Shanghai - the Largest City in China - Essay Example

Shanghai has made a rapid and sustained economic growth and development since the late 1970s when China began its economic reforms (Couling 2000).

How it has changed
Shanghai has changed demographically with the population rising from fourteen million to three hundred and fifty thousand people in the year 2000 according to United Nations statistical data but currently, it has a population of over twenty-three million as of 2010. The Gross Domestic Product of Shanghai during 1978-2000, attained was 6.5 times an increase and reached 48.749 U.S. dollars accompanied by a yearly growth rate of 9.5%.

The city has shifted from an industrial and commercial city into a national economic center. The proportion in Shanghai’s G.D.P has been raised because of the rapid and faster development in various infrastructural sectors such as transport, insurance, real estate, banking, and trade. This has been facilitated by the rapid development of finance, insurance, trade, transportation, communications, and other types of tertiary industries from 30 percent to 50 percent within a span of 10 years (Sheng 2002).

Relationship between Shanghai and Hong Kong
Commercial relationship and business relationship
Hong Kong and Shanghai can only be accessed easily via sea, rail, or air. The fares are relatively cheap. Hong Kong and Shanghai residents depend on this town for commercial purposes (Zagoriah 2003).

Relationship between Shanghai and Macau
Commercial relationship
Shanghai and Macau are related commercially to various infrastructural facilities. The common factor that keeps the relationship is the relatively cheap air transport. This facilitates quick business between the locals of the two cities. With increased business, there is an increase in the Gross Domestic Product of the two economies ( Peter 2002).
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Relationship between Shanghai and Taiwan
Marketing relationship
Shanghai – Taiwan relationship was meant to deepen market-oriented reforms and boost economic vitality and coexistence between the two cities. Taiwan and Shanghai have proposals, which cover cross-Strait cooperation in technology, finance, agriculture, education, tourism, as well as insurance. These have great meaning and feasibility to the cities. The cooperation between the two cities has stimulated the urgency in the face of fierce and strong competition in the international economic and scientific fields. This was to provide useful support and reference for legislatures and authorities of the two sides. They would as well build financial institutions to facilitate faster exchange between them. Foreigners can now open a wholly-owned enterprise in Shanghai’s Free Trade Zones. These are areas set aside to encourage direct investments as they have low capital required for their operation. Benefit from China’s latest regulation on encouraging Foreign investment (Damian 2003).

Political relationship
The legislators in China enacted laws that protect and motivate the Taiwan investors to promote development and growth in both cities. This was facilitated by the provision of incentives to meet part of the production cost and allow direct investments into the country ( Peter 2002).

Technological relationship
Taiwan is one of the leading cities worldwide that produce high technology products. Adoption of the use of technology in operation by manufacturers and other service providers is a very important approach and so Shanghai and other cities borrow or purchase from them. This makes Taiwan have a thriving economy making it a center of international trade ( Tanner 2007).

Foreigners can now open a wholly-owned enterprise in Shanghai’s Free Trade Zones. These are areas set aside to encourage direct investments as they have low capital required for their operation. Benefit from China’s latest regulation on encouraging Foreign investment (Zagoriah 2003). Read More