Facing Shanghai's rise with a tale of two cities

Hongkongers feel increasingly pressed over Shanghai's blueprint to be an international financial and shipping metropolis.

Shanghai's commitment to develop into the Chinese mainland's financial center is not new. In the early 1990s, the Shanghai municipal government mapped out a long-term development blueprint, making public its plan to become one of the world's main economic, financial and trade centers by 2010. It has laid out a series of ambitious plans to this end and actively pushed for their implementation.

From May 9-10 last year, the Shanghai government, together with the People's Bank of China, the China Banking of Regulatory Commission and the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, co-sponsored a Lujiazui Forum in the country's eastern economic hub, soliciting worldwide opinion on its bid to become an international financial center. The forum was later confirmed as an annual event.