The Pudong New Area is a symbol of China's reform and opening-up.
2010-4-17
By Wang Jie and Yao Minji
TWENTY years ago tomorrow, China proclaimed the development and opening-up of Shanghai's Pudong, then vast stretches of farmland and villages.
Today, the Pudong New Area is a forest of high-rises, a center of finance and possibilities and the symbol of China's reform and opening-up.
Even Disneyland is coming.
The place where the Yangtze River meets the sea is sometimes called the miniature of modern construction in Shanghai.
On April 18, 1990, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council announced the opening-up of Pudong, today called the Pudong New Area.
In the past two decades, Pudong accelerated its reform and development -- and established a model of seaport industry development by combining international thinking and local characteristics.
The dramatic change of the Pudong New Area can be seen not only in its spectacular appearance and financial industry, but also in the lives of ordinary people.
"Ten years ago, life was not that convenient," she says. "I often envied my colleagues in Puxi who could go shopping so easily, but there were few big shopping malls in Pudong."
-Christine Wu
35, female, white-collar worker
Wu is known as "New Shanghainese," referring to those out-of-towners who have made the city their home.
Born in Hefei, Anhui Province, Wu was drawn to the glamor of Shanghai and decided to go to Shanghai University.
Wu is now pregnant and says she is satisfied with her life.
Today Wu is proud that Pudong is in no way inferior to Puxi in terms of fashion and trendy living.
"I don't have to cross the Huangpu River for something special," she says.
The only thing that troubles her is the rising property price in the Pudong New Area.
"Because of the coming baby, I want to purchase a bigger apartment so my parents can live with us," she says. "But that' really hard to achieve."
Ten years ago, when Lelakul first arrived in Shanghai from Bangkok, she saw only the Oriental Pearl TV Tower and open land. There were no other tall buildings.
Lelakul is assistant vice president at Lotus Supercenter and since 2000 she has lived in the 22-story Haifu Garden community at Yanggao and Lancun roads.
-Rojanee Lelakul
"The changes over the past 10 years have been very dramatic. My apartment building was literally the only one in the area when I first moved in, but you can see all kinds of tall buildings in every corner of the area now," says Lelakul. "It has been changing all the time and suddenly accelerated after 2007."
36, female, corporate executive
Lelakul enjoys the increasingly more convenient life in Pudong with modern facilities -- nice restaurants, tall office buildings, luxurious bars, spas and other venues.
"It has also got cleaner and more organized as it gets close to the upcoming World Expo 2010 Shanghai," she says.
I enjoy my life pretty much thanks to the reform and opening-up of Pudong."
Sun Shengnan,
46, female, civil servant
Sun was born in a small rural village in Pudong. Puxi, on the other side of the Huangpu River, was too far away back then.
"I would be so excited if my parents took me to Puxi," she recalls.
At that time, it took almost half a day to get from Pudong to Puxi.
"I had to walk 20 minutes to the bus station, where there was only one bus that connected with the ferry to Puxi," she says.
The bus took an hour, the ferry took another an hour, and then she took another bus to her destination in Puxi.
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