Among economists, it is generally believed that global economic gloom is almost inevitable. Shanghai, in the meantime, is striving to create new records under pressure.In the first year starting the 14th Five-Year Plan period, Shanghai’s GDP reached RMB4.32 trillion, breaking&\\;nbsp\\;through the four trillion threshold for the first time. The year also saw more than one indicator of economic development breaking through the “trillion”&\\;nbsp\\;threshold –&\\;nbsp\\;value of industry added to Shanghai’&\\;nbsp\\;GDP broke through RMB1 trillion, representing the rapidest growth since the 12th Five-Year Plan Period\\; value added of the tertiary sector broke through RMB3 trillion\\; the total amount of imports &\\; exports broke through RMB4 trillion\\; gross merchandise sales exceeded 16 trillion RMB…By creating opportunities in a time of crisis and creating a new situation in a changing development environment, Shanghai succeeded in overcoming unfavorable factors like COVID-19 epidemic and weakened demand from export markets in the past year and realized high-quality development by seeking to make greater achievements.Serving the Country’s Development: Further Deepening Reform and Widening Opening-upShanghai dared to introduce the most creative reform measures and carried out the most challenging reform, i.e. taking the lead in exploring institutional&\\;nbsp\\;openness and conducting pressure tests for high-level opening-up. More visible achievements in reform &\\; opening-up have been made in the city.Last year, China became the largest single market&\\;nbsp\\;of ZEISS in the world for the first time. “It is attributable to the unique environment in Shanghai.”&\\;nbsp\\;There are a myriad multinationals sharing the similar experience in Shanghai –&\\;nbsp\\;creating win-win situations by joining hands with Shanghai.For opening-up, the pace of institutional openness was accelerated benefiting from the combination of special&\\;nbsp\\;policies of special&\\;nbsp\\;economic functional zone and special customs surveillance zone.Shanghai has built an opening-up layout aiming at both the domestic market international markets, with the Great Hongqiao which has been constructed for one year after being positioned as an international open hub &\\; the Yangtze River Delta Ecological Green Integration Development Demonstration Area, and Pudong “Pioneer Are”&\\;nbsp\\;&\\; the Lin-Gang Special Area&\\;nbsp\\;within the pilot free trade zone as two wings to mutually complementary to each other.The city continued to create driving forces by deepening reform, simulate vitality by widening opening-up, and tap into potential via innovations &\\; breakthroughs. The past year witness continuous improvement in Shanghai’s ability to allocate global resources and strengthened function as a hub and window for opening-up with a number of large platforms, channels and springboards for opening-up, which have turned Shanghai into an important springboard for enterprises to bring in and go global.Throughout the year, 60 regional headquarters of multinationals and 25 foreign-invested R&\\;D centers were established in Shanghai, making the total up to 831 and 506 respectively. The city logged a double-digit growth in the number of newly-established foreign-owned enterprises, contracted amount of foreign capital and the amount of foreign capital actually received. Totally USD22,551 million foreign capital was actually received, hitting a record high.Forward-Looking Layout: Further Improved Capability of Incubating InnovationThe significance of a city not only lies in the volume of its GDP but also depends on whether it can play a distinctive role. By deepening the construction of “Five Centers”&\\;nbsp\\;(i.e. a global center for economy, finance, trade, shipping and science and technology innovation) and continuously strengthening the “Four Functions,”&\\;nbsp\\;Shanghai radiates its increasingly strengthened functional systems and powerful services&\\;nbsp\\;out to the rest of the Yangtze-River Delta and the country, and plays a key role in international cooperation and competition.In 2021, the number of papers published by scientists from Shanghai in top three international journals including&\\;nbsp\\;Science, Nature and Cell made up one-third of the total number of China. At the National Science and Technology Award Conference&\\;nbsp\\;2021, scientists from Shanghai won for the first time three Grand Slam titles of the first prize of the three major awards for&\\;nbsp\\;natural science, technological invention and scientific and technological progress.Establishment of a strategic scientific research power is the key to exploring the No Man’s Land for scientific research and being at the forefront of cutting-edge science and technology. Out of the first batch of national laboratories, three have been based in Shanghai, which have been established&\\;nbsp\\;in Zhangjiang, Lin-gang and Pujiang respectively, with plaque officially unveiled. Some novel R&\\;D institutions of different types which are different from existing traditional ones have emerged in Shanghai as required by the era –&\\;nbsp\\;all of the signs indicate that Shanghai is providing ambitious scientists from around the world with new choices using its abundant carriers and flexible mechanisms.Major scientific and technological infrastructure is indispensable&\\;nbsp\\;for cutting-edge R&\\;D activities. Currently there are 14 major science and technology facilities in Shanghai that have been built or are under construction, and another six which have been included in relevant planning for the 14th Five-Year Plan Period. Shanghai has topped China’s index measuring the level of comprehensive science and technology process for four consecutive years and ranked 8th in 2021 Global Innovation Index, according to the Shanghai Science &\\; Technology Progress Report 2021.Just like a coin has two sides, scientific innovation is inseparable from high-end industries. As the pioneer role of high-end industries grew increasingly prominent, Shanghai’s three major industries including integrated circuit, biomedicine and AI which have been included in its development layout for years registered an increase of 18.3% in manufacturing output value, indicating that leading industry clusters have been formed.Major breakthroughs in key core technologies can provide a bridge for leapfrog development. Shanghai is taking the lead in multiple key fields as a pioneer role in China’s development and leading the world in more fields. Taking the lead to gain competitive advantages with forward-looking layout is exactly the city’s mission and function and how it contributes to the country’s development.Optimizing Layout: Reactivating Spatial NodesBy accelerating the development&\\;nbsp\\;of five new cities including Jiading, Songjiang, Qingpu, Fengxian and Nanhui, Shanghai aims to build independent, comprehensive city nodes to create a new layout in city space, which is not only a good move to resolve the spatial saturation in the downtown area by creating new development spaces on the outskirts of the city, but also a flexible move for mutual empowerment and interaction with the rest of the Yangtze River Delta by complementing to each other in functions.Convenient transportation is required for the collaborative development of a city. Smooth transportation can help the different parts of a city to make a concerted effort in development. With a traffic network by connecting arterial roads, a city cluster can interact internally in an efficient way, strengthen linkage and build nodes. For that, Shanghai puts the construction of “One Hub for Each City”&\\;nbsp\\;on a prominent position to “Reshape a City with a Traffic Line.”With improved traffic connection between the five new cities and the downtown area of Shanghai, among the new cities, and between the new cities and other 40 cities in the Yangtze River Delta, various elements flow at an accelerated speed and heavyweight industry projects have landed in the new cities. For example, Nanhui New City, which is situated on the shore of the East China Sea, was chosen by the headquarters of Lin-gang Group and a company under it as their base. There were totally 50 enterprise headquarters and 62 R&\\;D centers throughout the year which signed a contract to base themselves in the new city.As the core inner circle of the city cluster with Shanghai at the core, the five new cities are ramping up development. With radiation of the downtown area at the core, two wings in the eastern and western parts, and transformation of Jinshan and Baoshan in the southern and northern parts, Shanghai is creating an increasingly optimized spatial pattern to drive the development of the world-class city cluster in the Yangtze River Delta and better serve the establishment of a new paradigm of development. &\\;nbsp\\;Creating a New Development Paradigm: Making New Breakthroughs in New Fields of CompetitionAfter breaking through&\\;nbsp\\;the RMB4 trillion threshold in GDP, Shanghai began to mull over the direction for its future development and continued to look for and expand future growth points.“Whether the fields of competition we choose today are suitable or not directly determines whether we can seize the initiative of development tomorrow.”&\\;nbsp\\;Since last year, Shanghai has been taking advantage of its strength in “Five Types of Economy,”&\\;nbsp\\;and making foray into new fields of completion&\\;nbsp\\;including digital economy, green &\\; low carbon development and the Metaverse, and new terminals including intelligent networked automobile.Shanghai has cultivated some promising market players in the new fields of competition. To be specific, the past year witnessed rapid development of Pinduoduo, Ximalaya, Xiaohongshu, ELEME and Dingdong Maicai. The Internet business in Shanghai earned a revenue of RMB400 billion, representing an increase of over 30%\\; 16 enterprises were listed among top 100 Internet enterprises in China, ranking 2nd around the country.There are blockbusters among the new terminals in Shanghai. New cars manufactured by the Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory&\\;nbsp\\;were continuously transported to Belgium’s Zeebrugge port, but the demand from overseas markets was not fully satisfied with last year’s output increasing by 2.4 times\\; SAIC sold 5464,000 vehicles throughout the year, and WestWell realized mass production of self-driving commercial vehicles…Over the year, the city made great strides in transformation toward digitalization regarding it a strategy. Shanghai drives digital industrialization and industry digitalization simultaneously, through which manufacturing and services realized integrated development and emerging &\\; traditional industries achieved coexistence and integration. The development approach is providing uninterrupted momentum for economic development.It is especially noting that a number of industries in Shanghai have transformed from physical integration to fission and fusion-like reactions at an accelerated pace.At the end of last year, China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited, the largest shipbuilder in the world, moved its headquarters to Shanghai. It further enlarges the local cluster of large-sized enterprises including China COSCO Shipping Corporation Limited, which is the largest globally by fleet size, ZPMC, a&\\;nbsp\\;port container crane manufacturer&\\;nbsp\\;with the largest market share, Shanghai International Port (Group), which manages the world’s largest container port, Baowu Steel Group Corporation Limited, the world’s largest steel maker…With the Huangpu River flowing eastward through Shanghai, and the tides rising and falling along the cost of the East China Sea, openness is rooted in the city. During the key period of creating future strategic strengths, Shanghai dares to make explorations while adhering to and shouldering its mission, endeavors to create a new development paradigm, and is creating successive miracles along the path of high-quality development.&\\;nbsp\\;Source:&\\;nbsp\\;The Jiefang Daily, by Meng Qunshu / Wang Xianle&\\;nbsp\\;