Streamlined clearance at Shanghai Free Trade Zone sets benchmark for efficiency

The Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ) has created a benchmark for its peers nationwide with its streamlined customs clearance and government approvals, bringing slashed costs and speedier logistics for enterprises.

At Shanghai's largest cold chain logistics center for fruits, nearly 10,000 containers are imported annually from South America alone.

To keep tropical fruits fresh after traveling thousands of miles, a new international trade mechanism has been developed and perfected in the city's FTZ.

"Previously, foreign ships were not allowed to engage in coastal transport within China. So bananas from South America had to be routed through Busan, South Korea, before reaching the three major ports in north China. Now, with the FTZ allowing coastal transport by foreign vessels, bananas can be transferred directly from Yangshan Port to the three northern ports, reducing shipping time by one to two weeks and significantly cutting costs for companies," said Jiang Jianli, logistics director of Goodfarmer Foods Holding Group.

The Shanghai Port now handles over 49 million standard containers annually, or an average of 1.5 containers are processed per second.

Managing such a high volume of ships and goods while maintaining order requires advanced systems. A decade ago, companies had to physically submit piles of documents for customs. Now, the process has gone digital.

"The Shanghai International Trade Single Window links 22 regulatory departments, including customs and maritime affairs departments, into one platform. This provides businesses with one-stop service and automated real-time declarations around the clock," said Zhang Jie, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce.

The system has reduced the time required for cargo declarations from one day to half an hour and for ship declarations from two days to two hours.

It now supports over one-quarter of China's foreign trade, facilitating the country's exports and imports. Items like Spanish ham, New Zealand honey, Mongolian cashmere, Syrian soap, Pakistani handicrafts, coffee beans from East Timor and international beauty brands now reach the Chinese market more quickly.

Trade facilitation in the FTZ has played a crucial role in the China International Import Expo (CIIE), held annually since 2018.

"Global products now become available in Shanghai instantly after they are launched, which is very convenient," said a local resident.

Businesses benefit from streamlined processes and consumers enjoy faster access to products, thanks to the government's proactive efforts.

The average approval time for business licenses has been cut by 90 percent, and the required application materials have been reduced by 70 percent.

More than 300 business-related approval items are now fully processed online, boosting innovation and entrepreneurship.

Beyond food and consumer goods, the FTZ has also made waves in the art world.

The Shanghai FTZ was the first to implement the system for temporary entry of cultural relics, doubling their permitted stay in China.

Artifacts can enter bonded warehouses within 24 hours of arrival and be displayed or traded across the country while under bonded status.

From 2013 to 2023, the total value of cultural relics and artworks entering and leaving the Shanghai FTZ reached over 100 billion yuan (more than 14. 16 billion U.S. dollars). The number of art pieces processed annually at the FTZ grew from less than 100 to more than 10,000.

In the Lingang New Area, a part of the FTZ, smart heavy-duty trucks, taxis, and buses have become part of daily life.

Five years ago, the first wholly foreign-owned vehicle manufacturing project in China was launched in Lingang, completing construction and starting production within the same year.

Since the establishment of the Lingang New Area five years ago, its GDP has grown by an average of 19.8 percent annually, industrial output of major businesses by 34.6 percent, and fixed asset investment by 33.4 percent.

The area has also attracted around 100,000 talents with an average annual hike of 97 percent.

Streamlined clearance at Shanghai Free Trade Zone sets benchmark for efficiency

The National Library of China in Beijing has unveiled a new exhibition featuring a diverse collection of ancient Chinese texts and literary cultural artifacts, offering a rare glimpse into the nation's enduring cultural and intellectual heritage.

Among the focal points are significant historical documents including oracle bones, bamboo slips used for writing, and stone inscriptions, with each of these items carrying a unique piece of history.

In early Chinese history, rulers are known to have used divination techniques that involved placing animal bones, or oracle bones, over fire and interpreting the cracks that formed. This practice is believed to have inspired some of the earliest Chinese writing systems.

"The divination on the oracle bones contains a record indicating that the king of the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC) asked if there would been any incoming disasters, and concluded with a Gongdian (a ritual in the Shang Dynasty) held on Jiazi (the first day in a cycle in the Chinese calendar of stems and branches) in April," said Dong Xin, an instructor from the Exhibition Department of the National Library.

The exhibition also highlights a seminal work of literature in the history of Chinese mathematics, which would later serve as the foundation for an accurate calculation of pi by Chinese mathematician Liu Hui in the third century BCE.

"The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art is regarded as the foremost work in Chinese mathematical literature, containing nearly 100 formulas and establishing a foundational framework for ancient Chinese mathematics. It also served as a textbook at the Imperial Academy of Mathematics during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The version displayed is the earliest known edition, and it is a printed edition from the Southern Song period (1127-1279)," Dong explained.

Gu Heng, director of the Exhibition Department, said that their efforts to digitally replicate the ancient books on display have paid off in helping visitors better digest their contents.

"In the past, visitors often concentrated on the physical attributes of ancient books, such as their appearance and displayed pages, but struggled to grasp the depth of the main content within the brief time allotted for a typical visit," he said.

"This exhibition has a significant difference from previous ones: it incorporates six new databases that digitize the entire content of the ancient books. By combining the physical displays in the exhibition with the extensive back-end databases of the National Library, it creates an integrated system that allows visitors to deeply engage with and understand all the related knowledge and traditional Chinese culture," Gu added.

The National Library of China has released over 7,085 new digital resources. Its Chinese Ancient Books Resource Database has now featured over 139,000 digital items, with more than 105,000 from the library's own collection.

Under the theme of inheritance, the exhibition at the National Library was co-organized by several regional institutions like the Liaoning Provincial Library, Shanghai Library, and Shandong Museum.

China's National Library holds wide-ranging exhibition of ancient Chinese texts