"First and foremost, Hong Kong, Macao as well as Taiwanese residents helped to improve the quality of life of the mainland residents and enhance the graciousness of society," Wu said. He cited traffic as an example. Before the massive influx of Hong Kong and Macanese investors, mainland residents had little inclination to obey traffic rules.

"At that time, pedestrians, cyclists and drivers vied with one another for the sake of time and convenience, and traffic was a mess particularly during rush hours," Wu said. Travelers from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, on the contrary, graciously waited for green traffic lights, showing their decency and discipline and becoming powerful role models for mainland residents, he said.

Investors from the three regions have helped increase local administrative departments' awareness about serving citizens, Wu said. In the past, local governments held enormous power to determine whether a foreign-invested company could set up a factory. But tempered by the critical investors, local officials realized that they have an "obligation" and not the "right" to approve the plans of companies that want to set up operations in their localities.

The investment also has improved the quality of the mainland's service industry, Wu said.

"Taiwan investors brought in advanced service ideas, which exerted a profound influence on the mainland market," said Yang Jianrong, Director of the Taiwan Affairs Office in the Shanghai Municipal People's Government. For instance, they brought in the concepts of supermarkets, wedding photography and snack manufacturing. Those services have enriched people's lives and served as a useful experience for mainland followers, he said.

Coping with financial crisis

The prolonged global financial crisis has taken a toll on Taiwanese, Hong Kong and Macanese investments on the mainland. But some entrepreneurs believe the crisis itself will not pose a significant threat to the survival of their companies. They see it as a small bump in the long process of China's modernization process, which is helping to eliminate the weak and sharpen the competitiveness of the fit.

Alex Lee, President of the Shanghai Association of Taiwan Businessmen Invested Enterprises, said that so far this year, no member companies have declared bankruptcy and that the Taiwan-invested companies have all expressed their determination to maintain production for at least two years until the international environment gets better.

Unlike the gloomy situation in the Pearl River Delta region where a large number of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) have collapsed, Taiwan-, Hong Kong- and Macao-invested companies in the Yangtze River Delta have been relatively less affected by the sweeping financial crisis, because they focus on hi-tech products and have independent brands. Zhao Jin, Deputy Director General of the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation of Jiangsu Province, said the Yangtze River Delta's advanced industrial structure has prevented the region from succumbing to the effects of the global financial crisis. By contrast, companies in the Pearl River Delta are mainly engaged in processing trade, meaning they import raw materials from abroad and process them into designated products ordered by overseas clients, Zhao said.

"This kind of trade lacks technology support and is utterly exposed to external crisis," he said.