High-level meetings, including one between Bush and Chinese President Jiang Zemin, will be held on the sidelines of APEC. This is Bush's first trip to Asia and Chinese security is on tenterhooks.
"It's a different set of circumstances this year. Security is top priority," said Mark De Cocinis, manager of the Portman Ritz-Carlton Hotel, which will host Bush and his delegation. "This conference is very important for China. President Jiang has said he wants this to be the best APEC ever."
Hotels like the Portman, and the Grand Hyatt in the 88-story Jinmao Tower, will be subject to the most rigorous security. Starting this week, the Hyatt's guests, including Toshiba Corp Chairman Taizo Nishimuro, will have to walk through metal detectors and have their luggage X-rayed in the lobby of China's tallest building.
"There will be hell to pay if there are any security lapses," said He. He plans to skip town with his family during APEC.
Not everybody is crying foul. Hotels that typically are 70 percent occupied have been booked out, after organizers reserved 17,000 rooms in 14 five-star hotels.
All of the Portman's 564 rooms have been reserved for the US delegation, while all 500 rooms of the Okura Garden Hotel have been booked for the Japanese team. Regular guests who aren't registered for APEC will be firmly but politely turned away, Portman and Okura staff said.
Prices are skyrocketing. Hotels are raising rates for everything from rooms to airport transportation fares. The JC Mandarin, across the street from the Portman, is charging guests 75 percent more than usual for rooms, at US$230 a night.
Some businesses are hoping for a sales boost from the meeting. A men's boutique near Huaihai Road is selling "APEC suits" for 600 yuan. China Unicom Ltd, the country's second-largest cellular phone operator, is lending APEC delegates 1,000 new phones that can transmit data seven times faster than conventional phones. General Motors Corp will supply nearly 800 Buick sedans to ferry APEC delegates around town.
Shanghai has pulled out all stops to present the city's best face. In a fit of industriousness that mirrors the Chinese economy, expected to grow 7.5 percent this year, 132 new public toilets and 2,000 directional signs have been erected.
Trees lining the city's main streets are lit by neon at night, adding an eerie green tone to the wilting autumn leaves. Neon tubes have been planted inside the foliage, spelling out "APEC" and "Peace."
Beggars have been kicked off the streets, and 10,000 school children and teenagers mobilized to scrub down bridges, road railings and overhead crossings.
All over town, people are taking English lessons. A booklet called 100 APEC English Sentences has been standard issue in Shanghai schools since last year. Another booklet has been issued to instruct on manners: It's impolite to spit, curse or jaywalk.
And China's statistics bureau is expected to release key economic data this week -- before presidents Bush and Jiang meet next Saturday -- that will show China as the world's fastest growing economy in the third quarter.
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