Shanghai Looks to Climb Into the Front Seat
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 10:36Following my post last week on Shanghai’s aspirations to overtake HK, I was sent Cheng Li’s recent article for China Leadership Monitor Reclaiming the “Head of the Dragon”: Shanghai as China’s Center for International Finance and Shipping (Download here):
In March 2009, in the wake of the ongoing global financial crisis, the Chinese central government took another drastic turn and endorsed a blueprint to designate Shanghai as a “global financial and shipping center by 2020.” Once again, Shanghai has had a set of favorable policies bestowed upon it by those in power. This essay examines the economic motivations, policy initiatives, political backgrounds, and international implications of this new phase of development for China’s pace-setting metropolis.
A huge fan of CLM’s work over the years, this 18 page essay offers a lot in the way of history, current state, and the potential opportnities that exist. Li’s perspective is one that I largely see as accurate in so far as he is of the opinion that while Shanghai has clearly come very far (he gives a lot of credit to Shanghai’s growth), that Shanghai still has a long way to go before it is able to compete with the more established markets (regionally and globally).
