Over the last two decades, I have visited Shanghai more than two dozen times, for both work and pleasure. My first trip was back in 2004. I was then with Standard Chartered Bank (Stanchart), and I was a mystery shopper sussing out what rivals Citibank and HSBC were offering. I also worked with regulators to roll out innovations. Very quickly, we recognised the huge appetite of China to try new things, to speculate — and yes, to copy.
Shanghai, with its rich history, has never failed to surprise. The Pearl of the Orient is an affectionate nickname bestowed upon the Chinese city in the heydays of the 1920s, when deals, parties, fights and intrigues were everyday life. In that era, identities were interchangeable: patriots or gangsters, traitors or businessmen.
On my red-eye flight to Shanghai earlier this week — my first visit since 2019 — I watched the espionage thriller Hidden Blade, starring Tony Leung, just to get into the mood not for love, but to see, hear and feel the pulse of this metropolis post Trump, post Covid.
