Usage of Since (Since 1980, China has established special economic zones in...)

[ConfidenceMan]

Since 1980, China has established special economic zones in Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou in Guangdong Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province, and designated the entire province of Hainan a special economic zone. In 1984, China further opened 14 coastal cities—Dalian, Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Yantai, Qingdao, Lianyungang, Nantong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang and Beihai—to overseas investment. Then, beginning in 1985, the state decided to expand the open coastal areas, extending the open economic zones of the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Xiamen-Zhangzhou-Quanzhou Triangle in south Fujian, Shandong Peninsula, Liaodong Peninsula, Hebei and Guangxi into an open coastal belt.In 1990, the Chinese government decided to open the Pudong New Zone in Shanghai to overseas investment, and opened more cities in the Yangtze River valley. In this way, a chain of open cities extending up the Yangtze River valley, with Shanghai’s Pudong as the “dragon head,” has been formed. Since 1992, the State Council has opened a number of border cities, and in addition, opened all the capital cities of inland provinces and autonomous regions. In addition, 15 free trade zones, 32 state-level economic and technological development zones, and 53 new- and high-tech industrial development zones have been established in large and medium-sized cities. As a result, a multi-level, multi-channel, omni-directional and diversified pattern of opening, integrating coastal areas with riverine, border and inland areas has been formed in China. As these open areas adopt different preferential policies, they play the dual roles of “Windows” in developing the foreign-oriented economy, generating foreign exchanges through exporting products and importing advanced technologies and of “radiators” in accelerating inland economic development.

By "since 1980" they mean "from 1980 to now", which means they kept establishing special economic zones "from 1980 to now"? Otherwise, to me, it would not make any sense.

[Yankee]

Hi CM

The use of "since 1980" indicates that the things mentioned happened at various unspecified points in time within the time frame of 1980 - now ("now" = the time the article was written). The exact time when they happened is not as important as the fact that they happened.

In addition, this list of a particular type of event (events that "have happened" so far since 1980) might be an incomplete list in the sense that additional similar sorts of events might possibly take place in the future (and could therefore be added to the list).
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Amy
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ESL teacher, and native speaker of American English