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Home » Supplement » Anniversary

Chronicle of city’s business, finance progression

By Wang Yanlin | September 15, 2014, Monday | Print Edition

SHANGHAI Daily’s 15-year evolution into a compelling media voice in the city has paralleled the rise of the city’s stature as a key business center in China and a major gateway for foreign investment.

“Shanghai has always been a poster city for China’s ambition to modernize,” says Huang Renwei, vice president and senior fellow of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. “The past 15 years have seen Shanghai’s steady growth into a strong center of finance, trade, commerce and logistics, while foreign investors still regard it as the best location to start investment in the Chinese mainland.”

In 1999, Shanghai hosted the Fortune Global Forum — the first time the renowned international conference was convened in China. The forum, under the theme “China: The Next 50 Years,” generated considerable discussion about China’s future prospects.

At that time, Shanghai was in urgent need of an English-language newspaper to inform the outside world about the policies and events rapidly transforming the city.

Economic data illustrate the dizzy pace.

In 1999, Shanghai’s gross domestic product totaled 403.5 billion yuan (US$65 billion). Last year, GDP amounted to 2.16 trillion yuan. With only 0.06 percent of China’s land, 1.8 percent of its population and 1.7 percent of its investment, Shanghai produces more than 4 percent of the nation’s overall economic output.

“Shanghai holds strategic importance for China’s growth because it is a testing ground for many breakthrough programs,” says Sun Lijian, an economics professor at Fudan University. “The city is driven by a spirit of persistent innovation and restless pursuit of better performance. It is a born leader for other cities.”

In 1999, the newly constructed Shanghai International Convention Center hosted the Fortune Global Forum. But that was only the start of the story. Other record-breaking projects included the first phase of Shanghai Pudong International Airport, the Shanghai Technology Exchange, the Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall, the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Port and the new campus of the China Europe International Business School.

The ShanghaiMart, located in the heart of the Hongqiao area, also opened in 1999, serving as a platform to bolster trade and investment. As Asia’s then-largest venue of its kind, it has hosted thousands of forums, fairs and exhibitions in the past 15 years. Big events, including the East China Fair, the Furniture Fair, the Auto Show and the Jewelry Collection Show all originated in the ShanghaiMart. The venue has also been the top location for many trade companies.

The ShanghaiMart remains a popular exhibition center, but it is no longer unique in that role. Surging demand led to the construction of the Shanghai New International Expo Center and the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center.

The China Expo Convention and Exhibition Complex, known as China Expo Complex, designed to be the world’s largest single block building, with a construction area of 1.47 million square meters, is scheduled to start operation this year.

The proliferation of exhibition sites guarantees that Shanghai will continue to serve as a gateway for foreign investors wanting to learn about China.

“A lot of foreign investors start their Chinese businesses in Shanghai due to the city’s good location and infrastructure, its open and earnest attitude to learn from others, and its fused culture that facilitates foreign business integration,” says Liu Jinping, chairman of the Shanghai Association of Enterprises with Foreign Investment. “The city is always trying its best to offer the best services for foreign investors, and those efforts have paid off.”

Last year, Shanghai attracted US$16.8 billion foreign direct investment, up 10.5 percent from a year earlier, with many funds flowing into the high-end services sector in services. Fifteen years ago, the city attracted US$3.04 billion in foreign investment.

Coca-Cola Co, the world’s biggest beverage producer, was an early investor after China’s decision to open up its market to foreign companies. The US company set up its Chinese headquarters in Shanghai in 1999.

Today, the company has 43 plants in China, employing more 50,000 people. China has become Coca-Cola’s third-largest global market.

In the pharmaceutical sector, Roche, the world’s fifth-largest producer of drugs and diagnostic products, moved its Asia-Pacific headquarters from Australia to Shanghai in 2010.

Luke Miels, then head of the company’s Asia-Pacific region, said the decision to relocate was an easy one because of Shanghai’s irresistible attraction as a hub for high-tech companies.

By the end of July of this year, Shanghai had welcomed the regional headquarters of 470 multinational companies — the largest hub for foreign business in China.

And now, the new China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone is promising new reforms to secure and expand the city’s dominance in finance, trade and commerce.

“It is a milestone underscoring China’s commitment to push ahead with opening-up efforts,” says Jian Danian, deputy director of the zone’s administration, “It also shows Shanghai’s credentials as a pioneer for reform.”

At every step of the way, Shanghai Daily has been there to record milestones, linking the business footprints that have trod along the city’s path to greatness. For anyone wishing to review the past in order to find clues about future directions, the newspaper’s rich archives provide an excellent resource for research.

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