China's economy has made tremendous achievements since the reform and opening-up policy that began some 30 years ago. Shanghai, the country's financial hub on the front line in the opening up, has undoubtedly become a major engine of domestic economic growth, helping propel in the whole country. Today's Shanghai is a prosperous city full of vigor and with an abundance of development.

The 6,340-sq-km city is located on the Yangtze River Delta, the most affluent area in China. Bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces to the west, Shanghai is also on East China Sea and Hangzhou Bay.

Shanghai has a central location along China's coastline that has long made it a crucial gateway to the world. There are 13.7 million people living in the city.

As the former international financial center of the Far East, Shanghai remains the foremost financial city in the country.

In addition, as the core city in the economic circle in the Yangtze River Delta, the "oriental pearl" also serves as a major traffic artery and foreign trade port in China.

On the heels of a global shift in the manufacturing industry, the diversion of the service industry has also triggered a wave of global resource allocation. Service outsourcing has been pushed to the central stage of world economy.

Driving the development of service outsourcing has become the major task for the Shanghai government to meet its strategic need for an economic structure oriented to a service economy.

The Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Shanghai municipal government have placed great emphasis on service outsourcing.

The local government released a document on the suggestions on how to advance the service outsourcing in Shanghai in August 2006.

Under guidance and full support from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), and efforts from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce (SCOFCOM), the city's service outsourcing industry is now reaping rewards.

In October 2006, Shanghai was granted the first group of service outsourcing bases by MOFCOM, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

A month later, Pudong New Area, Luwan district, Changning district and Caohejing High-Tech Park were authorized to be service outsourcing model areas.

Five service outsourcing parks - Shanghai Zhangjiang Financial Information Outsourcing Center, Shanghai Zhangjiang Biomedicine Outsourcing Center, Shanghai Nanhui Biomedicine Outsourcing Center, Shanghai Information Technology Outsourcing Center and Shanghai Human Resources Outsourcing Center - were accredited by the SMCC in March 2008.

Today, the SCOFCOM has accredited Shanghai Pudong Software Park and Luwan Human Resources Outsourcing Park as Shanghai information technology service outsourcing and human resource outsourcing centers. An additional 40 key outsourcing firms have also been accredited.

As Shanghai stretches its arms further to embrace the world, it is picking up steam for the 2010 World Expo.

(China Daily December 26, 2008)