Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Shanghai this week for his first public visit there in three years, with Beijing pushing a narrative that the city will play an important role in reinvigorating the nation’s economy.
State media video footage using soaring music showed a stoic Xi — who conducted an inspection tour from Tuesday to Wednesday — making a visit to the Shanghai Futures Exchange, watching a robot demonstration and giving speeches to raucous applause.
Shanghai, which is a key base for the China presence of large international companies including Tesla and Disney, struggled through harsh COVID-19 restrictions, with similar measures elsewhere in the country crimping economic activity and affecting global supply chains. But now officials are on a push to position the city as a growth engine, with the science, finance and technology sectors leading the way.