Shanghai reviving former glory
Read this passage carefully and then answer the questions set below.
Like many of Asia's metropolis cities, Shanghai is in building mode, and its construction boom is typically Asian. This means that heritage buildings are being flattened to make way for ugly high-rises, the higher the better; unsightly bridges, ring-roads, and tunnels are becoming permanent fixtures in the urban sprawl; and migrants are pouring in from the countryside to provide cheap labour for the massive works.
Shanghai used to be known as 'the Paris of the East', and it seems that the authorities in Shanghai are determined to restore that title. Shanghai is also being primed to become a financial powerhouse of not only China but of the whole of Asia. Massive infrastructure works, including a new international airport and a new convention centre, are planned to make the city traveller-friendly and even more accessible from the rest of the world.
Shanghai is the gateway to the Yangtze River delta, the world's third longest river, and the lifeline for millions of Chinese depending on it for livelihood and sustenance. This strategic location enabled Shanghai to industrialise while becoming a bustling trading port.
After the Opium War of 1840-41, which forced China to cede Hong Kong to Britain, the British opened a concession in Shanghai. The United States and France also opened concessions in Shanghai soon thereafter. For about the next century, Shanghai was heavily influenced by the Europeans, Russians, and Japanese who lived and carried on business there, and was all glitz and glamour, wealthy and decadent. But the glamour faded in the aftermath of World War II and the Cultural Revolution.
In the last 10 years or so, Shanghai has started rebuilding from its ashes and today boasts having the fastest-growing economy among major Chinese cities. Most of the construction works are in the Pudong New Area, once a vast flatland but now being developed into a business and commercial centre. Huge investments, a lot of them from Hong Kong businessmen with Shanghai roots, are bankrolling the construction of banking and commercial blocks, department stores, and residential buildings. Many multinationals are moving their headquarters to Pudong, which many people predict will become another Hong Kong in a few years' time. On the other hand, many of the completed buildings are vacant as the market has not been spared the Asian economic crisis.