Discover China

Aaron Xu, CS&CM Shanghai (see Aaron’s profile on LinkedIn), introduces the city of Shanghai:

What do we all know about Shanghai? This is an introduction of this magnificent city located in the middle part of the coast of mainland China, at the mouth of the Yangtze River. It is the financial, commercial and industrial center of China.

Shanghai is the most populous city in China and the world’s most busiest port. This city has 700 years of history with over 20 million residents spread across an area six times that of Hong Kong. In the last 20 years, the city of Shanghai was transformed into a glittering metropolis with a public transportation system greater than London and with more skyscrapers than the city of New York. Every year, foreign investments flow into Shanghai more than any other developing country. The average rate of economic growth in Shanghai is 12% per year, faster than China as a whole. Shanghai has now tripled in size and accounts for 30% of China’s foreign exports; 20% of the country’s manufacturing output is also from this region. According to analysts, Shanghai’s economy will expand five-folds in another 10 years.

There are a total of 166 different industries in China of which 157 of them are in Shanghai. The manufacturing of automobiles, petrochemicals, steels, communication equipments, biomedicine and equipment assemblies are the six industrial pillars of Shanghai. Shanghai’s capability to manufacture automobiles is ranked among the highest globally while the city also produce a large percentage of China’s power generation equipment and ships. With a high local demand for steels, Shanghai is the largest producer of steel in China; thanks to Bao Steel. The service industries are also growing rapidly thanks to the government’s policies to reduce the economy’s reliance on heavy manufacturing industries.

Shanghai’s current goals are divided into five broad categories; in order of importance. Their top goal is to maintain an average, annual GDP growth rate of about 10% and the average per capita GDP shall reach a level of the middle developed countries. Their second goal is to optimize space distribution by decentralizing the city into seven satellite towns surrounding the city. The central area of the city is now divided into the central commercial district, the central business district, the Inner and Outer Ring Road district. Their third target is to modernize the city’s infrastructure, by improving Shanghai’s two international airports, build a multi-functional seaport, an information port and a total overhaul of the public transportation systems. Shanghai’s fourth goal is to set up a modern market system that connects domestic and overseas flow of information, human resource, capital, commodities and technology. The last goal is to find a balance between environmental, social and economic development. A city is only as good as its citizens and environment.

If you have never visited Shanghai, you should take advantage of this once in a life-time chance of touring Shanghai and the International Expo.

Madhav Nalapat writes in the China Daily newspaper:

“It was my wife Lakshmi who first awakened me to the beauty of China. She had been invited to attend the 50th Anniversary Celebrations of the founding of the People’s Republic in 1999, held in the Great Hall of the People at Beijing. The festivities were grand, and as usual, Chinese hospitality was superb. However, more than the architecture and the visible progress that China had made, what stood in her mind was the warmth of the Chinese people…”

Read Madhav Nalapat’s full story on the China Daily website.

A spectacular ceremony has opened the largest ever World Expo in Shanghai. World Expo 2010 has the theme of “Better City, Better Life” and is expected to attract 70 million visitors from China and abroad. The Expo site covers an area of 5.28 square kilometers along both sides of the Huangpu River, a tributary of the Yangtze River. To experience the opening ceremony you can watch the videos here and you can find out more about the Shanghai World Expo 2010 here.