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Shanghai Nights Part 2 - Shanghai, Economic Powerhouse


The last time I visited Shanghai was some 20 years ago, when all the shopping you did as a tourist was in the state-run Youyi Shangdian (Friendship Store) and at small vendors' stalls at touristy sites. In those days, tourists and locals used different forms of the currency. There's nothing like that today, of course. Shanghai today boasts of huge shopping complexes, not unlike the ones you might find in, say, Seoul, Tokyo or Bangkok.

Here is the inside of a huge supermarket (sweets section):


Sure, shopping centres are not everything, but they do show how much a city has grown economically. Buying power and manufacturing power have rocketed and, as before, China is more or less self-sufficient. The rate of growth has been phenomenal, and that is something complacent Singaporeans should worry about, whether they want to admit that China is a threat to our economy or not. After all, Shanghai has already overtaken Singapore as the largest port in the world.

Shanghai, of course, has a headstart in China because it has been more cosmopolitan than other Chinese cities for a long time. Nevertheless, modernisation and development can also be seen elsewhere in other main cities. I think there are still many Singaporeans who continue to think of rising (or should I say risen) economies as less developed backwaters but they had better think twice. They are as globalised as Singapore, and possibly hungrier for success. You will find all the usual suspects here -- MacDonald's, Citibank, Roche, even Volkswagen which makes cars in China for the local market.

Korea is in Shanghai:


So is Singapore (CapitaLand):

Even Santa is here, at Starbucks:


Whatever 'public amenities' you are looking for you can probably find in Shanghai -- modern toilets (with doors!), eating places (western, Asian, what have you), convenient public transport, five-star hotels, etc... One thing that struck me about the toilets was that almost every time I went into one in a shopping centre, there was someone mopping or cleaning. How many times in our developed Singapore have we wondered when someone was going to clean the toilet? (more about toilets in my next installment) Well, that speaks of yet another economic advantage China has over us -- cheap and abundant labour.

Public transport is great, although one may complain about the quality of the transport. The fact remains, though, that China has been very well-connected internally for a long time and now, of course, internationally too.

A very impressive example of the advancement in transportation in China is the Maglev train to Pudong airport. This is supposedly the fastest train in the world, even faster than the Shinkansen (bullet train). The Shinkansen travels up to 300 km/h and the Shanghai Maglev's maximum speed -- 431 km/h.

With or without Maglev (from Germany) technology, China is certainly capable of doing well, with its large talent pool and huge amount of self belief and confidence. After all, these were the people who famously invented gunpowder, paper, the compass, the clock, chopsticks, etc.

Where, in the whole picture, does Singapore stand?

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