The staffs in Shenyang Financial and Trade Development Zone Administrative Commission have been very busy these days. After their office was moved into the modern Fangyuan Building, they begin with no stop the early-stage preparatory work for another key project--Northeast World Trade Center.

"When this 300-meter-high plaza is finished, the development zone can be regarded as having its own symbolic building," an official of the administrative commission said.

This plaza will also play an important role in an endeavor for Shenyang to become the Northeast Asia financial center. According to the program envisaged by Shenyang Municipal Government, over 60 high buildings of various architectural styles will embrace this Trade Center, an "Oriental Manhattan" to be. Now the preparatory work for the Northeast World Trade Center is in its full swing, and the Shenyang Municipal Government takes the project seriously, listing it No. 1 project of the city with Chen Zhenggao himself, mayor of the city to assume the head of the construction leading team.

The construction site, buzzing with activity, indicates the fervent feelings that Shenyang is eager to become the financial center in Northeast Asia. As introduced, the leaders of Shenyang have given several instructions. Especially after the central government took the policy of "revitalizing the northeast" as one of the basic state strategies, Shenyang has stepped up the construction of the financial center while speeding up the pace in updating the traditional industrial base.

"The construction of Shenyang financial center includes two goals: to become the financial center in northeast China at first and then extend its influence to the whole northeast Asia." Says Sun Jing, an official in the Office of Shenyang Financial and Trade Development Zone Administrative Commission.

An investment of 20 billion yuan

Bold and brave is the traditional work style of the people in the Northeast. The momentum and determination of the Shenyang people in the construction of the financial center in Northeast Asia is just as bold as ever. To invest 20 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion) and build over 60 high-rises with the floor space to come to 3 million square meters, and the finance and trade zone to cover 5.6 hectares. "In the south there's Shanghai Lujiazui Finance and Trade Zone, while there's Shenyang in the north." This is a pet phrase of Shenyang citizens. When gathering news in this city, many taxi drivers informed proudly the reporter of the finance zone near Shenyang North Railway Station. "There sees a unique superiority in the location of Shenyang Finance and Trade Zone. Here is the venue for passengers, venue for goods and financial flows. So we see a very good prospect in front of us," said a manager of the Commerce and Industrial Bank of China Shenyang Branch.

The upgrade of the finance and trade development zone tells the importance and attention attached to it by Shenyang Municipality, according to a deputy head of the Research Department under Shenyang Municipal Government. In 1992 the development zone is only at the municipal level, in 1996 it was developed and administrated by Liaoning Province and in 2002 it was upgraded to a provincial development zone approved by Liaoning Provincial Government.

"When the 'revitalizing the northeast' is unfolded to be a basic national strategy, the construction Shenyang into a financial center has seen another opportunity for development." "It would be impossible to invigorate the enterprises without the support of finance. So, the status of Shenyang as a financial center can be enhanced," said the official, who has participated the policy survey and study revitalizing the old industrial base.

Not a passionate move

"Shenyang has been known as 'capital in the northeast,' which shows the unsurpassable status in the northeast China," said an experienced person in Shenyang Subsidiary Bank of the People's Bank of China (PBC). A significant indication is that the branch institution of PBC is located in Shenyang, which is in charge of the finance of the three northeast provinces in China.

The financial resource in Shenyang is also listed among the top in China. The amount of deposits and loans of the banking industry in Shenyang are all placed at the 6th among China's fourteen sub-provincial cities (only after Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Chengdu). According to the statistics from the financial office under Liaoning Provincial Government, the deposit and loan balances in Shenyang occupy nearly one-third that of Liaoning Province. For example, in 2001 the remaining sum of deposits of Liaoning Province was 659.1 billion yuan (US$79.6 billion), and that of Shenyang was 190.7 billion yuan (US$23 billion), accounting for 29 percent. The remaining sum of loans in Liaoning that year was RMB 559.7 billion yuan (US$67.6 billion) while that of Shenyang was 154.7 billion yuan (US$18.7 billion), accounting for 28 percent.

Now, Shenyang has become the center of notes and bills in northeast China. Shenyang has adopted the advanced automatic note-examination system as early as in the Eighth Five-year Plan period (1991-1995), which has raised the capabilities of note examination and laid a sound foundation to expand the business for the note and bill exchanges in the region.

Not long ago, Shenyang Branch of PBC held demonstration and seminar on the issue for Shenyang to become a financial center, and the attendees thought that Shenyang has possessed the foundation and talents as a regional financial center. They particularly mentioned that the withdrawal of currency has steadily been listed at the top of the big cities in China for many years. It shows that the pattern of economy and trade circulation has been formed and there is unblocked channel for the capital to flow from other cities into Shenyang.

As for the stock market, it is brisk in Shenyang and the ratio of stock investor is much higher than that of other cities in the northeast China. There are 37 stock companies and institutions, 82 stock bourses. The volume of trade is also numerous. In 2001, the total stock volume of trade in Shenyang is 157.9 billion yuan (US$19 billion), accounting for 50 percent that of Liaoning.

(People's Daily August 29, 2003)