Zhang Dan Dan, HSBC Holdings Plc's public relations manager in Shanghai, didn't get away or catch up with friends during last week's National Day holidays. She spent much of the week-long break with the city's police.
Zhang and executives of other companies in Shanghai's financial hub have spent days getting security clearance for employees so they can go to work when US President George W. Bush, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and 18 other heads of Pacific Rim nations arrive for the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this week.
"We have to keep the bank running," she said of HSBC's China headquarters, which moved to Shanghai from Hong Kong last year. It's located near the APEC venue in Pudong, on the east bank of the Huangpu River, which will be closed to unauthorized traffic and pedestrians for five days beginning tomorrow.
Security against terrorists is both on the agenda of the APEC summit and on the minds of Chinese officials. About 100,000 police and army personnel are being deployed to guard an estimated 10,000 APEC delegates and journalists, especially the 21 political leaders who control nearly half the world's economy.
For China, it's a dilemma: balancing the need for security against a desire to showcase the world's fastest-growing economy at a time the US, Japan and Europe face their biggest slump in years.
The tight security net may turn parts of Shanghai into a ghost town.
The city has spent 300 million yuan (US$36 million) to host the event, the Shanghai Daily quoted Mayor Xu Kuangdi as saying.
"Shanghai has been preparing this event for more than a year," said He Yong, an employee at a trading company near the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
"The government will lose face if anything goes wrong."
Officials are leaving nothing to chance. Police are requiring all office employees in the cordoned-off APEC zone -- including the Shanghai Stock Exchange -- to wear security passes to enter the financial district.
Still, the Shanghai bourse will trade through the APEC summit, and China's central bank is asking banks like Bank of China, HSBC and Citibank to stay open.
For Shanghai's 13 million residents, the five days beginning tomorrow will be best spent either at home or out of town. To reduce the number of people on the streets, the city government has declared public holidays, beginning tomorrow, to close schools, offices and businesses.
All roads leading to the APEC conference center will be blocked to traffic, except for designated vehicles carrying APEC delegates.
The city's two busiest shopping streets, across the river from the APEC site, Nanjing Road and Huaihai Road, will also be closed to traffic.
"Shanghai will be a ghost town if all the shopping centers shut. Where will people go?" said Maggie Xu, a customer shopping at the Isetan department store.
Subway lines that connect both sides of the city across the Huangpu will skip the station in Lujiazui near the APEC site.
Shanghai's financial heartland will be particularly hurt. Mere paddy fields five years ago, the eastern bank of the Huangpu River is home to Shanghai's bourse, major foreign and domestic banks and other multinational offices. The APEC meeting will be held in their midst.
APEC was formed in 1989. Its 21 members are: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the US and Vietnam.
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