Guide for foreign investments

Infrastructure

Shanghai has exceptional city infrastructure and is a hub for ground, water and air transportation.  

Two International airports that connect to the world

In 2012, the combined number of flights of Pudong and Hongqiao Airports totaled 596,700, up by 4 percent from the previous year. The number of passengers totaled 78.7 million, an increase of 5.6 percent from the previous year. Passengers taking domestic flights totaled 54.7 million and passengers taking international flights totaled 24 million, 4.7 percent and 7.6 percent higher than the previous year.

Railways and roads that connect to the entire country      

Shanghai has four railway stations, which conveniently connects all the major cities in China. Up to the end of 2012, the total road length of the city exceeded 12,000 kilometers with 10,000 bridges, accounting for 14 percent of the provincial roads.

Steady growth of ports throughput and booming cruising businesses

In 2012, Shanghai's port throughput totaled 736 million tons, 1.1 percent higher than the previous year. Container throughput totaled 32.5 million TEUs, up by 2.5 percent. Shanghai has been dedicated to being the cruising center of the Asia – Pacific Region. Shanghai Wusong International Cruiser Quay and Shanghai International Traveler's Quay have received 180 cruisers in 2012, 67 more than the previous year. 128 cruisers took Shanghai as the host port and the number of passengers totaled 350,300, 71.4 percent higher than the previous year.

Convenient public transportation

Up to the end of 2012, the city had 13 metros encompassing 468.19 kilometers (including 29.11 km of Maglev Train). A total of 6.3  million people have taken public transportation throughout the year, 2.2 percent more than the previous year. A total of 2.3 billion people took metros, up by 8.3 percent. The total length of dedicated lanes was 161.8 kilometers. 

Education

Complete education system

Shanghai has a complete education system, covering from pre–school to higher education, including all types of training programs. There are a number of schools, including private, public, joint ventures and international. Education quality and performance are one of the finest in China and significant progress has been achieved in education, in the applications of information technology and networks. 

In 2012, the city had 67 universities and colleges, 858 high schools and 761 primary schools as well as 29 special schools. The number of college graduates is in an increase while the number of high school and primary school graduates is in a slight decrease. The city has 58 colleges for postgraduate education, which recruited 44,200 postgraduates in 2012. 127,000 postgraduates were studying and 34,500 graduated. 99.9 percent of children entered school for 9 years of compulsory education, and 96 percent of them continued with further studies in high schools.

Diversified educational institutions

For now, Shanghai has 34 schools that are administrated as international schools, including 22 international schools with kindergartens. A total of 7 Japanese & Korean education centers, and 5 international departments of local schools. The schools amassed 29,179 students, 1,054 more than 2011. 12 international schools have 1,000 plus students. There are basically two types of educations – American and British for children of expatriates in three types of the following schools: 

After 20 years of development, Shanghai has established education systems of diversified and structured programs, catering to the needs of different countries, languages and levels. The educational institutes covers classes from pre – school to high school and basically meets the requirements of expatriates' children in Shanghai. The city launched a series of activities such as "Chinese Culture into Schools" to stimulate the enthusiasm of foreign students towards Chinese culture and to the city as well as the incentive to promote the Chinese language. International schools have become an important channel for expatriates and their children to understand China, get to know Shanghai, and learn the Chinese and Shanghai culture.

Tourism and health care

Tourism

Shanghai is a one of China’s primary tourist cities. The added value for tourism was RMB 149.8 billion in 2012, an increase of 4.9 percent from the previous year. In 2012 the city had 278 star – rated hotels, including 55 five – star hotels and 55 four – star hotels. The city has a total of 1,183 travel agencies and 82 Class – A tourist attractions. Shanghai received a total of 8 million tourists in 2012 and 6.3 million of them were foreign tourists, accounting for 2.1 percent and 2.4 percent lower than the previous year. The city received a total of 2.5 billion domestic tourists, 8.7 percent higher than the previous year. Foreign exchange income of the tourist industry throughout the year totaled 5.6 billion dollars, down by 4.3 percent. The income from domestic tourists totaled 322.4 billion yuan, up by 15.7 percent.

Shanghai is a city with a long history and cultural heritage, with a number of old architectures and gardens of Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Since the 1990s, the city has built many new architecture that shapes the new and beautiful landscapes of the city. Shanghai has accelerated the construction of the Disneyland Project and the International Tourist Resort, which will be another milestone attraction for tourism in the city.

Health care services

Up to the end of 2012, Shanghai had 3,465 hospitals and clinics. The total of medical employees reached 146,100, who treated 214 million patients. The death rate of the new born was 5 percent and death rate of the pregnant was 7.1 per 100,000. They carried out pilot tests for the care of dying in 18 community hospitals of 17 districts. Public health hotline 12320 (in both Chinese and English) provides 24 – hour services.

Shanghai city government encourages social capital to support medical services in weak sections and gives priority to the social capital in adjusting and increasing medical resources. The city also encourages foreign investment in health care and gradually removes equity restrictions on foreign capital.

IT infrastructure and IT industry

Full coverage of the network

In 2012, the added value of the IT industry totaled 203 billion yuan, 12.4 percent higher than the previous year. The added value of information service sector totaled 123.4 billion yuan, up by 17.5 percent.

Up to the end of 2012, the consolidated network pipelines totaled 6,900 kilometers, 650 kilometers longer than the previous year. 1,000 new mobile stations and 1,000 indoor coverage stations were added to the mobile network. 2.8 million families have access to optical fibers and 2.5 million have subscribed optical services. Internet subscribers totaled 17.5 million with the penetration rate of 73.5 percent. 5,000 new wireless points have been installed, making the total available points up to 17,000. International and domestic Internet bandwidth reached 550 Gbps and 2,400 Gbps. Digital TV and IPTV subscribers totaled 3.9 million and 1.8 million, 1.2 million and 25 thousand more than the previous year. I-Shanghai free WLAN services have been established in 300 public locations.

Booming IT industry

The sales revenue of the city's software industry, telecom transmission services and Internet information services totaled 208.6 billion yuan, 66.3 billion yuan and 64.3 billion yuan throughout the year. 490 new software companies have been certified with 3,822 registered software products. 45 Information service companies have been listed. The sales revenue of 248 software companies exceeded 100 million yuan per company.

The GDP of e–business totaled 781.5 billion yuan throughout the year, 41.9 percent higher than 2011. 29,876 companies have registered as Easipass members, the electronic customs clearance system, which processed 178.7 million pieces of documents, 994.8 billion yuan of electronic payment, up by 9.2 percent. 1.6378 million electronic bills were printed and 879.2 thousand social security cards were issued. 21.69 million people visited China's Shanghai portal website and the total number of page viewing reached 465.3 million. Meanwhile, public services have been strengthened with the latest information technologies.

Up to the end of 2012, 3.2 million digital certificates have been issued and the individual credibility system has covered 11.6 million people. The system received 14.8 million requests and offered 9.6 million feedbacks as well as 3.6 million individual credibility statements.

Environmental protection, social security, and culture activities

Environmental protection

In 2012, Shanghai dedicated 57 billion yuan to environmental protection, accounting for 2.8 percent of the city's GDP. The "excellent" rate of AQI in 2012 was  93.7 percent, which was an increase of 1.4 points than the previous year. The average dust landing rate was 5.7 tons per square kilometers, down by 13.6 percent. Sewage treatment capacity reached 7 million square meters per day. 164.2 tons of household wastes had been treated and 91.4 percent of them were non – pollutant treatment, 3.8 points higher than the previous year. 1,050 new waste separation & treatment stations were established throughout the year. Phase one of Laogang Landfill was completed and the Jinshan Comprehensive Treatment of Households.

Wastes were put into test operation.

1,037.9 hectares of green lands were built in 2012 and 513.4 hectares of them were public green lands. Up to the end of 2012, the green land coverage rate was increased to 38.3 percent. 1,168 hectares of forests were planted and the forests coverage reached 12.6 percent. 53 roads were sided with trees.

Social security

Social security and policy have been improved. The social insurance system has covered 5 sectors namely pension, health care, injuries while working, unemployment and pregnancy, which all achieved basic full coverage. In 2012, 13.3  million people (including retired) participated in the city's pension scheme. 6.2 million people paid unemployment insurance and 212,900 of them collected unemployment compensation. The minimum income for rural regions increased from 4,320 yuan to 5,160 yuan per year. The minimum wage rose from 1,280 yuan to 1,450 yuan per month.

In 2012, 13.8 million people (including retired) participated in the city's health care insurance. Up to the end of 2012, 2.6 million people (including college students) participated in the citizen health care insurance.

Culture activities

In 2012, the city had 27 city–level or district–level culture and art centers, 154 art societies, 25 city or district libraries, 41 archive libraries and 109 museums. China Art Museum and Shanghai Modern Art Museum also officially opened.

The city has successfully hosted a number of upscale culture activities such as "Spring of Shanghai" International Music Festival, No 14 China Shanghai International Art Festival, No 15 Shanghai International Film Festival, and No 8 China Computer Game Expo. The city has also successfully hosted 56 international competitions and 74 national competitions. The first Citizen's Olympics attracted the participation of 6.3 million people in 160 days. 75 jogging lanes, 10 swimming pools and 35 community gyms were built throughout the year.

Service organizations