Three days after the announcement of the city’s new Party Secretary, residents of Shanghai seem to care more about “whether the new guy is going to make my life better” than “where he comes from”. Despite the fact that the new party secretary, Xi Jinping, is the first chief of the city from outside the municipality since the last two decades, people say: “As long as he comes in to build a city that has fewer crimes and cheaper houses, we Shanghai people are not regional protectionists.”
Might be scared of the recent scandal of their former party secretary Mr. Chen Liangyu, who was sacked in last September because of the improper approval of the city’s 3-billion social insurance fund to be used in real estate and other risky investment, people in Shanghai seem to be ready to welcome someone whose non-corruptive character is on the top of the list. One middle-aged local resident says: “It might be better to have someone from outside so that the original corruption chain in the municipal government might be able to break. Remember the Chinese saying? It is easier for foreign monks to chant.” A local university professor also believes that it won’t change Shanghai’s status of being the financial center of the country no matter who is going to run the city. “The Central Government will not slow down the speed of the growth of Shanghai,” he says, “though, it might be an upcoming reshuffle among local officials once Xi comes into power.”
