Experts discuss how city should present itself

By Sun Xiaobo in Beijing Source:Global Times Published: 2012-12-30 23:29:05

Shanghai should consider the image it wants to present to foreigners as it seeks to become an international metropolis, experts said Sunday at a forum in Beijing.

Because a city cannot have robust development without the support of the manufacturing industry, Shanghai must regain its dominant position in manufacturing, said Wu Ge, a director of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The forum was sponsored by the Research Center for National Image, Creativity and Innovation in Arts and Humanities of Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Information Office of Shanghai Municipality.

Manufacturing had been at the center of the city's economy, but in the 30 years since the reform and opening up, the city has fallen behind and hardly has any of its original brands anymore. "The past three decades have been 30 lost years for Shanghai," Wu said.

China Central Television (CCTV) reported in 2004 that one-third of 152 Shanghai brands selected in 1995 have disappeared. And the rest are struggling.

In 2009, then-Shanghai Party Secretary Yu Zhengsheng said it was absolutely true that the city's economy would reach a dead end if it developed the service industry while ignoring manufacturing.

The added value of the service, or tertiary industry accounted for 57.9 percent of Shanghai's gross domestic product in 2011, up 0.6 percentage points from the previous year, according to the Shanghai Statistics Bureau.

While Shanghai still lags behind the world financial centers of New York, London and Hong Kong, it should first focus on becoming the country's financial center, Wu said.

Moreover, Shanghai should introduce the culture and arts of other countries and develop itself into China's cultural center. "When you come to Shanghai, you'll see the world," Wu said, echoing the words of information office chief Ren Xiaowen.

It's an affirmation that foreigners want to live in Shanghai, Wu said.

There were 143,200 registered foreigners from 214 countries and regions living in Shanghai in 2010, second only to Guangdong Province, according to the Sixth National Population Census in 2010.

 



Posted in: Society, Metro Shanghai

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