Johannes Eisele | Afp | Getty Images The latest wave of Covid restrictions in China has forced millions of people – about three times as many as those living in New York – to stay home and undergo massive virus tests in the Shanghai metropolis. As Covid cases began to rise in late February, Shanghai tried to control the outbreak with targeted, lockdown in the neighborhood. But the city, a hub for global transport, construction, finance and commerce, decided in late March to implement a two-stage lockdown that was soon implemented in all areas, generally forcing people not to leave their apartments. Most people outside of China know that Shanghai is big, but few realize how big it is financially. The following figures indicate the Shanghai scale as a financial center – and may indicate the cost of the lockdown.

Size

GDP

World Trade Center

Shanghai is located at the mouth of the Yangtze River, one of China’s two main rivers. According to Bernstein:

Shanghai is the busiest port in the world, followed by Singapore. Shanghai Pudong Airport is the third busiest cargo airport in the world, behind Memphis, Tennessee and Hong Kong.

Overall, Shanghai accounted for 7.3% of China’s exports and 14.4% of imports in 2021, according to Citi.

Industrial and corporate center

According to Citi, Shanghai belongs to China:

The most important semiconductor manufacturing center, where SMIC, Hua Hong and Universal Scientific Industrial are located. The headquarters of many car manufacturers: SAIC Motor, SAIC joint ventures with Volkswagen and GM, Nio, Tesla and Ford. Headquartered or important center for the activities of multinational companies in China: Apple, L’Oreal, Samsung Electronics, P&G, L’Oreal, LVMH, Nike, Panasonic, Philips, Johnson & Johnson and General Electric, among others. Base for shipbuilders: Jiangnan, Zhonghua and Waigaoqiao shipbuilding.

Financing

Consumer node

In Shanghai, official figures for 2021 show:

Average disposable income 78,027 yuan ($ 12,288) – more than double the national average of 35,128 yuan ($ 5,531). Average consumer spending 48,879 yuan – also double the national average of 24,100 yuan.

US wholesale chain Costco has selected Shanghai for its first store in mainland China in 2019. And since last year, Shanghai has hosted the most cafes in the country, with nearly 3 stores per 10,000 people, compared to about 2 for Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Beijing, according to Meituan.

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Shanghai is home to three of China’s top 20 universities, according to US News and World Report. The number of aliens living in Shanghai fell to 163,954 in 2020, down 21% from a decade earlier, according to official censuses. The southern province of Guangdong now hosts the most foreigners in China, with more than 400,000. The total number of foreigners in the country has increased over the past 10 years by about 40% to 1.4 million – or about 0.1% of China’s population.