Qinhuangdao Economic and Technological Development Zone (QETDZ), hereafter referred to as Qinhuangdao Development Zone, is one of the first batch of the national-level economic and technological development zones set up with the approval of the State Council in October, 1984. It is adjacent to Beijing and Tianjin and located in the center of the rapidly emerging Bohai ring area, connecting the two big economic areas of North China and Northeast China. It covers a sea area of 23.81 km² and has a coastline of 6 km. On November 9, 2005, the State Council officially approved an expanded area of 16.08 km² of QETDZ, and the whole planned and controlled area of the development zone has reached 56.72 km².

Qinhuangdao Development Zone consists of two parts (East and West). The eastern part is located to the east of Shanhaiguan Old Dragon Head, the starting point of the Great Wall. And the western part is adjacent to the summer resort Beidaihe. According to the principle of "planning from a high starting point, developing in great efforts, offering complete set of services with high standards, and administrating with high efficiency", Qinhuangdao Development Zone has been trying to improve infrastructure and optimize investment development in the past 20 years. At present, all the land for projects in the zone has been supplied with water supply, power supply, heat supply, telecommunication service and perfect road condition. The green coverage is 42.82% with average public green area of 12.42 m2 per person. In June 2001, the State Environmental Protection Bureau approved QETDZ as an ISO14000 National Demonstration Zone. In May 2002, QETDZ was approved as the Environmental Protection Model Zone by the government of Hebei Province. Now the whole zone is making great efforts to achieve the title of National Environmental Protection Model City (District).

In terms of government affairs service, Qinhuangdao development zone has always stuck to the principle of attracting investment with honesty, offering convenience with great service and making investors feel safe and satisfied with credibility. It is sparing no efforts to constantly optimize and innovate services, and try to create a soft investment environment which is conformed with the international practice and suits the international market. At present QETDZ has adopted a series of service systems, such as simplified project approval formalities, all-round service for project construction and constant service for post-project production. It has also introduced the service commitment system, the system of finishing the formality in limited time and the system of all-the-way agent service. In 2002, QETDZ was authorized by the municipal government with municipal-level administrative approval power and further formed an administration and service mechanism of centralized decision-making, close-in management and high efficiency and high quality service.

While creating a great soft environment with high quality and efficient services, Qinhuangdao development zone is also constantly innovating project carrier and platform. In September 2003, Qinhuangdao Export Processing Zone passed the united check from 8 state Ministries and Commissions such as State Customs Administration and was officially put into operation; Yanshan University Science and Technology Park was checked and accepted by expert panel and became the first national-level university science and technology park in Hebei province. In 2004, Hebei Software Industry Base (Qinhuangdao) officially passed the evaluation and demonstration of the experts from Provincial Information Industry Office and Provincial development Planning Commission and set out being constructed. In January 2005, QETDZ High-Tech Innovation Service Center was approved by Ministry of Science and Technology  and promoted as national High-Tech Innovation Service Center. Qinhuangdao Development Zone has become a strong economic zone integrated with many policy advantages and carrier services such as national-level development zone, export processing zone, university science and technology park, high-tech innovation service center and provincial-level software industry base and so on.

By the end of 2006, the number of approved projects reached 4546, in which 647 projects were foreign-invested, with a total investment of US$4.73 billion. The total amount of contract value was US$ 2.827 billion, and the actual value invested from the contracts was US$1.479 billion. The number of domestic-invested projects was 3899, with the actual value of RMB 19.495 billion. Investors from as many as 35 countries and regions such as the U.S.A., Britain, Germany, Japan, Australia, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, etc. have invested in QETDZ. A number of world 500 top enterprises, transnational corporations and domestic well-known companies such as GE, ALCOA, ADM, Demag, WILO, KHS, TI, Bondi, LG, Samyang Genex, ASAHI Glass, ITOCHU, Chia Thai, Wilmar, WAN CHI, CITIC, COFCO, PetroChina, Cosco, CSSC, Chinapack, Shougang Group, Guangdong holding Co., Harbin Power Equipment, Tianwei Group, Yaohua, Hualong Nissin Food and so on also invested here. Now QETDZ has preliminarily formed five industries with distinctive characteristics including cereals, oil and foodstuffs processing, automobile and parts, large equipment manufacturing, metal rolling and manufacturing as well as glass building materials. The effect of industry concentration has distinctively appeared, and the development speed is becoming faster and gaining more and more momentum.