Hongkou
Hongkou District is located in northeastern downtown Shanghai, bordering Yangpu District to the east, Baoshan District to the north, Jing ‘an District to the west, Huangpu District to the south with the Suzhou Creek as the boundary. Hongkou, where the North Bund, Old Bund and Lujiazui all meet, is known as the “Golden Triangle” – the main central business district of Shanghai. This advantageous geographical location has led, especially in recent years, to a large development of infrastructure occurring. The construction of hubs, networks and functional facilities, have greatly improved the transportation system of Hongkou. Metro Line 3, Line 4, Line 8 and Line 10 pass through the district, and Line 12 which is now under construction will be opened to traffic within this year. Both the Inner Ring Road and the Middle Ring Road cross Hongkou, which greatly facilitates the transportation from Hongkou to Shanghai’s two big airports and Shanghai Railway Station. In 2012 the total revenue of the city was just under RMB 13bn of which Hongkou provided nearly 6bn. Hongkou specialises in the development of five main industries: shipping, financial, commerce/tourism/culture, low-carbon and cultural & creative. The development of these five industries is evident in the function optimization of the districts urban areas. The construction of “three zones, two valleys and two new housing estates” has led to Hongkou becoming more open and globally accessible. The opening-up of the North Bund Shipping and Financial Service Zone is a prime example of this increasingly global outlook. The North Bund, entitled the first “shipping headquarter base” of China, currently has a floor plan of over 3,000,000 sqm and is actively reforming shipping and financial services in order to construct a dual-bearing zone for both Shanghai international shipping centre and financial centre. The advancement of function optimization is not limited to shipping and finance with industrial scale reformation taking place along the commercial, trading and cultural streets of North Sichuan Road. These developments have led to the area becoming a popular office district of Shanghai. The district has also seen the blossoming of IT, environmental and energy industrials with a number of innovated industrial parks being constructed across the area. A number of quality housing estates are also under development and the area is quickly becoming more fashionable amongst international clients.