好久没写什么，自从有了春之开头。恩，其实还没想好要交代点啥，趁实验空隙，发一篇昨天BBC新闻新出炉的报道，关于上海近期的发展以及将来面临的客观问题。我看了后很是激动，身上的细胞似乎又活跃起来。先感谢那位记者Steve激昂的言辞，似乎比原住居民对上海更充满热情，文章中预言的问题也是国际社会特别担心的：政治问题。当然也能理解缩短贫富差距的必要。但是希望一切都能最终调整到一致向前。

Shanghai: Creating a global city
                  By Steve Schifferes
                  Globalisation reporter, BBC News, Shanghai, China

                  
                  The new Shanghai often overshadows the old
            Shanghai is the ultimate poster-child for the effects of
            globalisation on cities and regions. 

            China's largest city languished for 30 years as the Chinese economy
            was closed to outside influence, and the country went through the
            political turmoil of the cultural revolution.
            All this was dramatically changed when the country opened up its
            markets to the West in the 1980s, and Shanghai was given the green
            light to "get rich".

            In the last 15 years, the city has been transformed into a
            glittering metropolis of 21 million people, with more skyscrapers
            than New York and a public transport system that will soon overtake
            London's in size.

            The city has tripled in size and its influence now extends
            throughout the whole Yangtze Delta region, the richest area in
            China.

            But it is not just the size and speed of its transformation, but
            also its glittering economic achievements, that have grabbed the
            attention of the world.

            The Shanghai region, including the two adjoining provinces, accounts
            for 30% of China's foreign exports and attracts 25% of all foreign
            investment into the country, while 20% of its manufacturing output
            is produced here.

            The GDP, or gross domestic product, of the Shanghai region alone is
            $450bn (£225bn), equivalent to half the size of the entire economy
            of India.
            More than 500 multinational companies, ranging from General Motors
            to Volkswagen, have their regional corporate headquarters in
            Shanghai.
                  
                  Old Shanghai has been rapidly eclipsed by the global city
            And it has become one of the leading financial sectors in East Asia,
            with major Western banks flocking to its new financial centre, built
            from scratch in the new district of Pudong.
            Each year, more foreign investment flows into Shanghai alone than to
            any other developing country. Again, this is twice the amount
            invested in the whole of India.

            And the rate of economic growth has been phenomenal, with Shanghai's
            economy growing at a rate of 12% per year, much faster than China as
            a whole.

            By 2020, Shanghai's economy is expected to have expanded five-fold,
            making it bigger than New York in 1997, the richest economic region
            in the world.

            Consumer and property boom
            The rapid economic growth has also transformed the economic
            prospects of individuals.
                  
                  Luxury goods and shopping malls now dot the landscape
            Per capita income rose from $125 per year in the 1950s, and $1,000
            per year in 1977, to $3,000 in 1997 and $6,000 in 2005.
            The growing urban middle-class also fuelled a consumer boom and a
            property boom in the city.
            Western shops dominate the pedestrianised shopping street of Nanjing
            Lu, while the more elegant shops of the former French concession
            include the world's busiest H&M women's clothing store.
            And fancy restaurants by famous chefs now line the Bund, the curving
            waterfront that was the financial centre of Shanghai in the 1930s.
            Dislocations
            The growth of Shanghai has been accompanied by vast human
            dislocations.
                  
                  Shanghai shoppers enjoy access to Western fashion
            More than one million households have been displaced to flats on the
            outskirts of the city in order to make way for the massive
            developments in the centre.
            And almost four million migrant labourers have flooded into Shanghai
            from rural areas in the past 20 years to take advantage of the
            economic opportunities. They now make up one in four of the
            workforce.
            These migrants have lacked any legal rights to health or education,
            and have suffered much poorer living conditions than native
            residents.
            Even for local residents, the high property prices are forcing
            people out of the centre, making many postpone marriage and family
            life.

            Ambitious Future
            The city government of Shanghai is nothing if not ambitious.
            To ensure Shanghai dominates foreign trade, it is building the
            world's largest container port on an island 30km offshore, linked by
            a six-lane bridge.
            It also has bold plans to decentralise development by creating nine
            new towns around Shanghai, each with 500,000 residents.
            And it plans to increase the use of public transport, raise
            education levels and encourage internet usage among its residents.
            And just as Beijing used the 2008 Olympics to focus on its
            development, Shanghai plans to focus its World Expo 2010, which is
            expected to bring 70 million visitors to the city - on the
            redevelopment of the riverfront.
            But the biggest obstacle to Shanghai's future development may be
            political.
            Just as Shanghai's takeoff to growth was stimulated when Shanghai
            mayor Jiang Zemin took power in the 1990s, the new leadership of the
            Chinese Communist Party is attempting to curb its wings.
            In October, the party secretary for Shanghai, Chen Liangyu, was
            arrested on corruption charges and was only replaced in March by an
            outsider, Xi Jinping.

            Analysts believe that the move was intended to curb Shanghai's
            power, and was also related to the policy of the new party
            leadership to shift development from the rich coastal regions
            further inland, in order to narrow income disparities.