A panoramic view of Optics Valley of China. [Photo/Optics Valley of China]

On Dec 20, the State Council officially approved six cities – Shenyang, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Guangzhou and Chengdu – to conduct comprehensive pilot programs for opening up of the service sector for a period of three years.

The programs are an important part of high-level opening-up efforts being made by the central government. After seven years of exploration, a unique "1+4" demonstration pilot zone layout involving Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Hainan and Chongqing has taken shape.

A total of 35 typical cases in industrial opening-up, trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and mechanism transformation have been promoted nationally.

In 2021, the East Lake High-tech Development Zone (also known as Optics Valley of China, or OVC), was selected as a national cultural export base, and this year, the valley has been approved by the Ministry of Commerce as an intellectual property right service export base.

So far, Hubei province has registered five State-level export bases.