Shanghai authorities firm up details of city's four brands plan

A detailed guideline was released on Wednesday to advance the building of the four brands of Shanghai－services, manufacturing, shopping and culture.

At a regular municipal government meeting at the end of 2017, Shanghai Party Secretary Li Qiang initiated the concept of promoting the four brands of Shanghai. During a mobilization meeting on Tuesday, he emphasized that the city should take quick action and find out the right development direction to ensure that products and services provided in Shanghai are of first-rate quality, and make the city more competitive and influential.

For the services sector, Shanghai should improve its comprehensive service ability, according to the guideline. By 2020, the service industry should contribute up to 70 percent of Shanghai's annual GDP. Around 10 innovative demonstration zones featuring services should be set up in the city.

Li further explained that Shanghai's service function should aim at exerting a wider influence, with major efforts put into finance, trade, shipping, economy and scientific innovation.

"As to the manufacturing industry in Shanghai, companies and institutions should see their innovation ability largely enhanced." Li said.

There should be integration of the internet, big data, artificial intelligence and the real economy. The city should build itself into an international hub of smart manufacturing, Li said.

In this sense, the added value of strategic emerging industry should take up more than 20 percent of Shanghai's GDP by 2020, according to the guideline.

For the consumption sector, the city should take the opportunity of holding the China International Import Expo this November to attract more quality products and services worldwide as well as competent retailers and buyers, Li said.

According to the goals set by the guideline, there should be two world-renowned shopping streets in the city by 2020. Meanwhile, there should be 10 business districts highly celebrated among domestic consumers. Efforts should be made to create 50 new brands with distinctive Shanghai elements and revive 50 traditional Shanghai brands. As a result, consumption should contribute to 60 percent of the city's economic growth annually by 2020.

More vitality should be injected into the cultural development of Shanghai, Li said. Prestigious artists and industry leaders should gather in the city so that Shanghai can demonstrate its cultural charm.

To attain that target, the city will build at least two new media platforms and more than two leading mainstream media groups.

Ma Chunlei, director of the Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, said the building of the four brands of Shanghai is the important breakthrough to realize high-quality development of the city, pointing the way for Shanghai to seek its innovative economic transformation.