Shanghai has much influence on China's history for several hundred years. From textual research we have found that 5,000 years ago during the period of the Songze culture, Shanghai already took the shape of a plain in the Changjiang River Delta. Our ancestors had lift their footprints here. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Shanghai belonged to the Wu State. During the the Period of the Warring States, Shanghai first belonged to the Yue State and then to the Chu State. King Lie of the Chu State appointed Huang Xie as his prime minister and bestowed him the title of Lord Chunshen. Shanghai was part of his feoff. The other name of Shanghai "Shen" was derived from this. Shanghai has another name "Hu", which came from "hudu".In ancient times, the fishermen is Shanghai invented a bamboo fishing device called "hu", ("Du" in Chinese means "creek".) This area was called "Hu Du" before it became known as Shanghai. The name "Shanghai" actually came into being during the Song Dynasty, when Shanghai was then becoming a new rising trading port. There were then in Shanghai 18 creeks, one of which was called Shanghai Creek, a section of the Huangpu River from the Bund to Shiliupu. On its western bank was a Shanghai Town; the name "Shanghai" was derived from this. During the Yuan Dynasty, Shanghai Town had greatyly developed and set up a shippin administration. Later on,the town was promoted to a county, which consisted of today's urban areas, Shanghai, Qingpu, Nanhui and Chuansha Counties. By the Ming Dynasty, Shanghai had already become China's largest textile center and business was developing fast. In the 24 th year of Qing Emperor Kngxi's reign (1685), the Qing government set up in Shanghai the customs. During the reigns of Qing Emperor Qianlong and Jiaqing, Shanghai gradually became China/s major trading port and water transportation center for grains. It was then known as "A place accessible by sea and rivers; a capital in the southeast".

　　In 1843, after the Opium War, Shanghai was forced to become an open port by the colonialists, In 1845, Britain first set up its concession in Shanghai. In 1848, the United States set up its concession, the followed by France in 1849. In 1863, the British and American concessions amalgamated into the Chinese Section, the International Settlement and the French Concession. In the 100 years since 1943, Shanghai had become an important port for the foreign colonialists to dump their goods, ravaged raw materials and money. Shanghai was thus known as "A Paradise of the Adventurers".

　　On July 7,1927, Shanghai was proclaimed as a special municipality. In 1945, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the concessions were reclaimed. On May 27, 1949, Shanghai was really liberated. Through the continual and long-term reform and construction by the successive municipal governments and the people, Shanghai has become an important industrial and commercial base in new China. In the 20 years of reform and opening to the outside world (1978-1998), especially after Deng Xiaoping, the chief designer of our reform and opening policy, made his speech on his inspection tour of the south, Shanghai has been developing and changing with every passing day and has become China's center of economy, science and technology, information and culture, an international modernized metropolis.