'World 6th Cosmopolis Circle' Centering on Shanghai Envisaged

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, November 07, 2002

'World 6th Cosmopolis Circle' Centering on Shanghai Envisaged

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In the wake of the world's five cosmopolis circles around New York, Toronto and Chicago, Tokyo, Paris and Amsterdam, London and Manchester, a "world 6th cosmopolis circle" centering on Shanghai is now being envisaged in China for the 21st century.

In his opening speech at the 14th Shanghai Mayor Int'l Entrepreneurs' Advisory Council on "How to Build a Metropolis" called Monday, Mayor of Shanghai Chen Liangyu told that Shanghai resolves to throw its full weight behind the bid to host Expo 2010 China. Thus, with the ongoing Advisory Council, he said, intensive efforts are being made by Shanghai as part of the work to win it international support for holding the World Expo and explore international advanced experience for the city's development in future.

As learned, the "world 6th cosmopolis circle" will center on Shanghai to group 15 cities including Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Yangzhou, Nantong and Taizhou in south Jiangsu and Hangzhou, Ningbo, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing and Zhoushan in north Zhejiang Province on the Yangtze Delta. Inside the circle, full co-operations would be needed in various aspects as building a regional transport system, going in for comprehensive treatment of ecological environment, setting up a unified inter-city market or an inter-city regional circulating service system and the like.

Sources from Shanghai Development Research Center - municipal think tank tell that quantitative study has been made by municipal authoritative institutions in Shanghai and Beijing only to find gaps exist still holds Shanghai from rising fully to a world advanced metropolitan status.

According to the results of the analysis, if take 100 as the base of world metropolises' comprehensive appraisal, Shanghai is presently at a 30-percent level against the comprehensive index of high-level world cities, and 60 percent of those at a primary stage.

Compared with primary-staged world cities, Shanghai still has a relatively long way to go. Firstly, foreign economic exchange and investment call for an urgent enlargement. Being a metropolis at primary stage by its import-export turnover, foreign exchange and foreign direct investment, it still needs to win more shares of brand products in domestic market and foreign investment, with an eye to enhancing its level and status in the network system of global cities.

Secondly, functions of the software for economic development remain to be augmented. The world does witness that Shanghai is approaching standards with regard to economic power and service infrastructures. Nonetheless, the city does not match the strength for international competition in respect of some software indexes, including governmental functions, financial and information services, capability of research and development (R&D), as well as talents training.

And lastly, the city's living standards see a need for further improvement. The analysis shows there is a big gap between Shanghai and standards of world cities in aspects of income level, life consumption, construction of eco-environment, attraction of tourism and hotel to foreigners, global cultural programs, and ability to communicate with foreigners, etc.

By PD Online Staff Zhu Lizhen

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