Shanghai surprises with its chic style
Nov 29 2002 By Nicholas Craig, The Journal
This week I have been to Shanghai and then Taiwan.
Shanghai - the Paris of the East - gained a reputation as an international adventurers' paradise in the 1920s.
Today, Shanghai is China's commercial capital, with light and heavy industries producing a huge range of goods for domestic use and as valuable export earners.
It is one of the biggest cities in the world in terms of size and population, causing traffic congestion, overcrowded housing, air pollution and noise.
In an effort to cope it is building subways, bridges, tunnels and possibly a whole new industrial area in Pudong.
Its skyline changes by the day, with new high-rise hotels, office blocks and apartments.
It appears chaotic, but it is also one of the most cosmopolitan cities I have ever visited.
Shanghai citizens are sophisticated, chic and astute. They would not like to live anywhere else in China - and in particular they dislike Beijing.
The North-East is the only UK region to have a representative in Shanghai. Ting Mae is employed by One NorthEast to link North-East companies interested in doing business with Shanghai with appropriate contacts - and vice versa.
I am delighted she is there, in a city strongly and successfully trading within China and increasingly throughout the world.
Yesterday I arrived in Taiwan, which has turned round its image over the past decade or two and is now the 14th largest economy in the world, with the world's third largest foreign reserves.
"Made in Taiwan" no longer means cheap plastic goods.
Its economy suffered last year, but it is working hard to win new trade.
The capital, Taipei, is hot and sticky. I feel more foreign here than in Shanghai. Taipei does not have the long history of welcoming overseas visitors that Shanghai does.
It is a fascinating country, heavily subsidised by America, which enjoys an uneasy relationship with mainland China.
The North-East has a number of Taiwanese companies, such as CMC and Lite-On, which have successfully set up business in the UK to expand their European manufacturing bases.
I will be meeting companies and clients who have connections with the North East-during my stay here.
I hope I can summon up the same energy of the people around me who seem to work on the run, despite stifling heat.
From here, I move on to Perth - more companies and cricket!
* Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton law firm.
