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Mention Shanghai, and the first thing that comes to mind is the image of an exotic and flourishing metropolitan city; stylishly old and gleaming new architectural marvels, endless streams of people and traffic, clusters of shopping malls, restaurants and modern public facilities in the city center and surrounding neighborhoods, and a bustling urban life that is both frenetic by day and sizzling by night.

In addition to this typical metropolis energy, Shanghai is known as a key industrial base and one of China's economic engines, with its gross domestic product close to 10.3 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) last year, surpassing that of Beijing, Tianjin and Chongqing, the other three big municipalities, and standing out as one of the fastest-growing regions in China. The city is also generally recognized as a pace setter in terms of modern lifestyle, innovative thinking, and new cultural trends.

Shanghai's status and glory originated in part from its history. Emerging as a small trade port and exploited by Western powers in the mid-19th century, it soon expanded into the country's largest industrial and port city.

By the 1930s, it had become the primary business and financial center in China and the Far East, boasting the most domestic and foreign banks, the busiest hub of foreign trade, and the most attractive and preferred destination of foreign investment, contracting more than one third of foreign capital entering the country. The city was then seen as the "Paris of the Orient," and the lasting prosperity from those years has helped Shanghai acquire the experience and confidence for future development.

The present economic strength and success of Shanghai, however, came about largely through the reform and opening-up implemented since the late 1970s. Since the early 1990s, when the reform policies gained further momentum, Shanghai has grabbed the focus of public attention for its booming economic growth and also for the proclaimed goal of the Central Government to turn the city into another world financial center, after London, New York and Paris. This state strategy, some experts say, is aimed not only at fueling faster development for Shanghai and the neighboring regions, but also boosting China's economic takeoff and promoting its closer integration with international markets.

Shanghai has been selected as the venue of a new world financial capital for well-grounded reasons. Apart from the historical and geographical considerations, the city is now home to many giant multinational corporations, as well as local and foreign banking institutions, and has established a relatively sound and complete financial system on a national basis, the largest stock exchange and the principal mid- to long-term bond and fund markets in the country. More important are China's robust and stable macroeconomic situation, the rapid growth in and around the city and a contingent of competent professionals in the local financial industry, all guarantees for bringing the grand plan into reality.

Shanghai still has a long way to catch up with other well-established global financial centers, but it has set out to fulfill its mission. And not only that, the municipal authorities have also embarked on an ambitious plan to make Shanghai a hotspot for foreign trade, shipping and economic development. The city that never sleeps is destined for big things. China and the world are watching.

(Beijing Review July 30, 2007)