ABSTRACT
Shanghai has often been a pacemaker in China’s economic development. Over the years, as a major conurbation, it had become a major ‘powerhouse’ of the new People’s Republic of China (PRC), if not the capital and a ‘showcase’ for the Party’s economic achievements. It was a fast-growing centre of industrial activity and a prominent port in China’s industrialization. But it was also part of the statist command-economy and subject to its limitations. Until 2003, 60.5 per cent of employment in Shanghai was still absorbed by state-owned enterprises and collective enterprises, leaving only 39.5 per cent in ‘other’ ownerships (which includes shareholding, foreign-linked and domestic private enterprises), though this is a tremendous increase when compared with the figures in 1990 (see Table 8.1).
