The Shanghair Pudong International Airport is an important Chinese airport located close to the urban part of Shanghai. It is located approximately 18.6 miles (30 kilometers) from downtown Shanghai (Travelchinaguide.com n.p.). The location of the airport is especially ideal because of Shanghai’s free trade zone. Free trade zones were designed to facilitate international business transactions while maintaining fairness for the Chinese businesses. For instance, international investors cannot own a business on their own; they can only do so in tandem with a Chinese investor (Shira and Yao n.p.). Also, international investors can only own up to 51% of a business (Shira and Yao n.p.). There are further restrictions on what industries foreign investors are allowed to participate in.
Free trade zones have grown the industries in areas where they have been implemented, making the location of the airport ideal for facilitating shipments. Another reason for the airports location to be ideal is because of the cultural diversity of Shanghai. Shanghai has a population of 23,019,200 (Shanghaihighlights.com n.p.). There are 106,639 different minority groups according to a 2000 census (Shanghaihighlights.com n.p.). These groups are from all over Asia and Europe. Given the number of minority groups, it is only logical many of them will want to fly to visit their hometowns. Again, this makes the airport ideally located.
Not only does Shanghai house a large amount of minority groups on a permanent basis, thousands of migrant workers flow in and out of the city every year (Shanghaihighlights.com n.p.). These workers must have a convenient mode of travel in order to effectively reach their different destinations to work throughout the year. The airport being near the urban population is ideal for their travel to and from Shanghai.
Works Cited
Shanghaihighlights.com,. 'Shanghai Facts - Get A General Information About Shanghai'. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 July 2015.
Shira, Dezan, and Rainy Yao. 'The New Free Trade Zones Explained, Part I: Guangdong - China Briefing News'. China Briefing News. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 July 2015.
Travelchinaguide.com,. 'Shanghai Pudong International Airport: Flight, Airlines, Terminal Buidings'. N.p., 2015. Web. 20 July 2015.
