Postcard from Shanghai

When China's former paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, initiated the economic reforms in 1978, he did not immediately grant Shanghai the status of "special economic zone" (SEZ). But when that designation finally came in 1990, Deng wanted to revive Shanghai's former importance; after all, before the Communist Party took power in 1949, Shanghai used to be one of the most vibrant financial capitals in the world. On the eastern side of the Huangpu River, a place known as Pudong, modern skyscrapers went up one after the other, directly facing the old colonial buildings on the western side that used to be the city's old international business zone.

Please check back later for a piece on urban development issues in Shanghai.