Shanghai underwent a historic transformation on May 27, 1949, when it was liberated by the People's Liberation Army of the Communist Party of China from the Kuomingtang rule. In the past five decades, fundamental changes have taken place in this once semi-feudal and semi-colonial city. Particularly, since China adopted the reform and opening policy in 1978, Shanghai has witnessed marked progresses in its social and economic development. Today, Shanghai is the largest economic and transportation center in China. It also enjoys a reputation as a famed historical city in the country. Now, the city is striving to turn itself into one of the economic, financial, trade and international shipping centers in the world.

History

Shanghai is called in Chinese "Hu" for short and "Shen" as a nickname. About 6,000 years ago, the western part of today's Shanghai dried up into land and its eastern part became a piece of land about 2,000 years ago. During the Spring-Autumn and Warring States Periods (770-221 BC), this area was once the feoff of Huang Xie, the Chun Shen Governor of the State of Chu. So, "Shen" comes from the title of the governor. During the Jin Dynasty (4th-5th centuries), fishermen living along the Songjiang River (today's Suzhou Creek) and the coast of the East China Sea created a fishing tool called "Hu." By combining the name of the fishing tool and the then term for estuary of big rivers, they coined a Chinese character "Hu" to name the place as it sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the longest river in China.
Shanghai began as Huating County, an administrative district established in 751 AD. The county, located in an area known today as Songjiang District, had its boundary reaching today's Hongkou District in the north, Xiasha in the east and the coast in the south. In 991 AD, Shanghai Town was set up in the county. During the 1260-1274 period, the town evolved into an important trading port and in 1292, the then central government approved the establishment of Shanghai County in this area, which has been widely deemed as the official beginning of the city of Shanghai.
In the 16th century (or the middle period of the Ming Dynasty), Shanghai became the national center of textile handicraft industry. In 1685, Shanghai set up its first customs office. By that time, Shanghai was already a city with a population of 200,000 people. After the Opium War in the mid-19th century, Shanghai served as a major trading port and gateway to inland China. With invasion of the big powers from across the world, Shanghai was then turned into a semi-feudal and semi-colonial city.

Area

The city covered an area of only 636.18 square kilometers in 1949. By the year 1958, after Shanghai took over 10 counties from Jiangsu Province -- including Jiading, Baoshan, Shanghai, Songjiang, Jinshan, Chuansha, Nanhui, Fengxian, Qingpu and Chongming, the area under the city's jurisdiction expanded to 5,910 square kilometers. The city had a total area of 6,340.5 square kilometers at the end of 2000, 0.06% of China's total territory. The city extends about 120 kilometers in north and south and nearly 100 kilometers in east and west. Shanghai has an urban area of 3,924.24 square kilometers and rural area of 2,416.26 square kilometers. Its land area covers 6,219 square kilometers and water area runs 122 square kilometers. The city's Chongming Island is the third largest island in China, covering an area of 1,041 square kilometers

Topographic Features

Except for a few hills lying in the southwest corner, most parts of the Shanghai area are flat and belong to the alluvial plain of the Yangtze River Delta. The average sea level elevation is about four meters.

Location

Shanghai is situated at 31'14' north latitude and 121'29' east longitude. Bordering on Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces on the west, Shanghai is washed by the East China Sea on the east and Hangzhou Bay on the south. North of the city, the Yangtze River pours into the East China Sea. It also assumes the central location along China's coastal line. Thanks to its advantageous geographic location, Shanghai has today become an excellent sea and river port, boasting easy accesses to a vast hinterland.

Climate

With a pleasant northern subtropical maritime monsoon climate, Shanghai enjoys four distinct seasons, generous sunshine and abundant rainfall every year. Its spring and autumn are relatively short comparing with the summer and winter. In 2000, the average annual temperature was 17.6 degrees Celsius. The city had a frost-free period of 300 days a year, and received an average annual rainfall of 1,302 millimeters. However, nearly 50% of the precipitation came during the May-September flood season, which is divided into three rainy periods, namely, the Spring Rains, the Plum Rains and the Autumn Rains.

Monthly Average Temperature and Precipitation in 2000

Monthly Average Temperature (C)
Monthly Average Precipitation (mm)
January 5.4 109.9
February 4.9 57.7
March 11.3 108.0
April 16.6 55.0
May 21.7 116.2
June 25.3 155.4
July 29.5 132.1
August 28.5 163.8
September 24.6 109.2
October 20.1 152.7
November 13.2 124.0
December 9.4 17.9

Population

Before Shanghai was liberated in 1949, the city had a population of only 5.2 million. By the end of 2000, Shanghai's population had grown to 13.2163 million (according to the permanent residence registration), representing 1% of China's total. The figure was 2.5 times of that registered before 1949. In 2000, the average population density in the city stood at 2,084 people per square kilometer, but the figure was 2,897 in the urban area. By the end of the year, the city had a total population of 17 million (including the floating population).

Natural Changes in Population

Shanghai is the first area in China to report a negative population growth rate. The city first registered a negative population growth rate in 1993. The city's natural population growth rate was -1.9 per thousand in 2000, with the birth rate reaching 5.3 per thousand and mortality rate 7.2 per thousand.

Employment

By the end of 2000, Shanghai employed 7.4524 million people. Of the total, 26.7% were hired by the state enterprises and institutions; 4.2% were employed by collectively-owned units; 7.8% worked in private businesses and 27.1% found jobs in firms of other economic sectors. A total of 34.2% people were employed in the rural areas. In 2000, 427,800 people found jobs in the city's urban area. By the end of 2000, the number of the unemployed reached 200,080 in the urban area, representing a registered unemployment rate of 3.5%.

Administrative Divisions

After several times of administration readjustment since 1949, Shanghai is now divided into 19 districts and one county. There are 171 towns, 3 townships, 93 subdistrict committees, 3,30 neighborhood committees and 2,771 villagers' committees in the city. Area Map of Districts and Counties of Shanghai (2001)

Water Resources

Dotted with many rivers and lakes, the Shanghai area is known for its rich water resources, with the water area accounting for 11% of its total territory. Most of the rivers are tributaries of the Huangpu River. Originated from the Taihu Lake, the 113-kilometer-long Huangpu River winds through the downtown area of the city. The river is about 300 to 770 meters wide with an average width standing at 360 meters. The ice-free Huangpu River is the main waterway in the Shanghai area.

Economic Structure

IWhile trying to maintain a high GDP growth rate, Shanghai has adhered to the policy of "giving top priority to development of the tertiary industry, actively restructuring the secondary industry and steadily improving the performance of the primary industry." As a result, the city has made salient progresses in the strategic restructuring of the local industries and has reported rapid development of its tertiary industry and continuous optimization of the industrial structure. In 1998, the output value of the city's tertiary industry reached 176.25 billion yuan, 8.4 times over that of 1978 according to the comparable prices. During the 1979-1998 period, the tertiary industry grew at an average yearly rate of 11.9%, 2.4 percentage points higher than the annual GDP growth rate. The tertiary industry accounted for 47.8% of the city's GDP in 1998, comparing with 18.6% in 1978. So, in the new situation, the secondary industry and the tertiary industry have become two equally important driving forces behind the city's economic growth.

Internal Structure of the Tertiary Industry

The tertiary industry has accelerated the development of some key sectors such as the finance and insurance, commodity circulation, transportation, post, telecommunications and real estate. In 1998, the output value of the wholesale, retail sales and catering trade sector made up 23.6% of the tertiary industry's total, up 2.1 percentage points from 21.5% in 1990. The proportion of the financial sector reached 29.1%, down 0.4 percentage point from 29.5% in 1990. Also, the proportion of the transportation, storage, post and telecommunications sector nose-dived 11.2 percentage points from 25.9% in 1990. The real estate is a fledging sector which has been growing rapidly in the past few years. Its proportion in the tertiary industry jumped from 1.6% in 1990 to 10.5% in 1998, up 8.9 percentage points.

Employment Structure

The number of labourers employed in different economic sectors has changed. More rural labourers have switched to the secondary and tertiary industries. The labourers working in the agricultural sector made up 12.4% of the city's total labour force in 1998, down from 34.4% in 1978. Meanwhile, the figure with the tertiary industry rose from 21.6% in 1978 to 41.5% in 1998, up 19.9 percentage points. The sharp downsizing of labour force in the city's agricultural sector can be attributed mainly to the rapid improvement in the rural labour productivity brought about by the introduction of an output-related system of contracted responsibilities. The surplus rural labourers have gradually been absorbed by the booming township enterprises.

Investment Structure

Since the beginning of the Seventh Five-Year Plan (1986-1990), Shanghai has strictly controlled the overall investment in the fixed assets; readjusted, in a planned way, the proportions of investment in the fixed assets of different sectors; and increased investment in high and new technology projects, urban infrastructure projects and the tertiary industry. During the Seventh Five-Year Plan period, the ratio of investment in the capital construction of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries stood at 2.0:58.5:39.5 and it shifted to 1.2:38.8:60.0 in the Eighth Five-Year Plan period. In 1998, the ratio stood at 0.1:31.3:68.6. The investment restructuring has proved to be instrumental in optimizing the city's industrial structure.

Ownership Structure

Since the city adopted the economic reform policy, Shanghai's private and foreign-funded economic sectors have expanded quickly while the public ownership retaining its dominance in the local economy. The structure of ownership has diversified and a new pattern where the public-owned economic sector keeps its dominant position and various other sectors are thriving in coexistence has gradually taken shape. In 1998, the increased value generated by the public-owned sector reached 283.782 billion yuan, or 76.9% of the city's GDP. The figures with the non-public-owned sectors stood at 85.038 billion yuan, or 23.1% of the city's GDP. Proportionally, the public-owned sector contributed 61% to the city's economic growth, including 44.9% from the state-owned sector and 16.1% from the collectively-owned sector. From 1980 to 1998, the proportion of the state-owned sector in the city's total industrial output value dropped from 87.2% to 25.7%, the figure of the collectively-owned sector climbed from 11.6% to 18.9%, and that of co-operative operation, private and foreign-funded sectors skyrocketed from 1.1% to 55.4%. Of the city's total retail sales of consumer goods, the proportion of the state-owned economic sector declined from 63.9% to 40.2%, the proportion of the collectively-owned sector edged down from 34.8% to 28.3%, but the figure of the private sector grew from 0.3% to 6.2%.

Industrial Distribution

Along with the progress of the economic reform, Shanghai has enhances its efforts in readjusting the city's industrial distribution and urban planning. The city has already mapped out an industrial distribution and urban planning programme covering an area of 6,340 square kilometres. The multi-layer layout consists of central business district (CBD), central commercial district (CCD), Inner-Ring Road area, Outer-Ring Road area and suburban counties. The city had set up nine city-level industrial zones in suburban counties and districts. Such efforts have facilitated industrial redistribution in the urban area. Meanwhile, the city has quickened the pace in renovating the old city areas and has relocated thousands of local households in order to make way for construction of the central business district, the city-level sub-districts, the specialized sub-districts, the main shopping streets and the commercial districts.

Enterprise Restructuring

In recent years, Shanghai has made great efforts in setting up the framework of a modern enterprise system, diversifying the forms for realizing the public ownership, and pushing ahead the enterprise reform and operation mechanism upgrading. By the end of 1998, the city had 308 joint stock companies limited (including 122 listed companies), 36,000 companies with limited liability and 13,000 cooperative joint stock companies. Forty companies at the city level were authorized to engage in investment and management of state assets on a trial basis. The state assets under authorized management made up more than 90.5% of the city's total operational state assets.