zone, up nearly 5 percent on a yearly basis.

One of them is Hazel Wong, a young entrepreneur from a Macao family steeped in traditional Chinese medicine. Wong started her own pharmaceutical company in Macao in 2018, and expanded the business to Hengqin in April 2019, just two months after the central government announced plans to develop the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.