The past two and a half decades have seen Nanjing come to the front as a fast passed, development oriented city. A wide range of business sectors are known domestically and internationally as forerunners in their fields, and the Nanjing municipal government has repeatedly taken the initiative in developing new areas of the city.

Local politicians have been keen in pursuing and aggressive program to garner greater inflows of foreign capital, and have done everything from setting aside tracks of land as industrial parks or high tech areas to holding trade fairs and promulgating favorable policies for investment.

The more notable business sectors in Nanjing proper include I.T., Automobile and motorcycle manufacturing, petrochemicals and chemicals. With a good industrial base in the above industries, Nanjing has been striving to further develop industrial strength in areas such as machinery manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and biological engineering, iron and steel production, modern construction materials, and textiles.

Good growth has already become the expected norm for these industries, and the Nanjing municipal government wants these industries to lead the way in efficiency and innovation in China. Nanjing is the next major city after Shanghai located near the Yangtze river, and is the doorway out of the eastern seaboard cities to the less developed central cities of China.

In the coming years, Nanjing is expected to play a more and more crucial role in spurring on the development of the poorer cities to its west and north. Nanjing's proximity to a host of tourist sights is another relatively untapped source of economic revenue. Not only is Nanjing itself enriched with countless cultural treasures, there are innumerable other cultural and natural tourist destinations all within an hour or two of the city center.