Fujian Province on the south- eastern coast faces Taiwan Province across the Taiwan Straits. It has an area of more than 120,000 square kilometers. Of its 25.18 million people, 12 per cent live in the cities and 88 per cent in the rural areas -- mostly concentrated in the coastal regions. The home province of many overseas Chinese, Fujian has been authorized to adopt special policies and flexible measures in its foreign economic activities under a decision made by the Communist Party Central Committee and the State Council in 1979.
