Beijing is making tracks to join the ranks of China's other major financial centers

Standing at the downtown corner of west Beijing's Financial Street, it might be easy to think you were standing on Wall Street in New York City.

A mixture of glistening skyscrapers soars above Beijing's West Second Ring Road and beyond. Stylish hotels and boutiques pack the modern-equipped buildings. Brisk demand for new office buildings even outruns the pace of construction here. Streams of immaculately dressed businessmen shuffle past like an endless river.

Financial Street, the name of Beijing's bustling new showpiece, used to be a place of old alleys and courtyards. Today, it's home to China's top financial regulators, headquarters of domestic financial institutions, more than 500 global financial institutions, and hundreds of thousands of people.

Driven by the recent announcement of Beijing's financial ambitions to the rest of the world, the overnight creation of this economic hub is on its course to reshape the financial map of Beijing, or even the whole country. And what happens here may also make some waves in the international financial waters.

Past and future

The spotlight has again been thrown onto the capital during these high-profile demonstrations of its aspirations to become an internationally influential financial center. The Beijing Municipal Government issued a draft notice on spurring its financial industry and vowed vigorous efforts to become the national financial decision-making center, financial management center and financial information and service center. The draft also stated that much energy would be projected toward promoting Financial Street to a major financial center of Beijing.

This couldn't be more different than its past tight-lipped approach to the financial industry. For a long time, Beijing defined its role as a political and cultural center serving the country. As Shanghai and Shenzhen grew assertive in their financial goals, Beijing cautiously dodged links with the "financial center" tag in case of inviting criticism of "redundant construction."

"Although Beijing never made known its financial ambitions, it has actually risen to become China's financial center, which is a solid ground for its internationalization drive," Li Yang, Director with the Institute of Finance and Banking under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) was quoted as saying by Beijing Youth Daily.

Zhou Chunsheng, a professor at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business also echoed Li. "As a financial base, Beijing is unparalleled in access to information and pools of professionals, and is knocking on the door to becoming a player in the world's financial game," said Zhou in an interview with Beijing Youth Daily.

Financial gains have heavy weight in Beijing's economy-its financial sector contributed 12.5 percent to its total GDP in 2007, the highest proportion among Chinese cities. The first quarter of 2008 witnessed Beijing's tax revenues from the financial sector balloon a dizzying 88.7 percent over the previous year, topping all industries.