Shanghai's lofty goals a flight of fancy if key issues not fixed
Free-trade zone has a nice ring to it, but ambitions can only take off when residents are free from cares over bad air, suspect food and web curbs
In a place where access to the internet is restricted, international flights fail to land freely, and, most importantly, local residents cannot even breathe freely, the government is building something new called a "free-trade zone" as part of Beijing's ambition to open up the economy wider and faster to lure foreign money.
Welcome to Shanghai!
I was born in Shanghai, and like my hometown fellows, I have always been proud of being a native of Shanghai, known as the "Paris of the East" between the 1920s and 1930s. When I was writing the column this week, you can imagine I naturally had mixed feelings about many things happening in Shanghai.
In my old and happy days in Shanghai - although not as wealthy or shining as the city looks nowadays - I often went to buy the Shanghai-style egg pies or pan-fried buns at the street stalls after school. Today, Shanghai parents will tell their children not to eat "at random" because you just don't know what the meat comes from (or whether it is really meat or something else you may not want to know about).
Even the eggs could be fake.
Before I moved to Hong Kong, I could still access Facebook freely in Shanghai. I remember I found how useful Facebook could be for me to stay connected with my friends globally after I went from an Asia Society forum in Tokyo where I was recognised as one of its young leaders and met many peers from the rest of the world.
Talking of travel, I guess no travellers like to see their flights delayed or cancelled. Last week, many travellers heading for Pudong International Airport, one of the world's busiest, were told they could not land there and must be diverted to nearby airports.