Shanghai citizens are sophisticated, chic and astute

Oct 22 2004 By Nicholas Craig, The Journal

I am writing this from China, where I'll be travelling over the next two weeks.

On Monday, I gave a seminar in Shenzhen, a Chinese city so new that it was paddy fields just 20 years ago. Now Shenzhen is the gateway to the world's biggest manufacturing zone.

In 1964 I looked across at it from the Hong Kong border. All I saw then was a small fishing village and paddy fields as far as the eye could see, in a closed China.

Six million people now live and work at Shenzhen, and there is no sign of the momentum slowing down. It is the fastest-growing city in the fastest-growing province of China - the fastest-growing large economy in the world.

I was speaking to the Association of Entrepreneurs, a rapidly expanding band of small and medium-sized business owners, who are eager to find out more about what is going on in Britain.

China's economy is growing at roughly 8pc a year, easily outperforming G7 countries. Economists think it could overtake the United States as the world's biggest economy by the middle of this century. Shenzhen's energy powerfully illustrates its ability to achieve amazing success in a very short time.

I've now moved on to Shanghai - the "Paris of the East". It is one of the most cosmopolitan cities I have ever visited. The Shanghai citizens are sophisticated, chic and astute. They would not like to live anywhere else in China and in particular they dislike Beijing, my next port of call.

The North-East is the only region in the UK to have a representative in Shanghai. I am still surprised at the number of western people I meet while staying in the city.

I am attending a UK inward investment conference, which has attracted intense interest because of the genuine enthusiasm from Shanghai people to find out about setting up business in the UK.

Shanghai's officials are caught in compromises to satisfy their 20 million residents. They tried to ban bikes (nine million of them) earlier this year, to allow more cars on the roads, but have had to back-pedal fast, and are now building cycle paths instead. They successfully banned internet cafes, however, because of the fear of corrupting young minds.

Shanghai is a strange, spectacular, historic city pulsating with confidence and hope for the future. Today I move on to Wohan in central China and then travel to Beijing - in pre-Olympic fever. I'll tell you more next week.