ABSTRACT
In the 1930s Shanghai was the largest and richest city in Asia, and it held a unique position as the region's financial center. In 1935 there were 164 banks in China; fifty-eight had their head offices in Shanghai. Shanghai provided a long-term capital market through a stock exchange and a short-term money market through bills as well as short-term interbank money markets. From 1980 to 1990, Shanghai's growth rate lagged behind the national average by a total of 17.2 points. It can be said that Shanghai began to reclaim its role as China's economic, trading, and financial center in 1990. In 1990 Shanghai finally received the approval—and financial support—of Beijing to develop Pudong as a special economic zone and a manufacturing, trading, and financial center. Shanghai is home to the national interbank funds market, the interbank foreign exchange trading system, and boasted a variety of national commodities exchanges.
