Welcome mat rolled out for foreign VIPs and business leaders

If there is one city in addition to Beijing that has witnessed the largest number of key moments in China's internationalization since 1949, it is Shanghai.

There are historical reasons for this. More than 100 years before the liberation of the city in 1949, the Opium War waged by the British Empire in the 1840s resulted in Shanghai becoming one of the first five trade ports in China to deal with foreign goods during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

The United Kingdom, France and the United States then established concessions in the city, which were later merged into the Shanghai International Settlement, and the city became the business hub and "playground" for foreigners, who enjoyed tremendous privileges.