Shanghai's Booming Pudong Adds A Shangri-La
<B> Shanghai's Booming Pudong Adds A Shangri-La</B>
By Julie Jacobs
<I>Shanghai</I> - The opening of the Shangri-La Hotel Pudong on August 27 will play nicely into China's plan to restore the city to the position of the country's leading international commercial and financial center that it held earlier this century.
The Shangri-La is located along the banks of the Huangpu River, on the edge of Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone. Each of its 621 rooms includes a full-sized executive desk and data ports for fax and computer hookups. The Horizon Club has 58 rooms and its own business center, private meeting rooms and complimentary continental breakfast, afternoon tea and evening cocktails and hors d'oeuvres.
Among meeting facilities at the Shangri-La are a ballroom that can accommodate up to 1200 for banquets and 10 smaller meeting rooms.
The hotel is expected to cater to the influx of business travelers in this booming part of the city. During the 1920s and 1930s, when foreign companies set up shop in Shanghai, the city was one of the world's most cosmopolitan, with hotels, restaurants, shops and businesses that made it the "Paris of the East." Now it appears to be on its way to being so once again, thanks to the massive development underway in the city, and the scores of multinational firms--SmithKline Beecham, Sony, Nike and General Motors Corp. among them--vying to do business in Pudong, Shanghai's new commercial center.
The Chinese government officially opened the Pudong New Area in 1990, with the goal of reestablishing Shanghai as the trade and finance center of China.
Shanghai did indeed need an upgrade--its streets were narrow, commercial buildings old and factories outdated. Since the early 90s, development has focused on four zoned areas of the city: The Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, the Jinqiao Export Processing Zone, the Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park and the Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone.
Of these, Lujiazui, where the Shangri-La is located, is perhaps the most impressive. More than 140 high-rises are under construction, including headquarter buildings for 18 multinational companies. The new Shanghai Stock Exchange opened in Lujiazui late last year, and the 94-story World Financial Center is scheduled to be ready for business by the end of 2001.