As the China's largest city, Shanghai ( 上海 ) is situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta. The city's development in the past few decades has made it one of the most important economic, commercial, financial and communications centers of China .
Administratively, Shanghai is one of four municipalities of the People's Republic of China that have provincial-level status. Shanghai is also home to the world's busiest port, followed by Singapore and Rotterdam .
The two characters in the name " Shanghai " literally mean "up/above" and "sea". The earliest occurrence of this name dates from the Song Dynasty ( 宋朝 ) , at which time there was already a river confluence and a town called "Shanghai" in the area. It is unclear how the name originated or how its meaning should be interpreted, though a literal reading suggests the sense "onto the sea".
In Chinese, Shanghai's abbreviations are Hu ( 沪 ) and Shen ( 申 ) . The city has had various nicknames in English, including " Paris of the East", "Queen of the Orient" (or " Pearl of the Orient").
Shanghai is the financial and trade center of China . It began economic reforms in 1992, a decade later than many of the Southern Chinese provinces. Prior to then, much of the city revenue went directly to the capital, Beijing , with little return. Even with a decreased tax burden after 1992, Shanghai 's tax contribution to the central government is around 20-25% of the national total ( Shanghai 's annual tax burden pre-1990s was on average 70% of the national). Shanghai today is the biggest and most developed city in mainland China .
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