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Shanghai reborn as vibrant metropolis

By Hong Liang (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-24 11:30

Shanghai got off to a slow start in the early days of economic reform, relative to Shenzhen and Xiamen. Now, it has more than caught up with the other coastal cities in establishing its key role in the nation's development.

In the process, it has transformed itself from a dull and inefficient manufacturing base for a planned economy to a vibrant and progressive metropolis, servicing the modern industrial heartland of the Yangtze River Delta region.

Most of the imposing pre-war buildings on the Bund, erected by the banks and merchant houses of former colonial powers, still stand as testimony to the faded glory of Shanghai as the Paris of the East. The city's new status as China's premier financial center is symbolized by the glass-and-steel office towers across the murky Huangpu in Lujiazui in the Pudong new district.

Since the financial sector opened to foreign institutions, Shanghai has become the China headquarters for nearly all the major foreign banks, insurers and investment houses.

The city is home to the country's main stock market that ranks as one of the largest in Asia in terms of total capitalization. Gold and commodities futures contracts traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange are having an increasingly big influence on the international market.

The Shanghai municipal government has laid out a comprehensive blueprint for the financial sector's development.

It calls for improvement of the exchanges and information technology to help ensure greater market transparency and new financial derivatives products and services.

In the past few years, for instance, the futures exchange has introduced new contracts on fuel oil, gold and zinc to meet rising market demand. Major preparation work for the launch of index futures, the first financial derivatives product in China, is said to be complete.

Shanghai's position as the region's aviation hub has been strengthened by the continuing expansion of both the Pudong International Airport and Hongqiao Airport for domestic flights. They will play an increasingly important role in supporting industries in the Yangtze River Delta region in their climb up the value-added chain that demands, among other things, precise timing in inventory management and fast turnover of finished goods.

The completion of the initial phase of the deep-water port in Yangshan has consolidated Shanghai's position as a major shipping hub in the Asia-Pacific region. The scale of the development is grand enough to accommodate the projected sea transport needs of the vast hinterland extending along the Yangtze River to the western province of Sichuan. The combined throughput of Shanghai's port facilities, including river traffic, has already exceeded that of Hong Kong or Singapore.

But more important is the city's growing pool of skilled workers, as highly qualified professionals from around the country seek jobs and start businesses. These people are crucial to Shanghai's bid to become a financial center of international standing.