Shanghai's Important Status
~~~~ Economy ~~~~
Shanghai plays an important role in the nation's social and economic development. In early 1990s, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council made the decision to turn Shanghai into a world economic, financial and trade center as soon as possible and to bring a new round of economic development of the whole Yangtze River area. Shanghai bears the heavy responsibilities to open further to the world and serve the whole nation.
With a population of only 1% and a land area of 0.06% of the nation's total,
Shanghai contributes one twelfth of the nation's total industrial output value,
one sixth of the country's port cargo handling volume, one fourth of the
country's total exports and one eighth of national financial revenue. The city
has also played a leading role in reform and opening programs, industrial
upgrading and science and technology renovation. Shanghai has made great
contribution to the nation's modernization drive.
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Proportions in the Nation
(2000) Unit Nation Shanghai Proportion
(%) GDP billion 8940 455 5.1 Financial
Revenue billion 1338 175 13.1 Consumption
Sales billion 3415 172 5.0 Cargo
Capacity billion
ton 1.28 0.20 15.9 Fixed
Investments billion 3262 187 5.7 Exports
and Imports billion
USD 474 109 23.0 Inventory
Turnover billion
tonกPkilometre 4336 636 14.7 Science
and Technology Achievements of Significance item 30260 1102 3.6 Graduates
and Above thousands
of ppl 949.8 40.9 4.3 |
Since the founding of New China in 1949, especially after China adopted the policy of economic reform and opening to the outside world, Shanghai has witnessed fast and sustained growth in its economy as well as marked increase in its comprehensive economic strength. In 2000, the city's GDP reached 403.496 billion yuan, up 65.3 times over that of 1952 according to the comparable prices. The average annual growth rate hit 9.% during the 1952-2000 period. The figure was an increase of 6.5 times over that of 1978, with an annual growth rate of 9.5%. In early 1990s, the Party Central Committee and the State Council decided to develop Pudong into a special economic zone, pushing the city to the forefront of the reform and opening drive. Shanghai has since firmly grasped this historic opportunity to deepen economic reforms, open the city wider to the outside world, and pursue arduously social and economic progresses. As a result, the city has achieved sustained, fast and sound economic advancement. From 1992 to 2000, Shanghai had registered a double digit annual GDP growth rate for nine consecutive years. In the Ninth Five-Year Plan period (1995-99), the city's GDP witnessed an annual growth rate of 11.4%.
Sustained fast development has markedly increased the city's comprehensive economic strength and constantly jacked up its average per capita GDP. In 1952, the city's average per capita GDP was only 430 yuan. In 1978, it stood at 2,498 yuan and the figure surpassed 10,000 yuan in 1990 and jumped to more than 20,000 yuan in 1996. The year of 1999 saw the figure reaching 30,805 yuan. In 2000, the city's per capita GDP jumped to 34,600, or 4,180 US dollars according to the then exchange rate. The figure, reaching the middle level of the developed countries and regions in the world, was the highest among the cities on China's mainland.
While trying to maintain a high GDP growth rate, Shanghai has adhered to the policy of giving first 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 focusing on finance, trade and information technology. The city's industrial structure has been further optimized. In 2000, the output value of the city's tertiary industry reached 228.26 billion yuan, an increase of 100% over that of 1995 according to the comparable prices. During the Ninth Five-Year Plan period (1995-99), the tertiary industry grew at an average yearly rate of 15.1%, 3.7 percentage points higher than the GDP growth rate during the five-year period. The output value of the tertiary industry for the first time accounted for more than 50% of the city's GDP in 2000, with the ratio of the city's primary industry, second industry and tertiary industry readjusting from 2.5:57.3:40.2 in 1995 to 1.8:48:50.2.