Promoting the modern Mersey beat

Home to Europe's oldest Chinese community is working hard to attract international investment

In 19th century, when the first batch of Chinese immigrants arrived in Europe by sea, many headed for Liverpool in northwest England, creating what is still considered the continent's oldest Chinese community.

But nothing has ever been plain sailing for a city that traces its roots back to 1190.

Once referred to as "The Second City of the Empire", and "The New York of Europe", Liverpool's fortunes have been inextricably linked to various industries at different times.

In the days of the British Empire, it built its wealth on the exchange of slaves, cotton and commodities, and later it built its reputation on shipping and trade.

However, the rise of air travel and the advent of shipping containers slashed its once mighty maritime workforce in the 1960s.

Its manufacturing industry then failed to compensate for the losses and even its cultural efflorescence led by the Beatles, failed to bring back its glory days of empire.

Toward the end of the last century, the city then had to deal with a growing reputation for mass unemployment and militancy, but it never gave up its quest to reinvent itself.

Tourism was given a significant boost in 2008, after it enjoyed a year as the European Capital of Culture, which brought a tasteful regeneration of its city center, including its famous Victorian-built Albert Dock, which now bustles with slick bars and restaurants.

Its economic transformation and regeneration goes on today.

Despite losing some 2,200 city center jobs in 2012, the largest fall of any core cities in the UK, it has sought to rekindle its historic international past by attracting more overseas investment, particularly from China.

Since the start of last month, its inward investment arm, Liverpool Vision, has been hosting Britain's biggest-ever business fair, the Liverpool Festival for Business.

Organizers say the seven-week event is expected to attract 250,000 visitors from across the world to hundreds of events in and around the city, and bring 100 million pounds ($170 million; 127 million euros) worth of new investment.

Joe Anderson, the former leader of the city council who recently became its first directly elected mayor, says the festival's Focus on China week, from June 30 to July 4, was a perfect opportunity "to share ideas, thoughts and investments with China".

"It was a way for Chinese investors and Chinese businesses to connect with European and British partners."

Its ties with China are strong.

Liverpool twinned itself with another port city, Shanghai, in 1999, and took a pavilion at the World Expo in 2010, and Liverpool Vision now has an office there.

"I have talked to companies that operate the port of Shanghai, and we have talked about the opportunity of sharing ideas on port logistics," says Anderson.

"We want to encourage companies from key Chinese sectors such as financial services and bio-sciences to look at the opportunities that Liverpool offers, and the level of expertise we have here."

There are also opportunities for the two cities in infrastructure cooperation, he says.

In March, he and Lindsey Ashworth, the development director of Manchester-based infrastructure, transport and real estate investment firm Peel Holdings, met representatives of Beijing Construction Company to discuss a landmark project.

In September last year, Peel was granted planning permission by Liverpool officials to build the tallest structure outside London, the proposed Shanghai Tower - a 55-story skyscraper on the Mersey River waterfront, which will be the centerpiece of a 5.5 billion pound redevelopment of the area, including 9,000 homes.

"China is looking to internationalize its investments, so it was a great opportunity for the Beijing company to invest in infrastructure within Liverpool," Anderson says.

Peel officials say the name of the skyscraper reflects not only the city being home to so many Chinese, with many of the first immigrants being sailors from Shanghai, but the strong relationship between the two being cemented by the twinning of the cities.

"Shanghai Tower is among 88 building plots across the Liverpool Waters masterplan, a scheme that will convert the waterfront into a world-class destination, creating opportunities for investors, developers, business tenants and homebuyers from around the world, including China," says Vincent Chen, Peel's marketing manager.

"We are now at the preliminary stage of marketing the plots, including Shanghai Tower, to a global target audience."

Those at the Festival for Business, were united in their opinion that Liverpool as a city is most certainly a strong investment location for Chinese.

Jim O'Neill, the British economist and former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management who famously first coined the acronym BRIC that refers to the countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, says the hosting of the Liverpool Festival for Business is a sign of the city's economic rejuvenation.

O'Neill heads the new independent City Growth Commission, which is investigating how England's northern cities can become engines for growth, ensuring all regions are part of the UK's economic recovery.

"It's important, as with a number of areas of government policy, to walk the walk, as well as talk the talk, and with my commission hat on, it is important to try to showcase what other urban areas in the country can do," he says.

O'Neill says northern locations such as Liverpool must have more economic ambition to rival London and adopt new ways of thinking.

He adds the idea of bringing together cities with distinct identities and fierce pride is ambitious and concedes there could be countless barriers, not least how such a combination would be administered, but says it's more about trying to stimulate bold ideas and different ways of thinking.

"Look at Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds. If all of that urban area could behave as one consumer or producer, then you're dealing with something that is vaguely approaching the size of a London."

Liverpool-based Brock Carmichael Architects was one of 10 British firms to showcase their work in some Chinese cities like Beijing and Chengdu, as part of a trade delegation led by the British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Michael Crosser, a partner at the firm, says: "We really enjoy collaborating because that's how the British and European models most appeal to the Chinese: many people, different partners with different expertise coming together."

Zhang Lihong, senior lecturer at Liverpool Business School at Liverpool John Moores University, echoes O'Neill's views on regional cooperation.

"Liverpool is good at heritage protection, R&D and the creative industry, for instance, and China can learn from that, and cooperate with the city," he says.

"It should attract more investment from China, but not only from big cities like Beijing or Shanghai."

Peter Budd, a global aviation business leader with Arup, the firm of designers, planners, engineers, consultants and technical specialists, says Liverpool and China enjoy strong institutional links too.

He appreciates the fact that the University of Liverpool has established a joint campus with Xi'an Jiaotong University in Suzhou, Jiangsu province.

"I am hugely impressed by the level of collaboration being carried out between Chinese and British students," Budd says.

"This is an area we need to focus on more. It's not just about the initial interaction of students, it's actually about long-term understanding and commitment."

City officials are now well into organizing the 2016 Liverpool Festival for Business.

"I really hope that Chinese involvement in that event is even greater than it is this year," Budd says.

Zhou Heran contributed to this story.

zhangchunyan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 07/25/2014 page19)