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Shanghai,
situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta in East China, is China's
largest city by population. Widely regarded as the citadel of China's modern
economy, the city also serves as one of the most important cultural, commercial,
financial, industrial and communications centers of China. Administratively,
Shanghai is a municipality of the People's Republic of China that has province-level
status. Shanghai is also one of the world's busiest ports, and became the
largest cargo port in the world in 2005.
Originally
a sleepy fishing town, Shanghai became China's most important city by the
20th century and was the centre of popular culture, vice, intellectual
discourse and political intrigue during the Republic of China. Shanghai
once became the third largest financial centre in the world, ranking after
New York and London, and the largest commercial city in Far East in the
late 19th century and early 20th century. After the communist takeover
in 1949, Shanghai languished under heavy central government taxation and
much of its bourgeois elements were purged. After the central government
authorized the market-economic redevelopment of Shanghai in 1992, Shanghai
quickly surpassed early-starters Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and has since
led China's economic growth. Shang = on, hai = sea. (City on the sea) Shanghai
is host to Expo 2010 (World Fair) |
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