Shanghai: China's trend setting city

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Next week, Shanghai will become the first city in China to host an international import expo. If you know Shanghai, you know it’s the perfect choice.

"Shanghai" could be literalized as "upon the sea," a reference to its location on the Yangtze River Delta, for fishing and merchant shipping.

For centuries, the waters of Shanghai have served as the entryway to China, for goods and people. Some forced, some welcomed.

Indeed, the city has witnessed many of China's significant "firsts" in the history of importing.

The first television that debuted in Shanghai. /CGTN Photo

The first car in China was first driven on Shanghai's streets. The country's first light bulb lit Shanghai. The first phone and the first television both made their debut in the city. And China's first high-heeled shoes walked Shanghai's pavements.

The first bicycle was first used by foreigners in Shanghai in the 1800s. Half a century later, the first home bicycle brand – Feng Huang, or Phoenix – was introduced right in Shanghai. The brand has soared in popularity to become China's biggest. The company is still headquartered right in the city.

Shanghai's global appeal largely halted in the mid-20th century. Decades later, Deng Xiaopeng's reforms changed that. We visited an exhibition in the city center called "1978." It documents Shanghai's transformation just over the last 40 years – the period of China's official opening up.

Shen Huiping, a 61-year-old volunteer and a Shanghai native, told us how vividly she remembers the changes. "After the reforms," Shen said, "we saw a lot of foreign brands coming to Shanghai. Things that we had never seen before, never used before, never eaten before. And over the years, we've seen a lot of new things that we've now gotten used to it: the clothes, the food, the daily necessities."

Global cinema triggered a Chinese film industry that used both imported cameras and cameras made in Shanghai. /CGTN Photo

All of these may explain why the reforms all lead domestic innovation. Global cinema triggered a Chinese film industry that used imported cameras, and – for the first time – cameras made in China. And more specifically, made in Shanghai.

The people of this city have always been early adopters of new products. But that sometimes comes with reservation. Many here first believed that being filmed or having their photo taken would lead to an early death. That clearly changed. And what caught on here first, then caught on in the rest of China.

The Shanghainese are known as trend-setters. Indeed, many of China's latest fashion trends come from Shanghai. The city is known as the Paris of the East.

Today, Shanghai is a vibrant international metropolis, a first-tier city in China, and a first-class city in the world.