Shanghai April, 2013
Newsletter no. 1
Dette nyhedsbrev udgives af Region Midtjyllands Repræsentationskontor i
Shanghai. Det beskriver regionens aktiviteter i Shanghai og formidler fagspecifikke
temaer og nyheder fra Shanghai med relevans for regionens samarbejdspartnere og
ansatte. Nyhedsbrevet udgives på engelsk og temaartiklen ligeledes på kinesisk.
This Newsletter is published by Central Denmark Region´s Representative
Office in Shanghai. It conducts some of the regions activities in Shanghai and
communicates themes and news from Shanghai of interests for CDR partners and
employees.
Newsletter no. 1 --- Contents
I.
Theme articles
Shanghai – Central Denmark Region relations:
10 years anniversary
Interviews with Shanghai’s leaders
II.
General news
Positive reaction to new direct tourist destinations to/from Shanghai
Shanghai International Tourism Resorts Zone will launch plan on the
construction of smart grid facilities
China's first one-stop international educational theme park
completed in Shanghai
Shanghai: In 2015 the total output of energy saving and
environmental protection industry will reach 78 billion Yuan
Shanghai’s tracing system for food has been built up, involving more
than 1900 enterprises
Well-known brands have raised the price
Theme articles:
Shanghai – Central Denmark Region relations:
10 years anniversary
The relationship
This year, 2013, it is 10 years ago since Shanghai and Central Denmark Region (“CDR”) entered into a sister city agreement.
It all started in 1998 where the Municipality of Shanghai approached the County of Aarhus with a suggestion of establishing a sister city collaboration. From the Danish side this was seen as a major prospect for exchanging knowledge and enhancing business opportunities with one of the fastest growing and potentially largest markets in the world. A delegation from the county of
Aarhus visited Shanghai in 2000 to discuss the cooperation and a delegation from Shanghai paid a visit to Aarhus in 2001.
In November 2003 the sister city agreement was signed. The aim was to promote collaboration in a number of areas such as science, technology, environment, health, rehabilitation and trade. Since January, 2007, when CDR was formed, CDR has been responsible for the collaboration with Shanghai. In 2006 the County of Aarhus established a representative office in Shanghai. The representative office is today situated together with the Danish Innovation Centre. The main role of the representative office is to be a “bridge” to the Shanghai Municipality, and support and boost the cooperation between the two parties.
Today Shanghai’s international network is large. Shanghai has sister city agree- ments with 73 different sister cities and 10 other sister cities on the district level. CDR only has one sister city; Shanghai.
Despite the big difference between Shanghai and CDR in international cooperation, size and population, CDR’s effort of remaining a visible and successful relationship has proven that size doesn’t matter.
10 years – projects and activities
It has been interesting 10 years with a lot of projects and exchange of know- ledge between the two parties. Many exchange visits have taken place and a lot of companies, personnel and research institutions have had the opportunity to exchange knowledge and explore business opportunities.
Shanghai - A strong (sister) city
Shanghai is one of the four province-level
municipalities in China, with a total population of 23,7 million (December 2012).
It is a global city, a major financial center and it has the busiest container port in the world. In 2010 Shanghai successfully held the world Expo.
Shanghai Technology Innovation Center, home of CDR Representative Office
In May 2009 a Science Agreement was signed between CDR and Shanghai Science and Technology Commission. Growth Forum (“Vækstforum”) of CDR decided to support the cooperation, by funding a program that supports relevant projects within the scope of the agreement. The program is called “Midtnet”.
So far Midtnet has initiated 12 joint-projects, and Shanghai Science and Technology Commission has also financially supported some joint-projects. In January 2013 Growth Forum decided to support an extension of the program. This means that 12 new Midtnet-projects will be launched in the coming two years.
Other successful areas of cooperation are rehabilitation and health care. The cooperation has involved training-visits in the two regions, seminars in Shanghai, evaluation reports and educational courses.
In 2010 CDR was awarded the Magnolia Award from Shanghai Municipal Government as an acknowledgement of the cooperation in the rehabilitation field.
Anniversary celebrations: Strong Relations Matter
To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the collaboration with Shanghai, several anniversary events will take place in the region during 2013. The theme for the celebration is: “Strong relations matter”. As a culmination of these anniversary events Central Denmark Region will in the end of May welcome a delegation from Shanghai government. The delegation will participate in the anniversary celebration and conference.
28th of May the Anniversary Conference: “Strong Relations Matter” will take place at Aarhus University. The Danish Minister for Trade and Investments, Pia Olsen Dyhr, Shanghai representative and President of Central Denmark Region, Bent Hansen will open the conference. The conference will also host the signing ceremony of the new Memorandum of Understanding between Shanghai and Central Denmark Region. Please find more information about the conference and other anniversary events on
www.centraldenmark.cn. The future
Today CDR has a strong bond to several municipal offices in Shanghai, like Foreign Affairs Office and Civil Affairs Office, and CDR is planning on initiating new initiatives with strong cooperation partners as Huangpu District of Shanghai and Shanghai Food Safety Commission.
Several Danish municipalities and regions have within the last 10 years entered into cooperation and sister city agreements with different cities in China. This is another clear sign of the strong relationship between Denmark and China and further stresses that CDR should continue, strengthen and increase the valuable connection with Shanghai.
Midtnet Midtnet is a business related knowledge cooperation between Shanghai and CDR. More information about the Midtnet-program can be found at
Interviews with Shanghai’s leaders
As part of the 10-year anniversary, the Central Denmark Region representative office in Shanghai conducted two interviews with two leaders from Shanghai government.
Shanghai Foreign Affairs Office (FAO)
On January 30, 2013, Tina Krabbe, Chief
Representative, interviewed Mr. Shao Huixiang, Deputy Director General of FAO.
Initially, Mr. Shao stated that Shanghai has a good impression of Denmark – the Little Mermaid, H. C. Andersen and Danish cookies…. Regarding the relationship with Central Denmark Region, Mr. Shao emphasized that “Size doesn’t matter; the key is trust in politics, mutual learning about culture and mutual economic benefit.” Science and Technology Commission Shanghai Municipality (STCSM)
The interview with STCSM took place on January 24, 2013. The interviewee was Mr. Hu Mu, Head of International Cooperation Department of STCSM.
Mr. Hu talked about the two projects that STCSM has been co-funding together with Central Denmark Region. The projects, stated Mr. Hu, “go very well” and one of the reasons is that the partners chosen in Shanghai are good.
As for important areas for cooperation in the future, Mr. Hu mentioned environmental protection; e.g. clean water. The quantity of water is not a problem for Shanghai; said Mr. Hu, but the quality of the water is (since Shanghai gets much pollution via the water). Finally, Mr. Hu wished that Chinese companies could learn from Danish companies how to focus on the key targets and strive to be the best.
II. General news
Good market reaction to new direct tourist destinations to/from Shanghai
In 2013, a number of new direct flights on international routes offered by domestic and foreign airlines will be opened and many dates have already been sold out. Some places like Gangwon, South Korea, and Mauritius, Africa, will be new popular outbound destinations for Chinese tourists.
The new direct routes make it more convenient for tourists from Shanghai and East China to make overseas travel, since the flight time is shorter and the price of the tickets reduced.
Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone will launch plan on the construction of smart grid facilities
Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone is a big project in Pudong district of Shanghai. The key attraction is Disneyland. In order to promote its construction, Shanghai International Tourism and Resorts Zone on November 2, 2012 signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Shanghai Electric Power Co.,Ltd. By signing the strategic cooperation agreement, both sides will carry out a comprehensive and
collaborative effort to implement the construction of electric power within the zone, creating a safe, reliable and economic power supply environment.
It is reported that both parties will focus on using innovative technology and making the zone a demonstration area with low-carbon emission, a concept of environmental protection and high tech energy saving solutions. Besides, the parties will discuss and research on the construction of a smart grid, trying to build up facilities that supply and charge power for electric vehicles.
Note: The 3.9-sq-km Shanghai Disney resort will be the world's sixth Disney amusement park and the first one on the Chinese mainland. Its total investment is expected to hit 24.5 billion yuan ($3.84 billion) on the park and 4.5 billion yuan on hotels and accompanying retail, dining and entertainment facilities.
China's first one-stop international educational center completed in Shanghai
On October 16, 2012, China's first one-stop international education center- Shanghai International Education Exchange Center (IEEC) - held its launching ceremony in Baoshan District, Shanghai. In the launching ceremony, the first Sino-US Higher Education Innovation Center was officially inaugurated here. IEEC is co-sponsored by China Education International Exchange Association and Huazi International Culture Transmission Co., Ltd, combined with an international education service platform co-founded by a number of domestic and foreign educational institutions and domestic universities.
By creating a new study abroad experience model, IEEC brought a fresh new concept “experience first, then take action” for Chinese students, so that students and their parents who do not know foreign schools clearly can feel more assured. Besides, IEEC provides a one-stop service that consists of planning,
campus of Fudan University. It consists of two 24-storey 5A office buildings and an international leisure square.
Shanghai: the total output of energy saving and environmental protection industry in 2015 will reach 78 billion Yuan
In January 2013, the 12th Five-Year Developing Plan of Energy Saving and Environmental Protection
Industry was launched. According to that, during the "Twelfth Five-Year" period, the average annual growth of production value of energy saving and environmental protection industry in Shanghai is about 15% and its total production output value in 2015 will reach to 78 billion yuan.
Currently there are about 136 big energy saving and environmental protection enterprises in Shanghai. They focus on technology research and development, equipment manufacturing, industrial services, marketing and other fields.
Shanghai is ranked the fifth in China on the amount of patent applications on seven areas of water, gas, sound, monitoring and governance of solid waste, energy saving and environmental protection technology, clean production technologies and damaged environment restoration.
According to Shanghai Municipal Economic and Informatization Commission, the technical innovation capability of the enterprises in the industry of energy saving and environment protection is still not strong enough. The technical innovation systems still need to be improved and the local conversion rate of scientific results is not high enough.
In the period of the “Twelfth Five-Year" plan, Shanghai will foster a number of small and medium-sized energy saving and environmental protection enterprises that should have flexible mechanisms, leading technology and innovative modes. According to the plan, by 2015, 10 technical centers and 10 platforms of technical innovation and public service will be built up.
Shanghai’s tracing system of food safety has been built up, involving more than 1900 enterprises January 3, 2013, Municipal Commission of Commerce; Shanghai has built up its tracingsystem on food safety.
The construction of a tracing system on food circulation in Shanghai started in 2005. In 2006, some pork tracing pilots were started from some pig slaughterhouses, meat wholesale markets, as well as markets of standardization. It has been ranked as one of the key projects of the municipal government for five consecutive years. In 2012, the coverage area of the food safety tracing system were extended from pork and vegetables to a variety of aquatic products, beef, mutton and grains, involving today more than 1900 enterprises.
Through the tracing system, when consumers buy meat, vegetables, aquatic products and other commodities in markets and supermarkets, they can inquire the food they bought of its production location, processing enterprise, production date, quarantine inspection, the operator and other information from electronic labels printed on electronic scales.
Well-known brands have raised the price
After the Chinese New Year, around 80% of the luxury brands in China increased their prices including brands like Chanel, Bvlgari, Dior, Louis Vuitton etc. High-end cosmetics is ranked at the top of the charts of price rising, the highest increase about 30%.
The price rising showed active position, but some luxury brands chose to stop their stores expansion in the year of snake. Louis Vuitton expressed that they won’t continue to open new stores in the less developed cities. Gucci also announced a slowdown in its development plan in China. According to its original plan, Gucci expects to build up 10-15 new stores each year in China and now it is changed to 3-4 stores annually. Based on the released data by Burberry, its growth rate of sales in the Asia-Pacific market, mainly in China fell to 16% from 67%.
Shanghai: nannies for childcare and elderly care are difficult to get
In recent years, as continuous baby boomer and acute aging trend in Shanghai, the supply of babysitters and elderly nannies are becoming shorter. Further the salary expectation increases.
Grandma Wang is now in her 80s, her husband past away in 2010. Now she is living with her children. Within two years, she has changed nannies more than 20 times. Apart from different reasons of leaving, many nannies asked for a salary increase and left when they were refused a raise. Grandma Wang paid 1400 yuan per month in salary for a nanny in 2010, which has now been increased to 3000 yuan per month, higher than her retirement benefit. But she still can’t keep a nanny. Grandma Wang’s story is quite
common currently in Shanghai, many old people can’t afford the price of a nanny, since it already exceeds their ability to pay. And if they can afford the nanny’s salary, they can not get the nanny to stay.
Central Denmark Region, Shanghai Office
Tina Krabbe
Chief Representative
Tel. +86 18621702370/+86 21 3401 0973 Email. tina.krabbe@centraldenmark.cn
Add. Shanghai Technology Innovation Center, Room 711, Building 2, No. 100 Qin Zhou Road, Shanghai 200235, China
Rose Wang
Representative Assistant
Tel. +86 158 2133 7997/+86 21 3406 0857 Email. wang.ting@centraldenmark.cn
Add. Shanghai Technology Innovation Center, Room 711, Building 2, No. 100 Qin Zhou Road, Shanghai 200235, China
