Shanghai FTZ helps boost cultural exports

The Streaming down the Yangtze team is in Shanghai, home to China's first Free Trade Zone.

As a major shipping and trading city Shanghai grew in importance in the 19th century due to imports, exports, and recognition of its economic potential.

An aerial photo of Shanghai Free Trade Zone. [File Photo: IC]

The municipality is located in the heart of the Yangtze River Delta, where the river flows into the East China Sea.

Our reporter Min Rui is in Shanghai with the "Streaming down the Yangtze" team. We earlier had a conversation with her on the "Beijing Hour".

So first of all, please tell us more about Shanghai, the Yangtze River Delta, and the outlook of that area.

The Yangtze River Delta is literally a triangle-shaped metropolitan region. Generally, it is comprised by Shanghai, southern Jiangsu province and northern Zhejiang province.

According to official data, the area is home to over 115 million people as of 2013.

One thing that you should be aware of is that the Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone is of great importance to the Chinese economy. It accounts for 20 percent of China's GDP and is responsible for one third of the country’s imports and exports.

Tell us more about the Free Trade Zone you visited and what is new there?

The Shanghai Free Trade Zone or FTZ for short was first launched 5 years ago. The area is designated to respond new challenges posed by the new situation. 

Here, everyone including the business man and government officials working together to explore new paths and accumulate good experience for all-round reform and opening-up.

Later on, a dozen of FTZs was introduced to more inland areas, like Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi and Chongqing.

In 2014, I visited the Shanghai FTZ when it had its one-year anniversary. Many firms were listed in the area but the trade volume was not very big compare to the overall volume.

But now, new business modes have taken shape, maturating and improving with the preferential policies, many foreign firms have also found its ground and started to benefit, especially in the culture and art sector.

Earlier I talked to Shanghai FTZ International Culture Investment and Development General Manager Assistant Wang Jiaming.

He said the trade on culture products was only one-way in the past, with foreign paintings and items coming in. But now, it is a two-way trade and the company has upgraded all types of services to cope with rising demands.

The firm also plans to open a new in-bound service center with the high international security standards at the end of 2018. And it will become an important hub for cultural exchanges and artwork trade between east and west and a new landmark of the culture industry of the Free Trade Zone.

Apart from the city and its trade, a typhoon is hitting that area. What is the latest news on that?

Typhoon Yagi is this year's 14th typhoon, made landfall at around 11:35 Sunday evening in Wenling County in east China’s Zhejiang Province.

By Sunday afternoon, some 205,000 people in ten cities, including Taizhou, Zhoushan, and Wenzhou had been evacuated.

Thousands of fishing boats and vessels had taken shelter.

China's national observatory on Sunday upgraded the alert for typhoon Yagi from blue to yellow, as it had a strong presence and might cost damage.

In Shanghai, the local authorities have ordered relevant offices to prepare for possible disasters, and local residents to stay indoors until the Typhoon passed.

When finishing the interview around midday, I was caught in a big downpour with thunders and lightings.

I also heard that Yagi will weaken today after making landfall and continue to move northwest inland.