SISU international faculty visit Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone

esigned in part to encourage more foreign investment, Shanghai’s Free Trade Zone hosted foreign interest of another type on May 27.

Twenty foreign faculty members of Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) and 11 of their family members visited the 120-square-kilometer site in the Pudong District. The teachers originated from the countries of United States, England, France, Japan, India, Russia, Iran, Indonesia, Ukraine, Australia and Latvia.

Sponsored by the university’s Office of International Cooperation and Exchange, the day-long bus trip included a visit to Yangshan Port and a presentation by the Shanghai Free Trade Zones United Development Co. Ltd.

“Established in 2013 as the first free trade zone in China, the Shanghai Pilot Free Trade Zone has been successful in its primary goal”, said Rita Wang, marketing supervisor for the development company, in her presentation to the group. “It has eased the internal contradiction among investment, trading, finance, systems and regulation in China”, she said.

Because of its success and quick growth, the free trade zone was expanded to three additional provinces in 2014, according to her presentation. “Although the development of the Free Trade Zone has again slowed down, it has greatly supported the reforming of China’s financing and trading field,” she said.

Faculty members on the trip teach in SISU’s Graduates Institute of Interpretation and Translation, School of Japanese Studies, School of Asian and African Studies, School of Journalism and Communication, School of Chinese Studies and Exchange, School of Russian and Eurasian Studies, the Middle East Studies Institute, and Intercultural Institute and Overseas Training Center.

Accompanied by Christine Zhang, program manager for foreign faculty affairs, and other university staff members, the foreign teachers were treated to lunch at Shuyuan Village and provided time to relax at Dishui Lake, before the bus returned them to Hongkou. The trip was one of several activities organized for the Foreign Faculty Club during the spring semester.