Your Image Here: Why Shanghai?

Shanghai is located in the Yangtze River Delta, along the eastern coast of China.

This advantageous location has allowed for increased trade, resulting in Shanghai’s elevation to one of the world’s leading commercial cities. This up and coming financial district is predicted to soon join the likes of New York City and London as global powers, boosted by both foreign and domestic trade.

Shanghai’s cosmopolitan character is evident in the towering skyscrapers, in particular the Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC). Situated in what is known as the Pudong district of the city, the SWFC is a distinctive and central addition to the skyline of the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone, which is also home to the Shanghai Stock Exchange among other important financial institutions.

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A project by Mori Building, the SWFC, 101 floors and 492 meters high, boasts state-of-the-art facilities accommodating organizations within the industries of hospitality, arts and culture, retail and urban living in addition to its primary organizations of the financial trade.[1] This all-encompassing space of the most advanced concepts concepts in modern urban living and design provides an ideal locale, if not the most extreme, through which to showcase the rapidly growing prosperity among the wealthiest members of the Chinese population.

Chinese urban population is increasing exponentially, and the gap between urban and rural populations was reduced to 8.64% by 2008. [2]

Based on these statistics, we can expect the urban population to soon exceed rural numbers. Though these numbers are indeed impressive, Shanghai’s numbers are even more staggering.
In the municipality’s early years, the population was less than 100,000. By 1949, that number had climbed to 5.2 million and reached 13.681 million,
approximately 1% of China’s total population, by the end of 2006.[3] According to the statistics presented here, Shanghai is already experiencing rapid growth, presenting social and economic strains on the urban environment.[4]
Though occupying only 0.06% of China’s total landmass and a mere 1% of its population, Shanghai contributes significantly to the national income.
In 2008, the earnings of Shanghai’s urban employment force alone accounted for 5% of the national gross domestic product.[5]
As a reflection of government employment initiatives, urban employment is steadily increasing, up 14% since 2004.
Conversely, rural employment has declined 3%.[6]

These numbers are in part explained by the urbanization of once rural areas. According to chinadaily.org, half a million farmers in the Shanghai municipality have been displaced due to urbanization within the last few years.[7] This displacement has resulted in an increased population shift of rural workers in search of employment to urban areas.

Job placement policies have aided migrant workers’ search for employment in the city center. By the close of 2008, 8.96 million residents were employed in Shanghai, with 6.822 million residing in urban areas.[7]
A factor for additional consideration, however, is the rising number of unemployed residents of urban areas.
Due to the above statistics and in consideration of effects associated with urbanization, Shanghai is a prime candidate for the launch of Your Image Here.

[1] Shanghai World Financial Center website, http://swfc-shanghai.com/en/
[2] National Bureau of Statistics of China, China Statistical Yearbook, 2009.