Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2017 | Page 66

Building a Metropolis
Sha Tin College, Chan, Yi Lin Elin - 16
A
s the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. Building a successful and powerful city is not an easy task.
Some of the most renowned cities in the world have endured a long history of hardship and difficulties
before finally finding their foothold as a revered metropolis, just as New York is the city that never sleeps, Paris is
the city of love, and Hong Kong is the city that never stops rushing. As history will tell, building a prosperous and
long lasting city requires lots of different parts working as a whole, like a well oiled machine. Shanghai, the Paris
of the East! Shanghai, the New York of the West! Shanghai, the most cosmopolitan city in the world, the fishing
village on a mudflat that literally became a great metropolis overnight.
How is the metropolitan city evolving? Shanghai was merely a small fishing village up until 1842, after the first
opium war when the British named Shanghai as one of the treaty ports that would be open to foreign trade.
Under the administration of the British, French and American, Shanghai ceased to be the small fishing village it
used to be and assumed its place as the leading business city in Asia with the best art, architecture and lifestyle for
the rich. Despite the exploitation of lower-class Chinese for cheap labor, migrants from other parts of China
were still attracted to the city. However, the glory days of Shanghai did not last long; the city weathered raids,
invasions and the occupation of the Japanese in the 1930s and ‘40s. When World War II was at its height in 1943,
most foreigners had fled the city, ending 101 years of Shanghai’s history as a treaty port. After WW2, fighting in
China worsened during China’s three-year civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists. With the
war ending in the Communist's’ victory, the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) was established. Most, if not
any, remaining foreigners or middle to upper class Chinese businessmen fled the country.
As the Communist party took over, Shanghai’s exotic lifestyle fell into a deep slumber. Despite extreme famine
and drought, reform and suppression, Shanghai remained the largest contributor of tax revenue to the central
government in the decades that followed. Finally, in 1992, the 14th Party Congress endorsed the concept of a
socialist market economy, reviving the economy, beauty and charm of Shanghai. Once again, Shanghai was
redefined by the internationalism it had first achieved a century ago. Shanghai’s power was so recognizable that in
1990, Deng Xiaoping – China’s leader at the time – chose Shanghai to rival Hong Kong by 2010. The Shanghai
World Expo in 2010 elevated the city onto the global stage again.
Today, with a population of 24 million as of 2015, Shanghai represents only 1.8% of the total population in China
and 0.07% of the nation’s land area. Yet, Shanghai contributes to 3.7% of the nation’s GDP, one-fifth of the
country’s port cargo handling volume and one-eighth of national financial revenue. It is a global city with
substantial influence in commerce, culture, finance, media, fashion, technology and transport. It is a major
financial center and the busiest container port in the world.
Shanghai is an international financial center with Chinese characteristics. Starting from the first public display of
electric lighting on the 26th of July 1882, the Bund has been one of the most noted landmarks of Shanghai. The
Chinese literal translated name for the Bund means the “outer bank”, referring to the Huangpu River, because
this part of the riverfront was located further downstream than the “inner bank” area adjacent to the old walled
city of Shanghai. The Bund is the starting point of Shanghai’s concession as well as Shanghai’s development as a
modern city.
The Bund stretches for one mile along the bank of the Huangpu River, to the west of this stretch of the road
stand 52 buildings of various Western classical and modern styles, most of the buildings were first constructed
before 1930s and have since hardly undergone any changes. Their architectural style is generally considered
Eclecticism, with some buildings predominantly displaying Romanesque Revival, Gothic Revival, Renaissance
Revival, Baroque Revival, Neo Classical or Beauz-Arts styles and Art Deco style. Most of the buildings along No.
1 to 33 of East Zhongshan Road are occupied by banks, with the remaining being commercial buildings housing
national organizations, restaurants, clubs, shops, etc. The old Hong Kong & Shanghai bank building at No. 12 was
once the most potent symbol of British financial might in the Far East. Nowadays, the Bund is not only a tourist
attraction but also the centre of international finance, earning the fame of “Oriental Wall Street”.
The financial district has since extended across the river to Pudong. Along the riverside are modern buildings
including the tallest skyscraper in China - Shanghai Tower, which is 632 m tall with 128 floors. It is cur