Shanghai rising as a global financial hub

A couple hug at the Bund, a famous tourist destination, in Shanghai, east China, March 15, 2011. (Xinhua File Photo)

A city's charm usually lies in its history or its being new and different. Shanghai, unlike many other cities, is endowed with both a unique past and dynamic contemporary scene.

Shanghai was known as the "Paris of the East" in the 1920s and 1930s for its beautiful European-style architecture and prevalence of Western fashion and lifestyles. Now it's China's financial hub with countless skyscrapers as well as throngs of bankers and businessmen from around the globe.

A latest released global financial center ranking lists Shanghai as the sixth most competitive financial center in the world, up from the eighth last year.

The city comes after New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore this year, according to the Xinhua-Dow Jones International Financial Centers Development Index (IFCD Index) issued Friday.

The index is based on a comprehensive valuation of 45 international financial centers.

According to a report released with the index, the ranking rise of Shanghai shows "strong growth momentum while displaying stability -- a necessary condition for a mature financial center, which indicates that there were more financial factors flowing into the city in the past year, giving it greater confidence to compete with financial centers of the Europe and the U.S. in the future."

RAPID DEVELOPMENT

Shanghai's stock market, 21 years old, lists 894 companies with a combined market value of more than 18 trillion yuan (2.77 trillion U.S. dollars), the sixth largest in the world. Many mainland companies are waiting to be listed on the market.

However, back in 1990, there were only shares of eight companies traded on the bourse.

On Nov. 18, 1984, Shanghai Feilo Acoustics Co. issued its initial public offering of 10,000 shares, at 50 yuan per share. It was the first of its kind on the Chinese mainland.


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