The Nin Jiom Co. was the first company in Hong Kong to receive a certificate of origin from the Hong Kong government and among the first to benefit from the new policy. With the certificate in hand, the company was able to experience double digit growth that soon reached 30%. After 2004, Nin Jiom designed and produced new products on a regular basis, its R&D budget financed by money saved from not having to pay customs duties.

In recent times large numbers of Hong Kong entrepreneurs have been making their way to the office where Nin Jiom received its certificate of origin to apply for one of their own. They have so far received over 20,000 certificates of origin and more than 1,700 certificates of service provider, which have become their source of happiness.

"According to our data, in 2004 and 2005, this brought Hong Kong 29,000 new jobs, 5.5 billion Hong Kong dollars in investment and 5.4 billion in service income. It also brought in 16.4 billion from independent tourists," said Tan Huiyi, assistant director of the Trade and Industry Department, Hong Kong SAR.

On New Year's Eve 2007, the Centaline Property Agency held its annual party for its mainland staff in Shanghai. The company's chairman, Shih Wing Ching, flew in from Hong Kong for the party and met with his 2,000 mainland sales managers.

Every time Shih comes to Shanghai, he stays at the Centaline offices in Gubei, Shanghai. The Gubei branch was the first business in China the Centaline Property Agency invested in; and that was in 1992. Because of restrictions on investing in service industries, it is still a joint-venture operation. For nearly ten years, the meager monthly receipts (of less than 100,000 yuan) were a stark reminder of the dismal business the company was doing. But then, Centaline's business in China turned around as a result of to the rapid growth of China's economy and the implementation of CEPA.

"In 2003 we began to expand, and our business has at least doubled every year since then. We expanded from 10 locations to 20, then from 20 to 40, and from 40 to 80. By the end of 2005, we had nearly 100," said Shih Wing Ching, President of Centaline.