Lishui city in East China's Zhejiang province introduced 38 projects last year that are being funded by overseas Chinese, with a total investment of 9.53 billion yuan ($1.5 billion), local media reported recently.

In addition, there were also 54 overseas Chinese investments worth 36.6 billion yuan under negotiation.

"The support policies and services provided by Lishui solved the worries of overseas Chinese and enabled us to return home and settle down here," said Cao Qinyong, chairman of Zhejiang Luoweini Intelligent Carving Machine Co Ltd.

He said that after doing business in Italy for many years, he missed his hometown and decided to return to Lishui to develop manufacturing of specialized industrial robots. With an investment of 60 million yuan in the first phase, his plant will be able to produce 1,000 robots annually.

There are currently about 420,000 overseas Chinese from Lishui living in more than 130 countries and regions. Overseas Chinese are regarded as invaluable assets for the city.

In recent years, Lishui's efforts made in introducing overseas Chinese investment – such as the launch of a series of attractive business and investment policies and the establishment of overseas Chinese entrepreneurship and innovation service centers – are said to have been very well received by overseas Chinese.