Shanghai

I had not visited Shanghai for some years and was glad to be back.  The energy is palpable, not only in the physical transformation  but also in the economic and cultural life.

I first visited Shanghai with my young wife in 1986.  In 1993, I made my first official visit as Minister for Info and the Arts, and got to know Gong Xueping, at that time the Head of Shanghai TV.  He was a bundle of energy and briefed me about his plan for the Shanghai TV Tower which was designed by a Hakka engineer from Meixian.  The following year, he brought me to see the massive foundation being laid, liquid concrete poured continuously into the ground for a few days.  When I met him again two years later, he hosted me and my wife to dinner at the Peace Hotel on the Bund, in a room where the window framed the  beautifully-lit  tower.  In the two hours we had dinner, the colours must have changed maybe ten times.

 

It was only later that  I realized that he asked for the colour to be changed so frequently for my benefit.  Mr Gong had wide responsibilities, becoming Vice Mayor, then Chairman of the Municipal People's Congress and now Member of National People's Congress Standing Committee.  Over the years, he brought me to see many new projects including the Museum, the Concert Hall, the Library, the Conservatory, the Education Park, the Convention Centre.  This time, he hosted me at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts in Songjiang, which was established only 5 years ago with privately raised funds.

In this century, Shanghai will become one of the world's greatest cities. Since the early 90's, China's leaders, especially Shanghai's leaders, had this sense of the city's destiny and planned the city's future with that in mind.   When I viewed the city from the viewing deck of the Shanghai World Financial Centre  on the 100th floor, my mind went back to 1993 when Pudong was still only a plan.  Those who anticipated the development that would ensue prospered like Singapore businessman Wu Xueguang who bid for the Shanghai Aquarium land in 1996.

George Yeo