FUTURE

Traditional low-rise housing has been demolished to make way for a highway in the Pudong development project, on the opposite side of the Huangpu River from old Shanghai. This is Shanghai's new financial district, built on what was still farming land 10 years ago. Shanghai's officials call this area "China's Wall Street", and bizarrely refer to the main thoroughfare as the "Champs Elysees". There is even a Times Square here. The only problem with this capitalist rebirth is that many of the skyscrapers are still 60 per cent empty, the ambitious forecasts for office demand thwarted by the Asian financial crisis. It has also been tough for former Pudong residents who had no say, and no place, in the development plans. In the neighborhood shown demolished, homeowners stood their ground for several months, refusing to relocate even when the demolition teams moved in. In the end, the government dispatched everyone to alternative housing in the suburbs.

Shanghai's cityscape of new high-rises, villas, malls and department stores with neon symbolizes an international economic, financial and trading center. However, given that so many of those establishments are struggling to find tenants and shoppers, they also symbolize some of the problems with Shanghai's resurgence. Shanghai is not yet as modern and prosperous as it looks. The rush of beautification activity that Shanghai underwent in the mid 90s highlighted the somewhat deceptive nature of her progress. Gray, filthy pre-1949 houses that hadn't seen a paintbrush for years suddenly received a fresh coat of ivory, seafoam, or salmon paint. A small park on the corner of Yanan and Jiangsu roads appeared almost overnight. Trees and shrubs moved in, grassy knolls popped up. The sudden concern aesthetics was welcome, making her a brighter, more prosperous-looking place.

But I was intrigued by the abruptness of the makeover and the fact that the city was suddenly spending so much on beautification. Someone told me straight up that the country was hosting a major forum and hence the showcase of the country's economic reform efforts, was developing. Given the sums and effort spent on the facelift, I was saddened to watch the city tear down many of the newly painted houses along Yanan Road a year later to make room for a freeway. The paint job around the city, was only skin deep: workmen only painted the front side of the buildings abutting the road. Their out-of-side views as well as the homes in the second rows or further, remained their same drab gray.

Thinking about the the locals comments, it is not hard for me to visualize a not-to-distant future when Pudong will have the "software" that everyone mentioned. But to me, this idea of software is actually hardware. It takes more than tangible objects to build an international economic, financial, and trading center. Nevertheless, her success also fueled the city's rivalry with Hong Kong. Many of Shanghai's elite fled to Hong Kong following the communist takeover, using their textile, shipping, and financial expertise to help make Hong Kong Asia's premier international business center in the second half of the 20th century. Shanghainese see their city's return to the top of Asia's Hierarchy as their destiny.

May be some day. But at the start of the 20th century, it still has a long way to go to match the software that makes the former British colony an international financial hub for Asia.