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CHINA STORY | International bonding zone: A trip to Yangshan Port


07 June 2016 | By George Fleming | SISU

  • George Fleming, the author (right)

    As we got out, our phones told us we were in Zhejiang Province – the islands of Yangshan being in Hangzhou Bay.

  • George Fleming, the author (left)

    As we got out, our phones told us we were in Zhejiang Province – the islands of Yangshan being in Hangzhou Bay.

  • Yangshan Port

    As we got out, our phones told us we were in Zhejiang Province – the islands of Yangshan being in Hangzhou Bay.

  • Yangshan Port

    The international faculty were also surprised to discover an overlooked section of the Great Wall, which we dutifully ‘climbed’.

  • Translations...

    We had lunch within charming surroundings at ShuyuanRenjia. Some of the translations around the restaurant gave us more food for thought, however…

L

ast Friday saw a special outing to the Shanghai Free Trade Zone for the Shanghai International Studies University’s international faculty. We packed onto the bus in the rain at 7.40 in the morning, and set off.

I learned after discussion with several of my fellow faculty that none of us had visited the FTZ – or even the surrounding part of southeast Shanghai – before. Our first port of call was the administrative building of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone United Development Co. Ltd, cutting an imposing but lonely figure against the dreary morning skyline.

After a short break to stretch our legs, we piled back on board and continued to Yangshan Free Trade Port Area. This involved another long journey across the thirty kilometre Donghai Bridge, straight from the Shanghai mainland southwards to theYangshan Islands. Travelling along the bridge, we wondered how the lorries hurtling along beside us (and the bridge) would fare on a windy(ier) day. Looking out from the bus windows, we could see some of the fifty wind turbines of the Donghai Bridge Offshore Wind Power Demonstration Project.

As we got out, our phones told us we were in Zhejiang Province – the islands of Yangshan being in Hangzhou Bay, and administered as part of Shengsi County in Hangzhou. The international faculty were also surprised to discover an overlooked section of the Great Wall, which we dutifully ‘climbed’.

From our vantage point, we looked down at the busy Yangshan Port as Rita Wang from United Development shared some impressive facts and figures about the port, including its fifteen-metre deep-water harbour that allows the latest New Panamax container vessels to moor up, and its connection to over fifty ports in 36 countries via more than eighty shipping routes.

Next on the itinerary was a presentation back at United Development headquarters on the evolution and general policies governing the Free Trade Zone. Rita gave us a presentation called Succeed in China, which illustrated the improvements and opening up of the FTZ while offering a candid portrait of the issues that have hampered foreign investment in the past.

Previously, businesses came up against restrictions in investment, trade, finance, the role of government, and general red tape. In particular, there was a clear contrast between the slow development pre-2013 and afterwards with the approval of Wholly Foreign-Owned Enterprises, which piqued interest among several international faculty members, and the role of the FTZ as a testing ground for new ideas that can then be rolled out nationwide. Succeed in China certainly generated much interest among us, to the extent that there were not enough copies of the accompanying leaflet to go around.

With our minds full of questions, it was time to fill our bellies – and we were not disappointed. We had lunch within charming surroundings at ShuyuanRenjia, with beer, red-braised pork, and iceplant with sesame sauce. Some of the translations around the restaurant gave us more food for thought, however…

The last part of the trip was a short stop at Dishui Lake, at the south-easternmost point of Shanghai, before heading back to the city.

Thanks to Romain and Karen for the photographs and to Christine and Grace for organising. It was a great opportunity for us all to get to know each other a bit better and strengthen our international ties.

The author is an international faculty at the Graduate Institute of Interpretation and Translation, Shanghai International Studies University (SISU).

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Press Contact

SISU News Center, Office of Communications and Public Affairs

Tel : +86 (21) 3537 2378

Email : news@shisu.edu.cn

Address :550 Dalian Road (W), Shanghai 200083, China