Random thoughts from Shanghai

Shanghai is the usual hustle and bustle: Overbooked plane on the way here (stewardess said it's been ALWAYS full for the last few months, except for a few quiet weeks around Chinese New Year), a busy-looking hotel, and Lujiazui is the usual construction site (currently they are working on the IFC mall and office center, just started work on Shanghai Tower which is supposed to be China's tallest building by 2014, and have various other minor skyskrapers in various stages of construction). It seems hard to believe that Shanghai will need all this office space: The major Chinese banks are all headquartered in Beijing, the regional companies prefer to stay in their respective regions, and what's left for Shanghai is the MNCs. Do they really need to double their Lujiazui office-space for that target market? I somehow doubt it, but then, I'm the perennial sceptic with regards to such things... Anyway, the only negative bit of news I've heard is that during the last few months, dozens of expats have been sent packing by their employers. Not really a material number (and anyway just anecdotal evidence), but it seem to show that MNCs are becoming more cautious with regards to their China business.