Synopses & Reviews
A compelling account of the rebirth of China's greatest city. Earmarked by China's leaders to again become an international business hub, Shanghai, in less than a decade, has blossomed from a depressed industrial town, forgotten by the outside world, into a shimmering metropolis filled with glass skyscrapers, modern factories, and thumping discotheques. Foreign investors are once again flocking to Shanghai, which is commonly seen as an up-and-coming rival to New York, Tokyo, and Hong Kong as the world's most important financial centers. But is it?
Is Shanghai, the capitalist Mecca of the Far East in the 1920s, re-emerging as the New York of Asia? The Whore of the Orient? The stomping ground of China's artistic elite? China's version of Silicon Valley? A tinderbox of social unrest as state-owned companies lay off workers by the hundreds of thousands?
Weaving insightful anecdotes with astute analysis, respected journalist Pamela Yatsko addresses these questions and many others to provide a vivid portrait of Shanghai, past and present. New Shanghai's lively narrative, culled from interviews with Shanghainese at all levels of society, explores key aspects of contemporary Shanghai -- from finance, foreign business and state enterprise reform, to vice, culture and social change. New Shanghai takes us into the world of shady Chinese stock speculators, prosperous yuppies, distraught laid-off workers, determined foreign executives and alluring bar girls, giving texture to the tumult that has rocked urban China. By painting pictures of Shanghai today, New Shanghai offers readers a better understanding of Shanghai and China tomorrow.
Synopsis
Anyone visiting Shanghai a decade ago inevitably felt a stab of regret. Instead of the city hailed before China?s 1949 revolution as the Queen of the Pacific and the Paris of the East, they found the depressed industrial city forgotten by the world. Not any more. Few visitors leave China?s largest city these days without expressing wonder at its renaissance. Pegged by China?s leaders in the 1990s to reassert itself as an international business hub and drive growth along the mighty Yangtze River, Shanghai in breakneck time has erected elevated highways, glittering skyscrapers, and stately cultural venues. College graduates find jobs in finance and other capitalist fields; once drab bureaucrats support well-cut business suits; and young people pack neon-flashing discos. Foreign investors are again flocking to the city. Dead to the world for over 40 years, Shanghai has at last been reborn.
Weaving anecdotes with analysis, Pamela Yatsko?s lively narrative addresses key aspects of the city?s rebirth: The building spree of the 1990s and how it turned into a massive glut; Shanghai?s resurrection as a financial center; its drive to remain a manufacturing powerhouse; its cultural reawakening; the growing divide between rich and poor; the return of fortune-hunting foreign business; and the revival of notorious Old Shanghai vices: nightlife, drugs and prostitution. New Shanghai gives readers a sense of the tumult that has rocked urban China in the 1990s. By painting pictures of Shanghai today, it provides a better understanding of the Shanghai and China tomorrow.
Synopsis
"An eyes-wide-open look at modern Shanghai, its past roots, as well as present achievements, hang-ups and shortcomings. Balanced, detailed, and carefully researched by a perceptive and expert journalist. New Shanghaiis essential background for any foreigner who needs to understand the challenges and opportunities of life and work in a China grappling with rapid change."--Nicholas Platt, President, Asia Society
"Pamela Yatsko is the best guide I can imaging to the New China emergingin the global information age. Seeing Shanghai through her sharp eyes is better than a personal tour, because she digs behind the scenes to find the meaning of the changes sweeping China, as well as the unfinished work still ahead for the cities shaping China's future. New Shanghai is insightful, illuminating, comprehensive and entertaining. This is a "must read" for anyoneinterested in doing business in China and througout Asia." - Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business Review, author of World Class
About the Author
Pamela Yatsko was the Far Eastern Economic Review's first Shanghai correspondent and bureau chief since the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949. She lived in the city with her husband from 1995 to 1998 and continues to travel there frequently from their Hong Kong base. An American from Massachusetts, she received her Bachelor's Degree from Smith College in 1984 and her Master's Degree specializing in China Studies and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in 1988. Before joining the Review in 1994, she was the Managing Editor of Hong Kong-based Business China, an Economist Group publication, worked as a freelance journalist in India, and wrote case studies focusing on global strategic alliances for Harvard Business School. She studied Mandarin in the 1980s in Taiwan and in Nanjing, China.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Allure of Shanghai
Building the New Shanghai
New York of Asia?
The "Haves" and the "Have-Nots"
Search for a Soul
Return of the Vices
Return of the Foreigners
Made in Shanghai
Conclusion: Waiting for Shanghai.