The humble office

Amid the present-day landscape of the Lujiazui financial district, it is easy to overlook an innocuous-looking two-story building that sits on No 141 Pudong Avenue. Just a few blocks away are futuristic structures such as the Shanghai Tower and the Oriental Pearl TV Tower.

But a large billboard standing in front of the small building was what attracted He. It bears a portrait of Deng Xiaoping and his quote "Concentrate on the development of Pudong, do not waver until the job is completed." This building is prominently mentioned in his book.

From 1990 to 2000, this humble building served as the government administrative office for the ambitious Pudong development project backed by Deng.

Ten years before the State Council announced its plans to develop Pudong, the central government had already established four special economic zones in 1980 — Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou in South China's Guangdong province and Xiamen in East China's Fujian province — with more open policies and less market entry barriers for foreign investment.

Deng spent the Spring Festival in Shanghai every year from 1988 to 1994. During his visit, he listened to the plans regarding Pudong’s development and closely monitored its progress.

In order to differentiate Pudong with other special economic zones, the central government named it Pudong New Area, which became the first State-level "new area" that enjoyed more autonomy than special economic zones when it comes to designing local opening-up policies.

In the following years, Pudong achieved many national firsts — it had its first stock exchange, its first joint-venture retail company, its first bonded area, its first diamond exchange, and first free trade zone.

He Jianming, author of Pudong Epic. [Photo provided to China Daily]