Today's Shanghai | News(1998)

1998---April

There are a great variety of cultural activities in May. '98 Shanghai International Festival of Arts is expected to open at the beginning of the month. There will also be a series of events themed "plaza culture" held respectively at the districts.

Tomorrow is May 1, the International Labor's Day. Local residents will have three days off because of this national holiday.

When visiting Beijing University which is about to hold its centennial anniversary, President Jiang Zemin stressed the important role of education on economic development.

Bagstuffers left a bad impression on local residents. Sheets of advertisements, handed to you by salespersons, are scattered around the streets.

More than 300,000 local residents are expected to take trips to neighboring tourist cities such as Hangzhou and Suzhou during three-day holiday.

During the past two years the city has been sparing no efforts in building the infrastructure for the smooth development of electronic commerce. So far ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) network has been used.

German manufacturers of consumer goods are eager to enter the China market, where people's purchasing power has been increasing in the last several years.

Shanghai will adopt four major measures this year to improve the environment for foreign investors. The top measure is to raise government 's efficiency.

More and more imported fruits are sold in Shanghai. In 1997, 80,000 tons of such fruits were sold, compared to 10,000 tons in 1992.

The China Retail Conference & Exposition '98 is expected to be held in Shanghai from August 23 to 26. The exposition will feature shopping facilities, supermarket food, retail automation facilities and commodity distribution technologies.

The city began to widen Zhaojiabang Road over the last weekend to improve traffic flow from the Hongqiao International Airport to Pudong New Area.

Shanghai's Party Secretary Mr. Huang Ju met with the delegation from Shenzhen on April 23. The leaders of the two prospering cities discussed possibilities of further and closer cooperation.

Shanghai's Woman's Congress is being held. The representatives present at the meeting, most of them managers and leaders of various levels, call on women to make self-improvement so as to achieve better social status.

'98 Shanghai Electronic Commerce Forum was held on April 22. More than 160 experts and officials from home and abroad were present.

Shanghai Railway Bureau will build 14 railways and train stations in East China within five years in an effort to facilitate the region's economic growth.

Flower Exposition China 1998, an international flower and gardening exposition, attracts thousands of visitors when it opened on April 23 at the Shanghai International Exhibition Center. The show will end on April 27.

The State Council issued a ban on pyramid sales on April 21, prohibiting any multi-level direct sales in China. Those companies that have already obtained licenses will have to change their marketing method.

Local farmers earned an average of US$323 per person in the first three months this year, up 8% over the same period last year.

The flag-raising ceremony for the '98 Shanghai International Fashion Culture Festival was held on April 21 at the Shanghai Textile Holding Corp. The annual event is expected to start on May 2.

Price cut and promotion of a new model has spurred the sales of Santana sedans. This month, Shanghai Santana Volkswagen produced 22,200 Santana cars which still can not meet the market demand as 1,000 cars are sold every day.

The city will complete a plan for channeling clean water from Taihu Lake into Suzhou Creek this month. This is part of the effort to wash away the dirty water in the creek.

Shanghai Customs announced new measures to promote Pudong's further development and opening to the outside world. Eight years after its launch, the new area is pushing ahead for accelerated growth.

Local authorities are working out a series of policies to give equal treatment to private enterprises. Shanghai Customs is revising its regulations to simplify the custom declaration procedures for private firms.

During the past five years, 46,000 foreign experts were invited to work in Shanghai and 15, 000 personnel were sent over to receive training in foreign countries, according the Shanghai International Job Exchange Association.

More and more local residents in Shanghai are buying imported everyday-use commodities. Last year, such sales reached US$6 million. And this year's sales are expected to reach US$18 million.

The preparations for the construction of the middle section of Yan'an Elevated Road are under way. More than 5,000 households will be relocated. The project is expected to be completed next October.

'98 Shanghai International Festival of Arts, which will be held from May 2 to May 31, will consist of scores of programs, such as Modern Drama, Peking Opera, concerts, etc.

Boxed snacks, consumed daily by thousands of local residents, are found to be unclean, hygienically speaking. About 70% of such mobile stands lack certificates issued by government departments.

Shanghai will establish a complete job training system to help produce more skilled workers and technicians for the city by the end of this century, according to Shanghai's Vice-mayor Zhou Muyao.

Shanghai will try to keep its population within 15 million by the year 2000, which means a natural growth rate between 0 and minus 1.5 per thousand, according to Shanghai's Municipal Family Planning Commission.

Experts are calling for the development of local mental health centers and hospitals to meet the demand of an increasing number of mentally and psychologically unstable patients.

Shanghai East Best International Service Trade, China's first international service company, was founded on April 12, after merging five local enterprises.

Intel Corp. recently held its '98 Business PC Solution Fair in Shanghai. The chip-making giant focuses on helping small and medium-sized businesses in China.

Despite the Asian financial crisis, Shanghai plans to introduce US$4 billion in contracted foreign investment this year, according to the Shanghai Foreign Investment Working Meeting held on April 11.

Shanghai Municipal Government has been providing financial aids to needy college students. Last year it allocated more than US$1.8 million to help students with financial difficulties.

Shanghai will adopt a new rate for taxi fare starting from April 15. The forty thousand taxis in the city are required to use new taximeters on June 1.

Directing marketing via television is emerging. According to a survey released by a marketing company, more than 68% of those questioned like this new form of advertising; 22% show no interest.

The city government recently held a meeting on its policy on family planning and environmental protection. Mayor Xu Kuangdie pointed out the damages wreaked by industrial pollution upon sustainable development.

A local "silicon valley" will soon be under construction. Sponsored by Shanghai Jiaotong University and Xuhui District, the valley will be located at Guangyuan Road (W) in Xuhui District. It will focus on information technology and electronics.

ShanghaiMart is now home to three ongoing exhibitions which feature hotel equipment, coffee and tea and leisure-ware respectively. So far they have attracted dozens of foreign exhibitors.

Shanghai and its Belgian sister city Antwerp signed a memorandum of friendly exchanges ad co-operations for 1998 and 1999 on April 7. The two cities established close relationship as sister cities in 1984.

Although there are only 50 foreign-invested advertising firms in the city, they are playing a key role in the advertisement industry, according to the Shanghai Bureau of Industrial and Commercial Administration.

The first Shanghai International Flower Festival is expected to be held at the end of this month at Changfeng Park. The flowers to be shown include peonies, Chinese roses, tulips, narcissus, hyacinth and lilies.

Many freight transport companies in Shanghai are expanding their businesses to new sectors such as warehousing, processing and distribution, a trend expected to improve current low efficiency of road haulage.

The city is drafting a plan to turn half of its vegetable plots into greenhouses by 2000 in a bid to provide sufficient vegetables for local residents. Shanghai's suburbs now have 2,333 hectares of greenhouses.

Shanghai is the country's biggest flower market. Its annual sales reach 300 million bouquets.

Shanghai and Hong Kong are planning to work together to develop the Yangtze River Valley, according to the Third Shanghai-Hong Kong Economic Development and Co-Operation Seminar, which is held annually.

An exhibit on environmental protection called "Our Planet, Our Home" was on display at the Shanghai Botanic Garden on April 3.

As the traveling season begins with fine weather, Shanghai's travel agencies have been reducing ticket prices to attract more tourists. Return ticket for travel by air is almost becoming the standard.

Computer sales are surging. Yangtze Computer Group, one of the leading domestic manufacturers of computer hardware, witnessed an increase of 284% in sales in the first quarter of the year.

VCD, a term originated in East Asia, is having its day in Shanghai. VCD players dominate the video-player market, with its percentage reaching 98.45%. DVD, short for digital video disk, is still in its infancy.

"Sweeping the grave", as it is traditionally known in China, is once again on the top of people's agenda. The tradition of honoring the dead by paying a visit to the grave site has been observed nationwide.

Songjiang, the suburban county lying to the south of the city proper, has been sparing no efforts in fostering private businesses. During the first three months of the year 2,180 private businesses were established, which brings the total of private businesses in Songjiang to 21,000.

Titanic, the latest Oscar winner, was premiered in Shanghai on April 1. The four different translation copies that are available leave much to be desired so far as the acoustics is concerned. Nevertheless, it is expected to be a box-office hit.

The school-run enterprises in Shanghai found themselves on the fast track last year, with a total profit of US$162 million. This has greatly helped the development of the schools.

Construction of China's first high-speed railway linking Shanghai and Beijing is back on the agenda this year. The US$29.5 billion-project is expected to complete in five years.

Coca-Cola's largest plant in China was opened in Shanghai's Pudong New Area. The US$50-million-plant will produce 400 million cases of the beverage this year.

The '98 Shanghai International Culture and Art Festival, the last large international culture and art exchange in Shanghai this century, will be held from may 2 to June 1.

The city will build 12 sewage plants in the suburban towns to prevent wastes from being discharged into the Huangpu River, the source of the local residents' drinking water.

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