Global Urban Development in China: A Case Study of Shanghai in the Context of Globalization

In the context of robust economic transformation and urban restructuring of Chinese cities, Shanghai has been become the predominant strategic site and frontier in the East Asia region embedded in globalization circumstance. The purpose of this paper is aiming to examine the global urban development of Shanghai with reference to its global city connectivity incorporated into world city network. Basically, the application of interlocking city network model proposed by GaWC research group is able to detect the relative connectivity and rankings of Shanghai in the combination of global scale and national scale. Based upon the comprehensive modelling application, as well as qualitative analysis, we can corroborate that Shanghai has been deemed as leading world city in the Chinese urban hierarchy, this unprecedented urban development and city revival is attributed to global strategy of multinational advanced producer services firms in Shanghai, and global provision of foreign direct investment in this prosperous metropolis thereby transforming this preeminent world city into new trajectory in globalization.