S P E C I A L Hong Kong Handover Shanghai looks to follow in Hong Kong's footsteps
June 23, 1997
Web posted at: 8:45 p.m. EDTFrom Correspondent Andrea Koppel
SHANGHAI, China (CNN) -- In the years before China's Communist revolution in 1949, Shanghai was one of the premier cities of Asia. But over the following decades, tables turned and it was Hong Kong, not Shanghai, that surged ahead as a world-class commercial center.
With an eye on the phenomenal success of Hong Kong, Shanghai has been trying to remake itself in recent years as a Hong Kong wannabe, with a vibrant port, an active stock exchange, cheap labor and a booming local economy.
Now, with the July 1 handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China just around the corner, one question on the minds of many in Shanghai and abroad is how these two cities will interact in the future. Will they be collaborators or competitors?
"Hong Kong and Shanghai will be China's most economically important cities," predicts Zhao Qizheng, the vice mayor of Shanghai. "It's like two street lights at different ends of a road, each in charge of its own area. If both are lit, then the road is very easy to travel."
"The [people of Shanghai] certainly have it in their minds that they would like to regain that relative position between Shanghai and Hong Kong," says John Crossman of the firm Jardine Fleming Shanghai.
Since 1990, the local government in Shanghai and China's central government have both been pumping money into a special economic zone in east Shanghai. They've been encouraging banks and businesses to move to the city in the hopes that it will become, like Hong Kong, a regional hub of international finance.
Shanghai's infrastructure is among the best in China. That, in turn, is attracting more and more overseas investment -- the bulk of which, in a bit of irony, is coming from and through Hong Kong.
"We inject more time and money into Shanghai," said Stephen Yuen, a Hong Kong businessman. "We expect that the return will be better. We see the future of Shanghai looking much brighter than other cities in China."
Brighter, perhaps, but analysts say Shanghai won't eclipse Hong Kong anytime soon. For now, Shanghai's greatest assets -- its cheap labor, cheap land and lower cost of living -- are not enough to challenge Hong Kong's strengths.
"Shanghai is a very heavy industrial city that in about five to 10 years they're going to have to convert to a transport city, a service city," says Crossman. "If they can do that, then this place will take off."
- Message Board: Hong Kong transfer
- Newsmaker Profile:Jiang Zemin - Chinese President
- Newsmaker Profile:Tung Chee-hwa - Hong Kong Chief Executive Appointee
- Video Almanac: 1984 - Hong Kong transfer agreement
Related Stories
- PLA troops to enter Hong Kong 3 hours early - June 23, 1997
- Protests to be allowed during Hong Kong handover - June 22, 1997
- As handover looms, Hong Kong police ponder future - June 18, 1997
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- Shanghai on the Internet
- Hong Kong 1997 - Official Chinese Site
- Hong Kong 1997 and Beyond - What the Future Holds
Sound off on our message boards
Tell us what you think!
You said it...
© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.