By: Zhou Hanmin, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination

The 11th Five-Year Plan period will be pivotal for the development of Shanghai into an international metropolis, and it is also a key period for the preparation and hosting of the Expo Shanghai.

Currently, the standards or embodiment of an internationally recognized cosmopolitan cover eight respects. In preparing for the Expo Shanghai, the city will pull out all stops to boost its international competitiveness and status as a cosmopolitan in line with these eight aspects, making strides in its slated evolution into an international metropolis.

1. The Expo Shanghai will propel the growth of Shanghai into an“economic hub”.

For an international metropolis, its GDP should account for a significant proportion in that of the country, the region or even in the world. Currently, Shanghai’s GDP only stands at five percent of the country’s total, and according to estimates from relevant departments, the hosting of the World Expo in 2010 will increase the annual GDP growth of the city by 0.6 percent. In the meantime, the World Expo will also prompt a concerted development of its suburbs and the Yangtze River Delta area, propelling the establishment of an international metropolis area with Shanghai as the“core”of the metropolis in the surrounding 600 square kilometers, the neighboring 6,000-square-meter suburbs as the outside“layers of the metropolis”and the Yangtze River Delta as a“metropolis belt”, making the Yangtze River Delta the largest metropolitan area in Asia and the sixth largest in the world.

2. The Expo Shanghai will spur the growth of Shanghai as a“service-oriented”city

The service sectors of an internationalized metropolis usually account for 70% of the city’s GDP. At present, the development of the financial service sector and the shipping capacity of Shanghai are for the time being better than other cities in Mainland China, with 156 overseas financial institutions establishing presence in the city, but it is still way behind when compared with the number of 380 overseas financial institutions operating in the New York city.

In the run-up to the Expo 2010 Shanghai, the development of the service sector should follow the industrial policy of“Giving priority to the growth of tertiary sector, followed by that of industrial and agricultural sectors”. The city should make great efforts to develop modern service sectors, in particular the finance, trade and commerce, modern logistics, convention and exhibition, and tourism sectors, in a bid to speed the transformation of the development model into a“function-oriented”one from the previous“scale-oriented”one.

3. The Expo Shanghai will promote the development of Shanghai into a city with“habitable”environment.

An international metropolis should also be a city with suitable living and habitable environment. To be a habitable city, it should first of all have comfortable living environment for its residents. The selection of the Expo area has taken into consideration the combination of various factors including industrial reformation, environment protection, the improvement of living conditions and dwelling situations for the residents. Therefore the hosting of the World Expo will further boost the living conditions of the residents in the relevant areas affected by the World Expo. Currently, the area of green space accounts for 30% of the city, realizing the long-cherished dream in having 30% greenery area in the city. In terms of the protection of the urban ecological environment, the city of Shanghai will make full use of the opportunity arising from the hosting of the World Expo to speed up the construction of the surrounding areas of the dwelling blocks and build up an ecological city in line with strict standards. By the year of 2010 when the World Expo is held, the major environmental indices of Shanghai should conform to the international standards, bringing into existence the framework for an ecological city. By the year of 2010, the environment in Shanghai should be in line with peer international cities, basically establishing itself as an ecological city.

4. The Expo Shanghai will help the city to build itself into an“immigrant city”

An international city needs internationally minded talents, and the number of foreigners working in a city has been a key index in gauging the level of internationalization, as it reflects how the city has attracted foreign companies, overseas students and talented people in the global division of labor.

In terms of the proportion of foreigners working in international cities, there are four versions for the best ratio, namely, 5%, 8%, 15% or 20%. Let’s take the lowest ratio of 5 percent as an example; there must be 500,000 foreign residents for a city with 10 million citizens. Shanghai boasts 16 million permanent and temporal residents and 3.8711 million migrant workers, but the number of foreigners living in the city stands only at 500,000.

In the run-up to the World Expo, Shanghai should be more open-minded in attracting quality talents from the world, and run a splendid, successful and memorable Expo by pooling together the wisdoms of the humankind.

5. The Expo Shanghai will spur the development of Shanghai into an innovative city.

The ability to innovate has been an important standard in gauging the international status of a city and of a country. Shanghai has always attached importance to innovation. In the 10th Five-year Plan period, the city put forward the main strategy of“revitalizing Shanghai through science and education”while upholding the innovative spirits of a city. In the period between 2002 and 2004, the R&D investment in comparison with the GDP of Shanghai has been rising steadily, growing to 2.3% in 2004 from 1.89% in 2002.

Innovation is also the soul of the World Expo. In the coming five years, Shanghai will endeavor to improve its ability in self-innovation and in re-innovation after absorbing leading technologies while strengthening its ability in collective innovation and original innovation, which will be a key bedrock in the internal competitiveness of a city.

Innovation does not just mean the possession of exclusive technologies, and the city should move to a leading position via broad international exchanges and cooperation, making itself in possession of the best type of technology.

6. The Expo Shanghai will propel the development of Shanghai into a city of media and information.

A modern international metropolis should be a center of media and information, establishing as much as possible newspapers that are influential domestically and globally, TV programs, publishing houses, academic journals, audio and visual publishing companies, bookstores as well as nurturing the development of a cultural market in line with the overall design of the city.

In its preparations for the Expo Shanghai, the city will spare no efforts in the development of the media industry in order to foster a good cultural environment and transmit information on dramatic changes in the glamorous city of Shanghai as well as the successful, splendid and memorable hosting of the World Expo in the first time, making the World Expo a global pageant that could be shared by peoples from all over the world.

7. The Expo Shanghai will propel the development of Shanghai into a center of civilization.

The embodiment of a center for civilization should be first of all the health of its residents, and secondly it is reflected in the ethic, moral and cultural levels of the citizens. During the Expo Shanghai, overseas visitors will not only tour the splendid pavilions, but also feel directly the ethic standards of local residents as well as the level of civilization for the city.

The significance of a‘center of civilization’should be more reflected in its role as the fountainhead for modern cultures and the center for international cultural exchanges and communications, its famous produce as well as celebrities in various fields. Currently, Shanghai boasts a host of cultural facilities such as the Grand Theater, the Shanghai Museum, the Oriental Arts Center, and the city hosts a number of key events each autumn, including the Shanghai International Arts Festival, ATP Tennis Tournament as well as the China International Sporting Goods Show, which are all the humanistic environment and the bright spots in the lives of local people.

8. Shanghai Should build itself into an ideal place for the“headquarters of international organizations”

An international metropolis is usually the location of headquarters for many international organizations. In the preparations for the Expo Shanghai, the city of Shanghai should not only raise its global awareness and improve its ability in international exchanges, it should also try to attract relevant international organizations to set up their headquarters in Shanghai, thus allowing the city to make more contributions in the settlement of international affairs.

We believe that Shanghai will first of all find its position from the map of international metropolis in the run-up to the Expo Shanghai, and then the city should be determined to make every effort to secure that position by brushing aside the obstacles. Only through these could the city solve the problems, push forward the preparation for the Expo Shanghai, accomplish the targets set in the 11th Five-Year Plan and establish the city as a multifunctional, modernized international metropolis in the Far Eastern Area.