China Seminar | 14 September 2017

Megalopolis Powerhouse in the Making – South China’s Big Bay Area

Richard R. Vuylsteke

The construction of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Big Bay Area has tremendous significance for South China’s economic development. The emerging connectivity in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) by road, rail, and waterways is setting the scene for the emergence of a unique megalopolis – an economic, intellectual, and innovative powerhouse unmatched elsewhere. The Big Bay Area is where the action is as China develops innovative service industries, advanced manufacturing, international brands with plenty of “foreign direct expertise” investment in the region. Dr. Richard Vuylsteke is the President of the East-West Center. His former positions include president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong and Taipei; editor-in-chief of the Taiwan Review; area studies coordinator at the Chinese Language and Area Studies (CLASS) Foreign Service Institute school in Taipei; research fellow in East Asian Legal Studies at Harvard Law School; as well as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Rajasthan, India. He received his MA and PhD from University of Hawaii at Manoa, specializing in Western and Chinese political philosophy. His areas of expertise include: strategic and operational leadership of multicultural organizations, Asia-Pacific business and trade, Asian and Western history and philosophy.