Shanghai : China’s London or New York?

by Chu Xueqin, 9 June 2009

‘Shanghai is not a city of a developing country!’ After we have arrived Shanghai, the first impression from most students towards this city is this feeling and we start to talk about how developed this city is. Compared with the very hot and dry weather in Beijing, all the students feel a little calmer down in the rainy Shanghai.

This is a fascinating city. After a very fruitful trip to Beijing, everyone seems a bit tired even after one night of rest. However, when we see enormous skyscrapers here in Shanghai, some of us become excited and want to know more about this city. As we stay at the hotel located at the Pudong District, which has been newly developed within the last two decades, some of the buildings look very old and totally empty for having being demolished. On the other hand, when we are on the way to visit the Shanghai Institute of International Studies, the long queues of the traffic jams and a large amount number of ongoing constructions remind us that Shanghai is both a modernized city and still in the process of development even if it has already started to look more like other capital industrial cities.

The Shanghai Institute of International Studies (SIIS) is one of the top think-tanks in the world. It is a comprehensive research organization for studies of international politics, economics, security strategy and China's external relations. It is the first place we visited in Shanghai. The President of the SIIS is the brother of China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. After a short and warm welcome speech by Dr. Ye Qing, Executive Director of the Department of International Organization and International Law, SIIS, and a brief introduction about IDS by Jing Gu, we had presentations about China and Development.

The discussion after the presentation is a little bit different from the Universities we have been visiting. One of the main reasons is that SIIS is a think-tank. There are five fellows and some students from SIIS participating in our workshop. Most of them are very keen to discuss with us about China’s role and influence in international development. More in-depth discussions took place about China’s rising power and global governance. Also, a very interesting question is thrown out: whether China is ready to be a superpower in the global context?

We also visit the famous Lujiazui Financial and Trade zone to witness the indicators of Shanghai’s different stages development. Jing has explained to us that the long term strategy of the Chinese government is to make Shanghai a world financial centre like London or New York because China believes this can help to realize and sustain it as great power. Lujiazui is an important area for the Chinese government to start focusing on trade and financial transformations. The buildings around Lujiazui are in fantastically modern styles with skyscrapers and also the Oriental Pearl Tower is located here. All these buildings make us feel like we are standing in a city like New York or Tokyo. To sum up, for the first day we stayed in Shanghai, it has shocked us a lot by its modern architecture, fast-paced working style, and also inequality between those people living in the downtown and those in suburbs. What the Chinese need to do to alleviate these disparities is still a big challenge for them.

Images: IDS students with students and staff from the Shanghai Institute of International Studies (SIIS)