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Pudong transforms into hot property

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When Shanghai first announced its Pudong development programme 12 years ago, it was met with polite smiles that disguised grave doubts.

The ambitious plan to develop the backwater district east of the Huangpu River faced an uphill battle to convince locals and foreign investors that Pudong was a desirable place to be.

But the Shanghai government, through a mixture of incentives and careful planning, has worn down resistance to moving across the river that flows through the city.

'The old saying - better a bed in Puxi than a house in Pudong - is a thing of the past,' says Zhang Yaolun, deputy director of the Pudong New Area.

That is now most obvious in the property market. Some of the fanciest apartments in Shanghai are being built in Pudong, an area that would have been considered untouchable only a few years ago.

'Pudong is very hot right now,' says Salina Chen of Wanzhao Property Development, a local property developer. 'Many people from Shanghai are interested in this area, and that was not true in the past.'

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