Top Biz News
Shanghai Bund's-eye view
By Xu Junqian (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-12-05 07:16
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Aerial shot of the Bund showing the newly widened sidewalk and the Garden Bridge of Shanghai (foreground right). [China Daily] |
When the diggers drive off into the sea of skyscrapers and the blue boards masking the Huangpu River are torn down at the end of this month, Shanghai's renovated Bund will include a financial square guarded by a bronze bull.
The statue created by Italian-American sculptor Arturo Di Modica will mirror his Charging Bull on Wall Street, as city officials look to remind tourists of the waterfront's modern history as a repository for European trading houses, and its current status as the epicenter of booming China's business hub.
The new 4,900-sq-m area will play host to a gigantic outdoor plasma screen reeling off the day's share prices for China's three stock exchanges in Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hong Kong as an armada of pleasure cruises trawls the river's waters nearby.
The new tweaks are fitting as nowhere better represents Shanghai's cosmopolitan nature and banking credentials than the Bund, home to over 50 buildings of various architectural styles ranging from Gothic to Art Deco.
They include some of the finest bars and restaurants in the city, several mercantile banks and an old Customs House with a clock imitating London's Big Ben.
As for the statue, it too couldn't have been timed better. Pundits are already predicting another bull run in China's markets before the May 1 Shanghai Expo gets under way to help investors get over seeing their stocks fizzle out this quarter.
However for Zhou Wei, governor of Huangpu district, the most pressing concern is the upcoming World's Fair, and ensuring that Shanghai's multi-billion-dollar makeover, which includes new subway lines, roads and social etiquette campaigns, is ready in time to impress expo tourists.
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 An artist's rendering of how a new stretch of the Bund close to Suzhou Creak will look next year. [Newsphoto] |
"By refurbishing the city's famed historic area, visitors will get a more favorable impression of Shanghai," said Zhou, who is readying to welcome 70 million newcomers to the coastal city's cross-cultural gala next spring. Zhou's office holds jurisdiction over the Bund, but not the expo site.
The new Bund will be slicker-looking and free of unsightly blemishes, its shoddy concrete walkways replaced by marble-made paths stretching 12m in width, up from 3m. Long-standing eyesores like the Garden Bridge of Shanghai and Yan'an Highway are also being repaired.
The embankment will be longer, with fewer above-ground traffic lines to reduce noise and air pollution.
In fact, the Bund will stand as a 1.8-km-long recreational belt stretching from Suzhou Creak in the north of the city to Shiliupu Transportation Center in the south. Instead of 11 traffic lanes detracting from the peaceful river walks there will only be six, with buses relegated to underground passageways.
According to local residents, and at least one local traffic warden, who declined to give his name, the unveiling of the second-generation Bund cannot come a moment too soon.
"A lot of people have been asking us lately, 'Where is the Bund?'" said the warden, pointing to the construction equipment and industrial partitions. "It's embarrassing to tell them 'this is the Bund.' They always seem disappointed at not being able to get a proper look at it."
Local bank clerk Chen Min said he doesn't mind making sacrifices for the 2010 Expo, but the situation on the roads has been a nightmare since work began in February, with dust pollution battling congestion to rank as public enemy No 1.
"It used to take me 30 minutes to get to work but now it takes 50, and that's if the traffic is flowing well, which it almost never is," fumed the 30-year-old.
Bund 18, a collective that houses designer labels and five-star dining options, said business has dropped due to the renovation work but local enterprises believe the makeover will ultimately pay dividends.
"We are confident about the situation as the area will be transformed into a high-class street like Nanjing Road," said Bund 18's public relations spokesperson Emily Zhang.
Bombarded by complaints from a disgruntled public, officials have called on them to be more understanding as Shanghai continues to modernize at a frenetic rate. Recent developments include giving Disney planning permission to build its third amusement park in Asia here, with completion scheduled for 2014.
Meanwhile, some older tourists find the city's transformation, or more specifically, the sight of the Bund covered in migrant workers hammering away on pneumatic drills, historic enough to warrant a visit.
"We first visited 10 years ago but this time we deliberately came to see the Bund under construction," said a man in his early 50s from Xi'an, in Shaanxi province, who gave his surname as Li.
"We are planning to travel here a third time next spring to see what it looks like when it's done, and we expect to be thrilled by the view."
